Usha’s name is a force to reckon with because she practised hurdles by jumping over the walls of her house and broke into the field of athletics, which was then a male bastion. In fact, the credit of inspiring other women to take up sports goes to P.T. Usha. She had her first brush with success and fame at the 1982 Asian Games held in New Delhi, where she won two silver medals.
However, success eluded her at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where she failed to secure the bronze by one-hundredth of a second. She was the first Indian woman to reach the finals of an Olympic event. Although she finished fourth, she set an Asian record of 55.42 seconds for the 400m hurdles. In the Asian Track and Field Championships held at Djakarta, Indonesia in 1985, she won the 100m, 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles and 4 × 400m relay. The record of winning five golds in a single international meet earned her the title of ‘India’s Golden Girl’.
At the X Asian Games held in Seoul in 1986, she again shot into prominence. She won the 200m in 23.44 secs, 400m in 52.16 secs and 400m hurdles in 56.06 secs. She also earned a name for herself in the 4 × 400m relay race. After the Seoul Asian Games, she returned home with four gold and one silver medals. In the Asian Track and Field Meet held in 1989, she was adjudged the best female athlete.
In spite of putting up a good performance at the Olympics, like Milkha Singh, she was not able to win any medals. But she became a source of inspiration to other women athletes.
Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha, or simply P.T. Usha, was born at a seaside village called Payolli in Kerala on 27 June 1964. The little girl loved to run on the beach. At the age of 13, Usha joined the government-run sports school at Cannanore. It was here that O.P. Nambiar spotted her potential and took her under his wing.
After marriage in 1991, she discontinued participation in sports for three years. Encouraged by her husband, when she returned to the arena in 1994 to compete as a veteran at the Asian Track and Field Event held in Japan in 1998, she won two bronze medals. She has till now won 102 international medals. At the Asian Games held in Japan, she won two medals. She has thus proved that marriage has not dampened her spirit to succeed in the game.
P.T. Usha was awarded the Padma Shri in 1984 and also received the Arjuna Award in the same year.