40 years ago, October 1, 1986: First-ever Asiad gold for Usha

2 min readOct 1, 2026 06:30 AM IST First published on: Oct 1, 2026 at 06:30 AM IST

Ecstasy and Agony. That was India’s lot on the second day of the track and field championships of the 10th Asian Games in the Olympic stadium in Seoul. The peerless P T Usha stormed to her first-ever Asiad gold in the women’s 400m hurdles in record-breaking style. She was just as convincing in the 200m semifinals and it doesn’t look as though the film star, model and crack sprinter of the Philippines, Lydia de Vega, can succeed in her pursuit of a phenomenal haul of six gold medals.

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