There have been many wonderful images created at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest but though it has been two days, few of these have overshadowed the image of a distraught Avinash Sable searching for the right words, a logical explanation, and a balm to soothe his wounded soul. Or of India’s vaunted triple jump trio fading into the darkness of a Budapest night.
The cruel beauty of sport may come across as a paradox, but it punishes bravado just as much as it rewards bravery. And this contrast, rather similar to the weather which has swung from a thunderstorm to heat and humidity, has been highlighted sharply on the first two days of the World Championships being held on the banks of river Danube.
Months of hard work have ended in a heartbreak, sometimes just a few metres from the finish and sometimes in the semifinals. At the other end of the spectrum, years of relentless pursuit have finally given an athlete a trip to the podium. And there are a whole lot of others who have experienced diverse emotions during and after their competition.
With no Indians on view on Monday, there was a chance for the Indian leadership to sensitively engage the athletes and coaches in a team huddle. It is not known if there has been a review of the events gone by in the first couple of days when there was little to write home about, but there surely should be an attempt to ensure the morale of those yet to compete remains high.
With the likes of M Sreeshankar and Jeswin Aldrin, the world leader, in the long jump, as well as the javelin troika of Neeraj Chopra, Kishore Kumar Jena and DP Manu expected to deliver a string of strong performances in the latter half of the championships, it is imperative that the team leadership puts its best foot forward in making them stay focused on the task on hand.
Unlike in the past, Indian athletes can no longer complain about the quality of preparation since the Athletics Federation of India, with the support of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, leaves no stone unturned on this front. There are also many other organisations that extend their support to the athletes.
So, have the 11 Indians on view so far been intimidated by pressure? I do not think it is a misplaced belief that this generation of athletes is fearless and does not get overawed by the nature of the competition and its majestic enormity. The hunger to do well is a thread, spun by Chopra’s Olympic Games gold medal, that binds them all.
Yet, such hunger is one thing and bringing their A game to the table on the big occasion is another. Of course, it is not always possible to produce personal-best performances. At the World Championships, we have already seen even reigning world champions – notably Fred Kerley, last year’s 100m champion – falling by the wayside for one reason or the other.
Having said that, there seems no real explanation for the lacklustre performances of the triple jumpers, especially Praveen Chithravel, who had produced the world’s fifth-best effort this year with a 17.37m jump earlier in the season. He finished nearly a metre behind that mark, and was a primary reason for the shock and disappointment among fans.
Sometimes, fans get too critical when their expectations are not met. The contrary is true as well. Fans and critics alike tend to lose a sense of perspective when an athlete exceeds expectations. Just as athletes learn to live in the moment and not carry the baggage of the past or the unknown future, fans may have to embrace the idea of being in the moment.
Though athletes like Sable, Edlhose Paul and Abdulla Aboobacker have experienced the magic that happens when their A game is on at the Commonwealth Games, they will need to keep chipping away until this becomes a habit. But bridging the gap between potential and performance on the biggest occasions is the trick they must find ways to add to their travel bags.
The two Indian athletes who spoke after their events are from similar backgrounds and yet diverse. Sable, the steeplechaser, and Sarvesh Kushare, the high jumper, are both from the hinterland in Maharashtra and are both attached to the Army, but their training has been different, with the former being based in Colorado Springs and the latter training in India.
Naturally, they responded differently to their inability to progress to the medal round at the World Championships. Sable was gutted that he could not finish among the top five in his 3000m steeplechase heats. On the contrary, though Kushare did not clear 2.25m, 1cm below his personal best, he walked away with more knowledge about his event and himself.
Even before we chanced upon Sable nursing his wounded soul, my colleague Sundeep Mishra and I had heard a female athlete cry in disappointment. That led to a discussion on how some sports allow players and fans to move on pretty quickly from a heartbreak, while exponents of track and field sport and their supporters have to endure the pain for longer durations.
An added challenge for these athletes is to find ways to lock away bitter memories in some remote corner of the mind, pick themselves up and enjoy their sport again. Easier said than done, of course. But with only a little over a month left for the Asian Games athletics competitions in Hangzhou, the Indians have no option but to bounce back.