Despite being recipient of Arjuna award ,a soldier of Indian army and the toiler who won laurel for our country. Shivnath Singh stands among some forgotten greats of our country. Born in a poor family of Manjharia, Buxar ,Bihar on 11 July 1946.He was a barefoot runner who like many other villagers took up running for a job in Indian army. He sure did find the job in Indian army and rose upto the rank of Naib Sudedar but also bagged a whole lot of medals and records under his name. He started his international running career in 1973 “Asian Championship” held in Philippines where by winning silver medal in both “5000 m” and “10000 m” race while running bare foot he managed to surprise everyone while paving his path to a glorious International career.In the subsequent years he won a bunch of medals for India through Asian Championships and Olympics.
He represented India twice in Asian Games as well as Summer Olympics.Once in 1978 Singh run the “Marathon” in just “2 hours 12 minutes” which still is record no Indian runner has touched. To honour the legend of long distance running Jaipur has announced ,July 11, Singh’s Birthday to be remarked as runners day.He died on 6 June 2003 due to prolonged illness. Shivnath Singh is a gem of our nation and should not be forgotten at any cost.He glorified India and Bihar too.