M. D. Valsamma
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Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Manathoor Devasia Valsamma | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Indian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Ottathai, Kannur, Kerala, India | 21 October 1960||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Track and field | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event | 400 metres hurdles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal best(s) | 100 m hurdles: 14.02 (Jakarta 1985) 400 m hurdles: 57.81 (1985) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Manathoor Devasia Valsamma (born 21 October 1960) is a retired Indian athlete. She was the second Indian woman to win an individual gold medal at the Asian Games and the first to win it on Indian soil.
Early life
Valsamma was born on 21 October 1960 in Ottathai, Kannur district of Kerala. She started her athletics career during school days though she only took it more seriously when she moved to Mercy College,[1] Palakkad, for further studies. Her first medal was for Kerala in the 100 metres hurdles and pentathlon in the Inter-University Championship at Pune in 1979.
She was enrolled in Southern Railway (India) and was coached by A. K. Kutty. She created a great impression at the Inter-State Meet at
Professional athletics career
Valsamma won the gold medal in the 400 m hurdles in an Indian and Asian record time of 58.47 seconds in front of a home crowd at the
For the first time in the history, the Indian women team entered the finals in the Los Angeles Olympics, 1984 and finished in the seventh position. Valsamma began concentrating more on 100 m hurdles. She won a gold in the 100 m hurdles and created a National record in the first National Games in 1985.
Valsamma also appeared in the Spartakiad 1983 in Moscow, the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games in Islamabad fetched her bronze in the 100 metres, a Silver in the quarter-mile and the Gold m the 4 x 400 metres relay.
In a career spanning nearly 15 years, M.D. Valsamma took part in
, the Asian Games editions of 1982, 86, 90 and 94 and in all the Asian Track & Field meets and SAF Games, leaving her mark in each and every competition.References
External links
- M. D. Valsamma at Olympedia
- M. D. Valsamma at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)