India, April 14 -- "They are approaching 28 km and (Waldemar) Cierpinski, the East German, is tucked right in there with Frank Shorter, (Shivnath) Singh is closing up again as well.," the animated voice from an old video of the 1976 Montreal Olympics marathon crackles. Spectators line both sides of the Montreal streets, cheering the runners and holding umbrellas as rain pelts down. Wearing a blue jersey, the short-statured Shivnath can be seen pushing himself hard in third place, with just 14 km to go.

Before Montreal, Shivnath had established himself on the Asian circuit in track events, winning two medals at the 1974 Asian Games in Tehran (10,000m and 5,000m); however, the marathon was new to him. An Indian grinding it out with the wor...