B EFORE HIS best race, at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff in 1958, Milkha Singh was under far too much stress to sleep. That day he prayed, touched his forehead to the ground and promised to do his best; but the honour of India, he told God, was in His hands. This was, after all, the new India, independent of Britain for only a decade, striving to win gold in games where, as a part of empire, it had never done before. Listen to this story Enjoy more audio and podcasts oniOSorAndroid. On the track for the 440-yard sprint, Malcolm Spence of South Africa, the world-record ho...