Bhim Singh
Bhim Singh was born in 'Dhanana' village of Bhiwani district in Haryana on 12 April 1945. Like most of the top athletes of his time, Bhim Singh is a product of the Army. He made his international debut at the 8th Commonwealth Games held at Kingston in Jamaica in 1966. The same year, he won a Gold Medal at the 5th Asian Games in Bangkok and set a new record with a clearance of 2.05 metres. His approach and the confident manner in which he won the medal earned him the title of the "Most Confident Athlete of the Games".
In a career lasting nearly a decade, Bhim Singh took part in competitons in the USSR, Germany, Czechoslovakia, nearly always finishing among the top three.
Bhim Singh represented India in Mexico Olympics (1968) and made best performance of his career, of 2.09 metres, making a new national record. His national record of 2.09 survived till 1984.
The 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok found him pushed to the third spot. He cleared 2.03 metres as against the winning height of 2.06 meters by Taimur Ghiasi of Iran.
Winner of the Best Services Sportsman of the year 1969-70, Arjuna Award in 1967, Bhim Singh retired from the Army's Jat Regiment in 1988 in the rank of Honorary Captain. After that, he took to coaching.
He was the high jump coach for both the Services and the national team and for a while took to coaching the junior India team and with excellent results. Later he joined on the staff of Motilal Nehru School of Sports at Rai, Haryana.
In 2009, the name of Jat Stadium in Jat Regiment Centre, Bareilly, was changed to Bhim Stadium in regard to his accomplishments in sports career in high jump.
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