Life & times of Milkha Singh: India mourns as 'Flying Sikh' dies of COVID

Tributes to the athlete known as the "Flying Sikh" poured in on social media after the news broke late on Friday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he was "anguished" by the news.

"Dad just passed away," Singh's son Jeev Milkha Singh, himself a leading pro golfer, told the media.

In pic: India sprinter Milkha Singh (3rd from right) during a trip to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin German in 1964.

Singh had first tested positive for the virus on May 20.

In pic: Flying Sikh Milkha Singh with Dr Shivani Chandel at PGI, Chandigarh on June 5, 2021. He was admitted to ICU of NHE Block of PGIMER since 3rd June 2021.

His wife Nirmal Kaur also died of the virus earlier this week.

Singh was born in 1929 in Govindpura, in what is now Pakistan. He lost his family during the tumultuous partition of British-ruled India at independence in 1947, when it was divided into Pakistan and India, before going on to become one of the young country's first athletic heroes.

Singh won gold medals at the 1958 and 1962 Asian Games. However, he shot to fame at the 1960 Olympics in Rome when he finished fourth in the 400m after a photo-finish was required to decide the winner.

His time of 45.73 seconds was an Indian national record which stood for almost 40 years. But the devastated Singh never fulfilled his dream of winning an Olympic medal.

His rise to elite athlete made Singh a national hero and inspired a Bollywood film in 2013 called "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" (Run, Milkha, Run). The movie title refers to the poignant last words spoken to Singh by his father.

As he was dying, he told Singh to flee or he, too, would be killed in the post-partition riots sweeping the subcontinent. Singh ran for his life and boarded a train with other refugees.