Athletics – The Olympics are a sad story of near misses
The story of India in the athletics events at the Olympics is quite a tale.
It starts with the fairy tale effort of Norman Pritchard in the 1904 Olympics. Not part of any official contingent (there wasn’t one actually), Pritchard just happened to be in Paris at the time of the Olympics. He ended up participating and winning two silvers – in the 200 meters and the 200 meters hurdles.
If we were fortunate to get these two medals in 1904, we have been rather unfortunate ever since – we haven’t won a single medal in the next 104 years of the Olympics. What makes it especially unfortunate is the fact that we have come within a hair’s breadth of a medal on multiple occasions only to be thwarted and left heart broken again and again
The first of these was Hennery Rebello in the 1948 London Olympics. Considered a genuine medal prospect, Rebello qualified for the final of the Triple Jump but withdrew because of a muscle injury.
Then there were the two Sikhs - Milkha Singh and Gurbachan Singh Randhawa. ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh broke the Olympic record in the 400m at Rome in 1960 but ended up a close 4th. Four years later in Tokyo, Gurbachan followed him with a 5th place finish in the 110m hurdles.
In 1976 Sriram Singh was way back in 7th place in the 800m but his failure really rankles till this day because of the apathy of the Indian officials which impacted his performance. Sriram was a little stiff after his semi-final race and needed a sports physio to massage his tired legs. The Indian officials accompanying the squad hardly made any effort to get him one. Undeterred and unattended, Sriram gamely carried on till the halfway mark before his weary legs finally caught up with him.
Then in 1984 in Los Angeles P.T Usha came closer than anyone else, missing out on the bronze in a photo finish. This had been a great medal opportunity – the East Europeans were missing in this Olympics and the 400m hurdles was being introduced for the first time. Usha’s coach - O.P Nambiar‘s selection of this event for his ward could have well been a coaching master-stroke
Our performance at the Olympics took a major dive after this.
Then Anju Bobby George came along. For three years she was amongst the best in the world. She won a bronze at the World Championships in 2003 and a silver at the IAAF World Athletics Final in 2005 - both firsts for Indian athletes. A medal at the 2004 Olympics would have completed her collection of medals and firsts. Sadly, the Olympics coincided with one of her bad days in office.
The latest chapter in the story of Olympic heart breaks for Indian athletics.
I think that the only hope for a medal in London is Tintu Luka from PT.Usha’s acedemy. There are other kids like shilpa and Aswathy Mohan on whom PT Usha is beting her bucks.
Unfortunately Anju Bobby George is well past her prime. The best option for her is to join PT Usha as coach for jumps.
A medal in athletics will be a dream come true
Joe, please do track the progress of the athletes you just mentioned… A medal in athletics would be the sweetest.
Hey Joe…the jumps actually make a lot of sense…all the great jumpers have come from Malluland…right from TC Yohannan to Anju Bobby George…with an encouraging dad like you, your son could do what these guys narrowly failed to do - win an Olympic medal
Jumps make a lot of sense because you dont need someone to set your pace. India would have produced great jumpers. Studs like Annavi ( chennai dude and an ex-high jump champ) were compelled to practise in sand and not those hi-fi beds. By the way, chennai have this tradition of producing great high jumpers.
Not just jumps… almost all the events in Athletics(minus throws) are dominated by mallus. I think its because of sports schools that are managed well.
Could well be…I hear there are some really talented youngsters in PT Usha’s academy…tell me something…how much does the state govt do for sports in Kerala
I think they spend the funds properly. There was this “sports Hostel section” in my college hostel for Swimming, Basket Ball , Hockey,Throw Ball and Athletics. The college’s PE departments pays Hostel fee for about 10 footballers too. Most of the kids are from the weaker section of the society.There were NIS trained coaches assigned by the federations to all these teams. They were given accommodation in the hostel too. I think theere is less corruption wrt sports in Malluland . Most of my friends played for the country too ( except Hockey)
Since i lived the same block.. i used to travel with teams