From waiter to an Olympian in Rio: This is India's unsung hero Manish Rawat's story – HATS OFF!

Manish Singh Rawat's final timing, 1:21:21, was less than a minute behind the bronze medallist.

Courtesy: Facebook ( Manish Singh Rawat )

New Delhi: Sakshi Malik, Dipa Karmakar and PV Sindhu were the only athletes whose performances at the Rio Olympics were lauded but they aren't the only ones to receive such praise.

India's race-walker Manish Singh Rawat finished 13th in the finals of the 20km event at Rio and his performance was incredible if the following stats are considered:

• Defeated 4 former world champions.
• Defeated 3 Asian champions.
• Defeated 2 European champions.
• And more so, 2 past Olympic medallists.
• His final timing, 1:21:21, was less than a minute behind the bronze medallist.

The truth behind Manish's road to Rio will make all Indians proud of him even more.

In 2006, he took up the job of a part-time waiter near his hometown, Sattar (Uttarakhand). With two sisters and a young brother at home, the responsibilities of running the family was on Rawat's shoulders after his father's death in 2002.

He had an incredibly hard time sustaining his family with the wages he earned as a waiter.

He sought athletics as the platform to get a government job and hence decided to pursue racewalking.

UK recently declared that they spent 5.5 million pounds on each medal winner and if you compare that to Manish's achievements, bet he was better than any of those UK athletes and even many others in across the globe.