JOIN USTrack to reflect harsh reality
The Olympic years bring the best out of Indian athletes, even if the Olympic Games themselves might not.
The urge to join the big bash is such that spectacular performances are witnessed in the qualification phase every four years. The desire invariably reaches the point of desperation for some, driving them towards trying every means to attain the goal of becoming an Olympian.
The mad race this time concluded on July 11, with broad smiles on some faces and utter dejection on some others. And after additions, deletions and miscalculations, the magic number headed for Rio read 36 -- before the National Anti-Doping Agency threw in their figures.
One big fish, Inderjeet Singh, is in the net and there are indications that more could follow. In a season of denials and conspiracy stories, tales to beat Bollywood potboilers could hit your television screens before the opening ceremony in Brazil.
The negativity and fear have swiftly stifled the euphoria witnessed on July 11 when three more athletes joined the bandwagon at the fourth Indian Grand Prix in Bengaluru. The events that unfolded that day, and also in the third Indian Grand Prix the previous day, were unbelievable as performers hit the track with a vengeance, killing national records while triggering doubts in the minds of many about their true worth.
Indeed, this has been a record year for national records. A total of 12 have been rewritten this year alone, bringing a couple of their creators close to medal standards. For that to materialise, a repeat performance is imperative, something India’s athletes have failed to achieve in the past.
Reaching the final itself has proved to be a hard task on the grandest of stages when reality bites, making home shows look like distant dreams. Post Independence, only nine Indian athletes have entered finals in Olympic Games – Baldev Singh (long jump), Henry Rebello (triple jump, both 1948); Milkha Singh (400M, 1960), Gurbachan Singh Randhawa (110M hurdles, 1964), Sriram Singh (800M, 1976), P T Usha (400M hurdles, 1984), Anju George (long jump, 2004), Vikas Gowda (discus throw, 2012) and Krishna Poonia (discus, 2012).
This time, the pattern is remarkably similar to the Sydney Games in 2000 when India fielded their previous biggest track and field squad. The 29-member team then returned with just one semifinal appearance – K M Beenamol in the women’s 400M. The overall dip in performance was striking on that occasion and awareness of that low certainly helps in keeping the recent highs in proper perspective.
Among the Indian record-breakers, two jumpers stand out for the sheer scale of their efforts. Triple jumper Renjith Maheswary had not crossed 17 metres for close to six years when he decided enough was enough and pulled out a 17.30 thunderbolt on July 11 in Bengaluru. That made him the third best triple jumper in the world this year but being in the company of American big guns Christian Taylor (season’s best of 17.78) and Will Clay (17.65) doesn’t make Renjith a Rio hope by any stretch of imagination.
“I will do better, at least by a centimetre,” declared the 30-year-old after his record-breaking feat. Tall talks come easy for Renjith, tall deeds rarely so. With the dubious distinction of two no-marks in qualifying rounds – at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu and in London 2012 – redemption must be on Renjith’s mind.
Renjith’s fellow jumper in the squad, Ankit Sharma, knocked down the 8-metre barrier at the National Games last year. The long-jumper then stunned the Indian athletics fraternity with that monster 8.19M jump at Almaty in June, making him the 18th best performer this season.
“Our first goal is to make the final, where anything is possible,” said Ankit’s coach Bedros Bedrosian, highlighting the need for consistency.
The 4x400M relay teams were nothing short of sensational in the build-up. The women were expected to make the Games and they did it, after finding a new force in Nirmala Sheoran, even as wrangling over the combinations continue. The men were the surprise packets and their time in Bengaluru – 3:00.91 – looked too good to be true. But even that doesn’t ensure a medal shows the distance India have to travel.
Improving their season’s best efforts will be the target for Dharambir Singh (men’s 200), Mohd Anas (men’s 400), Jinson Johnson (men’s 800M), Dutee Chand (women’s 100M) and Srabani Nanda (women’s 200M) as well as shotputter Manpreet Kaur, whose form is a mystery, having largely remained under wraps this season. Discus ace Vikas Gowda, eighth in London, too has hardly competed, bothered by an injury. How ready he is will be known on August 12, the day men’s discus throwers kick off the Olympic athletics programme.
Krishna Poonia’s sixth place was a creditable achievement in London. This time Seema Antil carries the burden in women’s discus. A controversy over her whereabouts and the revelation that she was training in Russia has not helped Indian athletics’ cause in the current scenario. In women’s 800, Tintu Luka, a semifinalist last time, will find the road hard in a season in which Caster Semenya has raised standards and eyebrows in equal measure.
An army of walkers qualified for Rio before the AFI narrowed down the choice but they are unlikely to cause a flutter. The same can be said of marathon runners, both men and women, even though Nitender Singh Rawat has talked of delivering a good time. From Nikolai Snesarev’s stable, steeplechasers Sudha Singh and Lalita Babar, placed 22 and 23 on the world lists, have been doing well. National records and a place in the final will be the challenges in front of them as India brace up for testing times in track and field.