Milkha Singh (born in Faisalabad (Lyallpur) on 8 October 1931) represented India in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He is nicknamed The Flying Sikh. The President of India has also awarded the prestigious `Padma Shri` to Milkha Singh in 1958 when he won the gold medal in the British and Commonwealth Games.

He is one of the greatest athletes India has ever produced. He won the gold medal in the 200m and 400 m at the 1958 and 1962 Asian Games. He also won the gold medal at the 1958 Commonwealth Games. The burst of speed with which he broke the previous Olympic games record of 45.9 seconds in 400 meters is now a part of folklore in Punjab. His national record in the 400m for 33 years and Asian record for 26 years, Milkha Singh became a household name when he clocked 45.6 to finish fourth at the Rome Olympics in I960. It was the closest any Indian athlete had come to winning an Olympic medal. He still retains the monopoly of the 200 meters; his 20.7 seconds clocked during the Indo-Pakistan meet at Lahore on the 31st January 1960.
His first victory came, when he went on to win the second prize in the 200m and 400m at the Services Athletics Meet held in 1955. Practicing all by his own, he improved his performance to establish himself as a front ranker at the 1956 National Games in Patiala. He won both the events and two years later, at the Cuttack Nationals, set national records in both. His 46.1sec in 400m in the National Games in 1960 was acclaimed as a world-class performance. He also represented the country in the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, but he was eliminated in the heats itself. But the experience had prepared him for the Asian Games in Tokyo, the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics in Rome. He won the 200 and 400 metres in the Asian Games with timings of 21.6 and 47 seconds respectively and went on to clock 46.16 seconds to earn the Gold in the Commonwealth Games. His Asian record of 45.63 seconds stood for 26 years before it was bettered by Japan`s Susunu Takona.

The biggest moment of his life came in the historic 400m race in the 1960 Rome Olympics. He was one of the strong favourites for the Gold and had had a fantastic run-up to the occasion, having won 77 of the 80 races, including the Commonwealth Games, that season. He would have surely won a medal at the Rome Olympics, he misjudged his pace and in a split second, three others had sped past him.