Hari Chand: Barefoot, braveheart and India’s greatest distance runner

Hari Chand, India’s finest distance runner who won the 5,000m-10,000m double at the 1978 Bangkok Asian Games, died late on Sunday, the Athletics Federation of India said. A shining light of India’s golden age in track and field, Chand had shifted from Delhi back to his home town in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district some time ago citing heart problems. He was 69.

Growing up in rural Punjab, the Ghorewaha-born Chand’s pastime as a boy included chasing rabbits in the field, which he said helped build stamina and passion for running. He once spoke about chasing a rabbit that was nibbling at the crop while he was on watch. He chased the rabbit all day, finally caught it and brought back as a trophy.

He belonged to the era of barefoot running and yet powered to a distance double at Bangkok after switching to spikes close to the competition. In the Thai capital, he first won the 5,000m (14:22.0) after being persuaded to wear 'Tiger' spikes by an Indian athletics official. He then slipped on Adidas for the 10,000m (30:07.7) on the advice of another official. Chand savoured victories over fast times, the competitive spirit coming to the fore when he raced against fellow distance great, the late Shivnath Singh whose marathon record still stands.

An unusually low pulse rate at rest explained his stamina that helped in his phenomenal training, making him Asia’s best distance runner in the 1970s. His father wanted him to become a wrestler and the young Chand used to do hundreds of squats and presses daily, before he gradually switched to distance running via long jump and 800m in school.

Chand caught national attention when he won the national 5,000m in 1974 and came second behind Shivnath Singh in 10,000m. At the 1975 Asian track and field meet, he set a continental mark in 10,000m (29:12.0) and took bronze in 5,000m. He received the Arjuna award that year.

At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, he ran a national record 28:48.72 in 10,000m. Though an eighth-place finish didn’t help qualify for the final, his mark stood for almost 33 years, until Surendra Singh bettered it in the final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Among the other brilliant distance runners of India, Bahadur Prasad in the 1990s and current versatile star Avinash Sable stand out. But none left a mark in a major Games like Chand did in Bangkok.

In the 1980 Moscow Olympics, he clocked 29:45.8 in the 10,000m heats and ran the marathon in 2:22:08, finishing 31st among 74 starters.

His teammate and former sprinter, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) president Adille J Sumariwalla, recalled his Montreal run. “It is a tribute to his determination that he was able to set a national record in the Olympics. He knew that getting a place in the 15-man final was going to be tough and (still) pushed himself, despite running barefoot, to get the time he did. Along with Shivnath Singh, he played a big role in sustaining the popularity of distance running,” he said in an AFI statement.

In 1985, Chand passed the national coaching (NIS) diploma course.

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