Eric Prabhakar

Although a stand-out cricketer and hockey player during his time at Madras Christian College, he excelled at track and field and won the sprint double at every Indian championship from 1942 to 1948. After completing a degree in economics at Madras University he became one of the first two Indians to be awarded a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University in England.

Prabhakar reached the quarter-final of the 100 m at the London Olympics and the next year became the first Indian to win an Oxford blue on the track. After completing his studies he joined the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris and served as the head of the organization’s operations in Asia for eight years in the seventies. After he retired from UNESCO he was a sports administrator in India heading the Tamil Nadu Amateur Athletic Association and serving as vice-president of the national governing body. He also wrote a novel and an athletics manual.

Personal Best: 100 – 10.8 (1944).