13 days to Tokyo Olympics 2020: Meet Shiny Abraham Wilson, India's first woman flag bearer

Before Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu, there was Shiny Abraham Wilson.

At the Tokyo Olympics, Mary Kom (Boxing) along with Manpreet Singh (Hockey) will be India’s flag bearers for the opening ceremony. She will be the third woman to lead the Indian contingent at the Olympics. But then who was the first female flag bearer of India?

The 1992 Barcelona Games was the first time India handed the responsibility of leading their team into the Olympics to a woman. The 90s was a decade of revolution and the 1992 Games for India became the epitome of it.

Shiny Abraham Wilson, a titan in her own right, was the country's first female flag bearer. She is known for her contributions to Indian athletics on and off the field. But who is Shiny Abraham Wilson?

Shiny Abraham Wilson – The Pathbreaker

Even before there was Mary Kom, Nehwal or Karnam Malleswari, there was Shiny Abraham Wilsom, who was breaking stereotypes. The Kerala-born athlete is one of the most decorated Indian sports personalites.

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She has represented India in four Olympics, six Asian Championships, three Asian Games and seven SAF Games apart from other international competitions. Shiny Abraham Wilson has been a pathbreaker in her own right.

She was the first Indian track athlete to reach the semifinals at the Olympics, achieving this feat at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. The 800m runner finished fourth in her heats, clocking 2:04.09.

Shiny Abraham Wilson’s career on the track ran parallel to that of PT Usha from the time the duo represented India at the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi.

In fact, both Shiny and PT Usha studied at the same sports division in various parts of Kerala. MD Valsamma, the first Indian athlete to win Asian gold on home soil, was also part of this group.

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Yet it is her comeback story that has been an inspiration to the younger generation.

Shiny Abraham Wilson’s inspiring return

Back in the 80s, a woman was expected to get married and bear a child. It was an age-old social stigma which had continued for centuries. But Shiny Abraham Wilson made her comeback to sport despite embracing motherhood and threw the archaic stereotype out the window.

She married Wilson Cherian, an international swimmer and Arjuna awardee, and also gave birth to her daughter Shilpa. Post-partum, Shiny Wilson returned to produce a 800m national record. By returning to the track within months after giving birth to a child, she raised the bar for India’s women athlete in a dignified manner. It was her actions that did the talking for other women to get inspired by.

Despite owning the two-lapper (800m), she is also known as one of the pioneers in the women’s 400m, breaching the one-minute mark at the Nationals in Lucknow in 1981.

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At 30, Shiny Abraham Wilson, broke her own 800m national record during the 1995 SAI Games in Madras. She clocked 1:59.85 to become the first Indian woman to complete 800m in two minutes. Tintu Luka broke the 15-year-old record in 2010 at the VTB Bank Continental Cup. She clocked 1:59.17.

Shiny Abraham Wilson finished her career on a high with a rich haul of medals to show.

She won one gold, two silver and one bronze at the Asian Games as well as seven gold, five silver and two bronze medals from the Asian Track and Field Meets.

The middle-distance runner was bestowed with Padma Shri in 1998.