P. T. Usha, born Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha on 27 June 1964 in Koothali near Perambra in Kozhikode district, Kerala, is one of India’s most celebrated track and field athletes. Raised in the coastal village of Payyoli, she earned the nicknames “Payyoli Express” and “Golden Girl” for her graceful stride and dominance on Asian tracks. She is widely regarded as the Queen of Indian track and field.
Usha grew up in a modest household. Her father, E.P.M. Paithal, was a cloth merchant; her mother, T.V. Lakshmi, was a teacher. The family faced financial constraints, and Usha was a slender child who once suffered serious illness that left her weak. From an early age she showed a love of running and jumping with siblings and friends. In the fourth grade she beat a school champion three years her senior in a race, astonishing teachers with her natural speed and form.
The Kerala government had begun sports-focused schooling for girls. Usha received a modest scholarship and joined the Government Vocational Higher Secondary School (Sports) in Kannur. There she came under the eye of coach O.M. Nambiar in 1977. Nambiar was struck by her lean build and quick walking style and began systematic training. In 1978 she won six medals, including four golds, at the inter-state junior meet in Kollam. She collected 14 medals at a Kerala state college meet the same year and soon set national junior records. She made her international debut at the 1980 Pakistan Open in Karachi, winning four gold medals, and at 16 became the youngest Indian woman sprinter to compete at the Olympics, in Moscow.
Usha studied at Providence Women’s College in Kozhikode while building her career. She later joined Southern Railways as an officer on special duty for sports, a post she held for decades. Her events ranged across 100 m, 200 m, 400 m and 400 m hurdles. Personal bests included 11.39 seconds in the 100 m (1985), 23.05 seconds in the 200 m, 51.61 seconds in the 400 m and 55.42 seconds in the 400 m hurdles—the last still India’s national record decades later.
The 1980s were her golden decade. At the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi she won silver medals in the 100 m and 200 m, announcing herself to a national audience. In 1983 at the Asian Championships in Kuwait she took gold in the 400 m with an Asian record. The 1985 Asian Championships in Jakarta produced her most spectacular haul: five gold medals (100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 400 m hurdles and 4 × 400 m relay) plus a bronze, a record for a single athlete at one championships. She set Asian records across multiple distances that year.
The 1986 Seoul Asian Games marked her peak. Usha won four gold medals—200 m, 400 m, 400 m hurdles and 4 × 400 m relay—plus silver in the 100 m. She added further golds and silvers at subsequent Asian Championships in 1987 and 1989. Across Asian Games editions from 1982 to 1994 she collected four gold and seven silver medals, making her one of India’s most decorated athletes at the continental games. Overall she won 23 medals in Asian track-and-field competitions in the 1980s, 14 of them gold. She also competed at the 1985 World Cup in Canberra.
The moment that defined her public image came at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The women’s 400 m hurdles made its Olympic debut. Usha, only 20 and with limited experience in the event, reached the final—the first Indian woman to do so in an Olympic athletics event. In the semi-final she clocked 55.94 seconds. In the final she ran 55.42 seconds and finished fourth, missing bronze by one-hundredth of a second to Romania’s Cristieana Cojocaru (55.41). Morocco’s Nawal El Moutawakel won gold and America’s Judi Brown silver. A false-start recall affected her rhythm; she later said she did not dip at the line as she usually won by larger margins. The time remains India’s national record. She also ran in the 4 × 400 m relay final, placing seventh. The near-miss became a national talking point and inspired generations of Indian athletes. She competed again at the 1988 Seoul Olympics but did not advance far.
Injuries, including recurrent knee problems, and the physical demands of a long career slowed her in the 1990s. She still won medals at the 1990 Beijing and 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games and returned in 1998 to take bronzes in the 200 m and 400 m plus relay gold at the Asian Championships in Fukuoka. She retired in 2000 after more than two decades of competition, having amassed a huge tally of national medals.
In 1991 Usha married V. Srinivasan, a Central Industrial Security Force inspector and former national kabaddi player. They had two sons; one, Dr. Vignesh Ujjwal, became a sports-medicine specialist. Srinivasan died on 30 January 2026. Family support, especially from her mother, was a constant theme in Usha’s accounts of her career.
After retirement she turned to coaching. In 2002 she founded the Usha School of Athletics, first in rented premises in Koyilandy and later on a 30-acre campus at Kinalur in Kozhikode district, with land support from the Kerala government. The residential academy focuses on young female athletes, many from rural or underprivileged backgrounds, combining scientific training, nutrition, education and character development. Early students included Tintu Luka, an Olympian and national 800 m record holder, and Jisna Mathew, another Olympian. A synthetic track was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017. Usha has often said India does not lack talent but modern facilities and systematic exposure—the very gaps that cost her an Olympic medal.
In July 2022 she was nominated to the Rajya Sabha as a Member of Parliament. She later joined the vice-chairperson panel and chaired a sitting of the House. In December 2022 she was elected unopposed as the 13th president of the Indian Olympic Association, becoming the first woman and first Olympian to hold the post. She remains in office, emphasizing grassroots development, athlete welfare and India’s Olympic ambitions. In June 2026 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the inaugural Indian Athletics Awards. She has been honoured with the Arjuna Award (1984), Padma Shri (1985) and several honorary doctorates.
Usha’s career bridged an era when Indian women athletes received little support and the present, more professional landscape. She won medals, set records and reached an Olympic final when few expected it. Through her academy and administrative roles she has tried to give later generations the scientific training and institutional backing she lacked. The image of the Payyoli girl who nearly won bronze in Los Angeles still stands as both heartbreak and inspiration in Indian sport. Her story is one of talent meeting discipline, of a village runner who became a national icon and then an administrator determined to change the system that once limited her.