Name: Gurbachan Singh Randhawa
Born: 6 June 1939, Nangli, Amritsar district
State: Punjab
Sport: Athletics (decathlon and 110m hurdles)
Early life
Gurbachan Singh Randhawa grew up in a family steeped in sport; his father and all three of his brothers competed as athletes, and it was a natural setting for a boy who showed an early talent across several track and field events at once. He studied at Khalsa College, Amritsar, and later at Government College, Lahore, honing the versatility that would come to define his career. Rather than settling into one discipline early, he tried his hand at javelin, high jump and hurdles alike, and by his late teens he was already breaking national marks.
An explosive start
Randhawa’s emergence on the national stage was dramatic. At the Delhi National Championship, he broke two national records within four days and took first place in the javelin, the 110 metres hurdles and the high jump in the same meet, a display of range rarely seen in Indian athletics before or since. By the age of eighteen he had crossed the 6,000-point mark in the decathlon, and he went on to touch 6,500 points, form that earned him a place in India’s team for the 1960 Rome Olympics. Rome, however, ended in disappointment: he expended too much of his energy on the opening day of the gruelling two-day event and could not finish in the searing heat.
Asian Games glory, 1962
Randhawa put that setback behind him in style at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, where he won gold in the decathlon with a tally of around 6,600 points, finishing well clear of the field, and was named the Best Athlete of the Games, a rare double distinction for an Indian competitor of that era. The effort came at a cost, though: he picked up an injury in Jakarta that persuaded him to give up the decathlon and focus his energies on a single event, the 110 metres hurdles, for the remainder of his career.
Flag bearer at Tokyo, 1964
Randhawa’s consistency in the hurdles, where he regularly clocked around 14.3 seconds and ranked among the fastest in the world, earned him the honour of carrying the Indian flag at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. In the 110 metres hurdles final, competing in poor weather, he finished fifth with a personal best of just over 14 seconds, a result later described as the best performance by any Asian athlete in track and field at those Games. He was the first Asian hurdler to reach an Olympic final in the event, a landmark that stood for decades.
Coaching and lasting records
After retiring from competition, Randhawa turned to coaching and helped develop the next generation of Indian athletes, including Vijay Singh Chauhan, who eventually surpassed his old decathlon mark of 6,912 points after it had stood for twelve years. Randhawa’s own 110 metres hurdles time remained the best by an Indian for around four decades, a measure of just how far ahead of his contemporaries he had been, and he held four national records across his career.
Recognition
Randhawa was honoured with the Arjuna Award in 1961, among the very first athletes in the country to receive it, though wider recognition took far longer to arrive: the Padma Shri was not conferred on him until 2005, decades after his finest performances. He has since been remembered as one of the outstanding all-round athletes of independent India’s early decades, a hurdler and decathlete whose versatility and Olympic-final breakthrough opened doors for those who followed.
Achievements and awards
Gold medallist and Best Athlete, decathlon, Asian Games, Jakarta, 1962; fifth place, 110 metres hurdles, Tokyo Olympics, 1964, the best Asian result in the event at those Games; first Asian hurdler to reach an Olympic 110 metres hurdles final; flag bearer for India, 1964 Tokyo Olympics; four national records held; Arjuna Award, 1961; Padma Shri, 2005.
