M. D. Valsamma won the 400 metres hurdles at the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi in 58.47 seconds, an Asian and Indian record. She was only the second Indian woman to win an individual gold at the Asian Games, after Kamaljit Sandhu in 1970, and the first to do it on Indian soil. Two years later she ran in India’s 4x400m relay team in the Olympic final in Los Angeles.
Name: Manathoor Devasia Valsamma
Born: 21 October 1960, Ottathai, Kannur, Kerala
Sport: Athletics
Events: 400m hurdles, 100m hurdles, 400m
From Kannur to Southern Railway
Valsamma was born in Ottathai in Kannur district on 21 October 1960. A physical education teacher noticed her height at school and steered her towards hurdles and the pentathlon. She won her first medals for Kerala in the 100m hurdles and pentathlon at the Inter-University Championships in Pune in 1979. She then joined Southern Railway, where she trained under coach A. K. Kutty.
Delhi 1982
In 1982 she set a national record in the 400m hurdles at the national championships. At the Asian Games in Delhi that November she won the gold in 58.47, ahead of Yumiko Aoi of Japan and Liu Guihua of China. She also won silver in the 4x400m relay at those Games.
Los Angeles 1984
Valsamma went to the 1984 Olympics with little international experience. She went out in the heats of the 400m hurdles, the event in which P. T. Usha finished fourth, but she was part of the 4x400m relay team with Usha, Shiny Abraham and Vandana Rao. It was the first time an Indian women’s relay team reached an Olympic final, and they finished seventh.
Later career
After Los Angeles she worked more on the 100m hurdles. At the first National Games in 1985 she won the 100m hurdles in a national record. She won 400m hurdles silver at the 1985 Asian Championships in Jakarta, gold in the 4x400m relay at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, and medals at the South Asian Federation Games.
She received the Arjuna Award in 1982 and the Padma Shri in 1983, along with the G. V. Raja award from the Kerala government.
Career record and honours
- Asian Games gold medal, 400m hurdles: Delhi 1982, 58.47 (Asian record)
- Asian Games gold medal, 4x400m relay: Seoul 1986
- Asian Games silver medal, 4x400m relay: Delhi 1982
- Olympic 4x400m relay finalist: Los Angeles 1984
- Asian Championships silver medal, 400m hurdles: Jakarta 1985
- Arjuna Award (1982)
- Padma Shri (1983)
