Olympian Hari Chand died at 69 on Monday morning© Twitter
Former Indian long-distance runner Hari Chand passed away on Monday morning at the age of 69. He was a two-time Olympic athlete and also won two gold medals at the 1978 Bangkok Asian Games. He finished first in the 5000m and 10000m races at the Bangkok Asiad. He also set the national record for runner 25 times at the 1976 Olympic Games and this record stood for 32 years. In the 1976 Summer Olympics held in Montreal, he finished eighth in the 2nd Heat in the 10,000 meters with a time of 28:48.72.
It was then that the national record was set for an Indian athlete and it was broken 32 years later by Surendra Singh.
Khajan Singh, an Asian Games medal-winning swimmer, said Hari Chand’s death was a great loss to Indian sport.
“It is a huge loss for Indian sport. In CRPF he is my superior. He is very competitive and very simple. He usually takes care of players everywhere he goes. Personally, I learned a lot from him. He was like a guiding light to many of us,” Khajan Singh told NDTV.
In the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, he finished 10th in the hot 10,000 meter race.
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“He’s quite a courageous athlete and has an amazing sense of humour. Even during long training sessions, he makes jokes,” said senior journalist Norris Pritam.
Norris Pritam also recalled how European racing experts used to look at him with respect when he used to run barefoot with bandages wrapped around his legs.
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