Fauja Singh, believed to be the world’s oldest marathon runner, died in a road accident in Punjab on Monday at the age of 114.
Singh was struck by a car on the Jalandhar-Pathankot highway on Monday afternoon and suffered a severe head injury. He was rushed to the hospital but succumbed to his injuries later that evening.
Born on April 1, 1911, in Beas Pind, Jalandhar, Fauja Singh defied age and adversity throughout his life. He could not walk properly until he was five and was often dismissed as physically weak.
However, after a life of farming and personal tragedy, including the loss of his wife and son in the early 1990s, he turned to running to cope with grief – a choice that would ultimately see him become a legend.
Fauja Singh began running competitively at the age of 89 and completed his first marathon in London in 2000.
He went on to run nine full marathons in London, Toronto, New York and Mumbai, achieving a personal best of 5:40:04 in the ‘over 90’ age category at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 2003.
Known affectionately as the Turbaned Tornado, Fauja Singh became a beloved figure in the global athletics community.
At 100, he became the first centenarian to complete a marathon, finishing the 2011 Toronto Waterfront Marathon in just over eight hours.
Although the Guinness World Records did not officially recognise the feat due to a lack of a birth certificate, Fauja Singh’s passport marks his birth year as 1911.
He also set five age-group world records in one day at a meet in Toronto in 2011.
A torchbearer for the London 2012 Olympics, Fauja Singh used his platform to raise funds for charity and promote good values. He also appeared in international advertising campaigns alongside David Beckham and Muhammad Ali.
Fauja Singh retired from competitive running in 2013 after completing a 10km race in Hong Kong China. A biography, Turbaned Tornado, was published in 2011.