Usha, 58, has been officially elected to the top job in the polls, heralding a new chapter in Indian sports administration.
“In my whole life, I’ve only lived 13 years without sport. Otherwise, I’ve lived with sport, as an athlete, coach and administrator in different roles,” she said during a press conference after his elevation to the top job.
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“I never thought that I would one day become AIO leader or deputy. It’s all because of my sport,” she said with all of her executive board members by her side.
Usha took to Athletics at the age of nine while studying in fourth grade at a school in Payyoli near her home village in Kozhikode district of Kerala. What followed was a glittering career in which she won several gold medals at the Asian Games and finished fourth in the 400m hurdles final at the 1984 Olympics.
She announced her retirement in 1990, got married and returned to the tracks in 1994 before finally quitting athletics in 2000.
Those first nine years of her childhood and the four years between 1990 and 1994 were the 13 years she was referring to. After 2000, she remained associated with athletics as a mentor for promising athletes at her academy – Usha School of Athletics.
She is currently the chair of its junior selection committee. She has also served on national government awards committees.
“National Federations, Athletes Commission and SOMs (Athletes of Exceptional Merit) pushed me to submit nominations for the position of President. I am grateful to all of them,” said Usha, who is also the first Olympian to lead the AIO.
“Before, I was not close to the IOA and the federation (AFI) but now I came (to become the head of the IOA) because all our sportsmen want it. There are also a lot of sportsmen in the executive committee. I’m very happy about that.”
She said the IOA will operate as a unit and her organization will be accessible to federations, athletes and coaches.
“I and my team, with a collective effort, will do our best to work for the betterment of the sport in the country. We will take the advice of federations, athletes and coaches and work together to bring more medals to our country.
“Only athletes know how difficult it is to come from a lower level and win international medals. We will work only for athletes.”
Usha, affectionately known as the “Payyoli Express”, is seen as a candidate for the ruling Bharatiya Janata party, which named her a member of Rajya Sabha in July.
She also became the first Olympian and first international medalist to lead the IOA in its 95-year history, adding another feather to her cap after dominating Indian and Asian athletics for two decades before taking her retired in 2000 with a bag full of international medals.
Usha is the first sportsman to have represented the country and also became head of the IOA since Maharaja Yadavindra Singh, who played a test match in 1934. Singh was the third IOA president to serve from 1938 to 1960.
