Sports: P T Usha; Mother Courage

In a stirring comeback, the 33-year-old defies age with four medals in Japan.

"I will definitely win gold at the Asian Games in Bangkok later this year."
-- P T Usha, July, 1998

The reference book on India, its pages lined with age, had no mention of her. It could tell you what happened on any day of 1978, like when the world's second test-tube baby was born. But under U, there was no listing for her. There should have been. For it was the summer that she first arrived at the National Athletics Championships in Quilon and won everything she did in the under-14 category -- the 100m, 80m hurdles, long jump, 4x100m relay. Maybe Nostradamus, on a particularly perceptive day, might have predicted that this buck-toothed girl in pigtails would become India's most celebrated sportswoman. But not even he would have dared believe that 20 years on, P.T. Usha would still be India's athletics sweetheart.

Twenty years. Imagine that. At the Asian Track and Field Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, last week, they couldn't. "This is the same Usha?" they asked. The disbelief was not unreasonable: for all her contemporaries -- Lydia de Vega, Ashwini Nachappa, Shiny Abraham -- the track is just a memory. But for this 33-year-old mother, standing on the podium is an addiction she cannot break. So there she was, leaving mouths open, with a gold in the 4x100m relay, silver in the 4x400m relay and bronze in both the 200m and 400m. Not bad for a woman who admits, "I was nervous." Of course, she would be: nine years have gone since she last won an Asian medal.

So much has changed. Now she is the elder stateswoman, adviser to the other pigtailed girls who run for India. The pressure too has abated. Once only a necklace of gold medals could satiate a demanding nation; now any colour of metal is a celebration of her endurance. Some things have not changed: she is still fast. At 33, she is pushing her tired body across new frontiers. Her 23.27 seconds in the 200m at Fukuoka was quicker than the 23.44 she timed to win gold at the 1986 Asian Games. It was also the first time since 1989 -- when she first ran 23.27 to set a national record -- that she replicated the timing.

It all began really, post 1990 when she returned empty handed from the Beijing Asian Games. She retired, married kabaddi player Sreenivasan, had a child. But there is a disease that afflicts retired sportspeople ... to stand still is to contradict what the body has always desired. So in 1994, her body rusted, she returned. "Why?" everyone asked. In reply she would speak the names of Ingrid Kristiansen, Evelyn Ashford and say, "They became mothers and came back and won. So can I."

Evidence existed that age was not a final barrier. Steve Scott, the American miler who ran under 4 minutes even when he was past 40, once said, "Sure you get older, but you also get wiser. By adapting your training to the new situation (age) you can definitely continue to do as well and even better."

So Usha trained, six hours day. In Bangalore's Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre, as darkness descended over the track, the footsteps of a lonely figure would echo across the track. The rest had gone home, Usha was still training. Weight training was her first priority and pointing proudly at her biceps, she says: "Look, now I have muscle." At the SAI centre, they also reguarly tested her muscle strength and altered her training programme accordingly. Endurance too was vital. As she says, "If once I took a 10-minute break after each 500m training run, now I only rest for two minutes." The results are obvious.

If she progressed rapidly in her youth it was slower now. At the 1994 Asiad and 1996 Atlanta Olympics she just ran relays. But gradually the times improved, the rhythm returned. In Fukuoka, finally, the pain found its reward. As she said, the grin creasing her face: "I am still not at 100 per cent. But two bronzes at 33 is not bad."

Now her current coach J.S. Bhatia is planning for December's Asian Games in Bangkok. "Our goal is 50 seconds in the 400m (in Fukuoka it was 52.55) and 22.5 in the 200m." Then he pauses and says, "She is once again our best hope for the Asian Games."

THE USHA FACTFILE
1982	The legend begins. Wins silver in 100 m and 200 m at Delhi Asian Games.
1983	She tries the 400 m at the Kuwait Asian Track and Field (ATF) meet and wins gold. Also wins 200 m silver. Gets Arjuna award.
1984	Misses bronze at Olympics by 0.01second. Refuses scholarship to Nebraska University, stays with coach Nambiar. Gets Padma Shri.
1985	Wins medals in 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 400 m hurdles and both relays at Jakarta ATF meet. At Canberra World Cup runs fastest ever 400 m by an Asian woman. Beats Debbie Flintoff-King in 400 m hurdles.
1986	Golden girl emerges. Saves face for India at Seoul Asiad with golds in 200 m, 400 m, 400 m hurdles and 4x400 m relay. Silver in 100m.
1987	Wins gold in 400 m, 400 m hurdles and 4x400 m relay at Singapore ATF meet.
1988	Decline begins. Loses in first round of 400 m hurdles at Olympics in Seoul. Flintoff-King wins the event.
1989	The last hurrah. At Delhi's ATF meet, wins gold in 200 m, 400 m, 400 m hurdles and 4x400 relay. Her 23.27 in 200 m is national record.
1990	Fails to win individual medal at Beijing Asia. Loses to Nachappa in domestic meets. Retires.
1991	Gets married to kabaddi player Sreenivasan. Son Ujwal is born in 1992.
1994	The comeback begins. Coached by her husband, she returns to the track. Is fourth in 200 m at the Hiroshima Asian Games.
1998	Glory days. At ATF meet in Fukuoka, Japan, she wins gold in the 4x100 m relay, silver in the 4x400 m relay, bronze in both the 200 m and 400 m. Equals 200 m national record.