SSC
'Golden Girl' is the autobiography of:
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Answer: Option D — P. T. Usha
Detailed Solution
- Usha. "Golden Girl" is the autobiography of P. T. Usha, the legendary Indian sprinter and hurdler from Kerala. It was published in 1987.
About the book:
It describes her childhood in Payyoli, a village in Kozhikode district, her training under coach O. M. Nambiar, and her rise to become Asia's best woman athlete.
It covers her heartbreak at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where she finished fourth in the 400 m hurdles by just 1/100th of a second, and her four gold medals at the 1986 Seoul Asian Games.
About P. T. Usha:
- She is called "Payyoli Express" and "Udanpari".
- She won 4 golds and 1 silver at the 1986 Asian Games and 5 golds at the 1985 Asian Athletics Championships.
- She received the Arjuna Award (1983) and the Padma Shri (1985).
- She runs the Usha School of Athletics in Kerala.
- She was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2022 and became the first woman President of the Indian Olympic Association in December 2022.
Other autobiographies of Indian women athletes:
- Mary Kom: "Unbreakable" (2013).
- Sania Mirza: "Ace Against Odds" (2016).
- Saina Nehwal: "Playing to Win" (2012).
- Mithali Raj's life was shown in the film "Shabaash Mithu" (2022).
Other "Golden" titles in sport:
"The Golden Hat Trick": Balbir Singh Sr. (hockey).
"Golden Boy": a common nickname for Neeraj Chopra.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Anju Bobby George won India's first World Athletics Championships medal (2003); "Golden Girl" is not her book.
- ✗Karnam Malleswari was the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal (2000).
- ✗Saina Nehwal's autobiography is "Playing to Win".
Quick tip
Remember: "Golden Girl" = P. T. Usha (1987); "Unbreakable" = Mary Kom; "Ace Against Odds" = Sania Mirza; "Playing to Win" = Saina Nehwal.
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Books & Authors — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Books & Authors, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers famous books and their authors, including ancient Indian texts, works of the freedom struggle, classic and modern literature, autobiographies of famous people, and recently published books by well-known personalities. Questions usually name a book and ask for its author, or the other way round. Ancient and historical books, such as Arthashastra (Kautilya), Indica (Megasthenes) and Gitanjali (Rabindranath Tagore), are tested most often. Autobiographies are another favourite, so learn titles such as 'My Experiments with Truth' (Mahatma Gandhi) and 'Wings of Fire' (A. P. J. Abdul Kalam). Practise the books and authors questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.