What are you running for?” “World peace? The homeless? The environment?” The questions they asked Forrest Gump, they should have thrown at Gulveer Singh. Because, a decade ago, before living the life of an athlete, all Gulveer knew was to run. Running to help his father at the farm, running errands for his family, running to get selected in the Indian Army, so that, paradoxically, the running stops.Back in 2018, the boy from Sirsa village in Atrauli district, near Aligarh, didn’t know that running would define him a few years later.On Tuesday evening, in falling Glasgow rain, the Asian champion added a big medal to his tally by winning silver in the men’s 10000m at the Commonwealth Games. By clocking 27:49.78s, Gulveer became the first Indian to win a medal in the event, finishing behind Australia’s Ky Robinson (27:48.93s).Gulveer’s silver run completed another lap of sorts. He has joined the late Milkha Singh and Avinash Sable, both of whom won non-relay medals at the Commonwealth Games before him.Sable landed his steeplechase silver at Birmingham in 2022 while Milkha’s 440yard gold at the 1958 Cardiff Games was the country’s first medal at the Commonwealth Games. Incidentally, all of them have been athletes from the Indian Army.While Indian relay teams have won four medals (one gold, one silver and two bronze) between them, Harminder Singh (men’s 20km walk bronze, 2010) and Kavita Raut (women’s 10,000m bronze, 2010) are the other non-relay medallists for India.Even though he joined the Army to run away from running, the running never stopped for Gulveer. “After I joined the Army, I was told about sports, and that I would get a promotion if I won medals. I started running and was shifted to the Army Sports Institute in Pune, where I started to train for competition,” the Naib Subedar told TOI.Call it muscle memory or sheer talent, Gulveer adapted quickly and soon started winning inter-unit races in the army. By 2021, he was already training for national and international tournaments and won his first senior medal, a bronze at the 2022 Federation Cup.Medals at the National Games, a bronze at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023 followed as he started participating in the 5000m as well.Perhaps it is the intrinsic nature of his chosen sport, that in running as in life, Gulveer believes in keeping things simple. “I know that it is my job to run and I want to do my job well. All I was thinking about yesterday was how to win a medal. I was not thinking about anything else during the whole race,” he said. “I have been training in the US on and off, for many months now. It is my responsibility to train well and win medals,” he said.Asked what he likes to do when he is not running, his was a disarmingly honest reply. “I eat and sleep.”Gulveer says he owes a lot to fellow Armyman and longdistance runner, Kartik Kumar. “Whatever I know today, has been taught by Kartik bhai . He tells me everything, right from what I should eat, how I should train and run. He has been an inspiration,” Gulveer said about the Asian Games silver medallist.But beneath all that humility, there lies a competitive streak. Asked if there was any other athlete who inspired him, Gulveer offered, “I aim to become big enough to inspire others rather than aspiring to become like someone.”Gulveer has enough time to recover from the rigours of the 10,000m to be in the fray for the 5000m on Saturday.
