As the curtains are drawn on the Paris Olympics 2024, it is time to have a deep dive into India’s performances in Track and Field events at the mega-event. So, were the Indian athletes able to exceed expectations or was it an underwhelming show? Outside of Neeraj’s Chopra sealing his second medal at Olympics, was there an athlete who came across as a shining light?
Avinash Sable – For a moment, if you leave out Neeraj, Avinash’s performance in the 3000m Steeplechase was the highlight of India’s show in Track and Field events. The 29-year-old secured a berth in the final and finished a creditable 11th. It is true a critic can point out that even Avinash didn’t match his Personal Best of 8:09.91, which he achieved in the Diamond League. But let’s be fair to Avinash as it is tough to keep pace with the likes of Kibiwot, Lamache Girma, Amos Serem, Samuel Firewu, Soufiane El Bakkali, Kenneth Crooks and Co.
Unfortunately, there were enough disappointments from India’s point of view. Let’s consider Jyothi Yarraji. The 100m hurdler has a Personal Best of 12.78 seconds. In the Olympics, she came seventh in her Heat, with a timing of 13.16 seconds and that was followed by a fourth-place-finish in the Repechage. It is not that if Jyothi had matched or come close to her Personal Best, she would have sealed a medal, but there was a decent chance of reaching the semifinal stage.
It was a similar story for the Javelin Thrower, Annu Rani. Rani, who has come through many upheavals in her life, has a Person Best of 63.82 metres. She also won the Gold Medal at the Asian Games last year. In the just-concluded Olympics, she was placed a lowly 15th, with Lekamge of Sri Lanka taking the last position. In fact, if Annu had come within range of her PB, she might have taken second or third place in the qualifying round.
For someone who once told this writer, “Every athlete thinks that if Neeraj can do this from the same environment and by using the same kind of facilities, then we can also do it,” a few pieces of the jigsaw were missing from her modest performance.
One of the few women athletes who was not far away from her best timing was the long-distance runner, Parul Chaudhary. Parul clocked a time of 15:10.68 in Heat 2 in the 5000 metres. Incidentally, her PB in that event is 15:10.35.
Even on the men’s side there were enough below par performances. Last year, Kishore Jena, the ace Javelin Thrower, had bagged the Silver in the Asian Games, with a solid throw of 87.54m. However, he seems to have lost his mojo this year, which is further exemplified by the fact that he only has the 52nd throw of the season. In the Paris Olympics, he ended up 9th in his group with a throw of 80.73m.
It was no different for Tejinder Singh Toor, the shot-putter. The well-built athlete was slotted in at 15th position with a throw of 18.05 metres. In fact, he had just one legal throw in the competition. Tejinder, who has won two Gold Medals at the Asian Games, has a PB of 21.77m. Sarvesh Kushare too had a difficult time, taking the 13th position in the High Jump Qualification Round.
A lot was expected of the 4x400m relay team – Muhammed Anas, Muhammed Ajmal, Amoj Jacob, Rajesh Ramesh and Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan, as four of them were part of the Gold-winning-medal effort in the Asian Games last year. To their credit, they put up a decent show, with a season’s best of 3:00.58, but it wasn’t enough to qualify from Round 1, Heat 2.
Most of the above-mentioned athletes didn’t have much of a chance of winning a medal at the Olympics. But if the throws or timings were near to their respective personal bests, a substantial portion of those athletes could have progressed to the semi-final or summit clash of the competition. Alas! It didn’t work out that way. It also indicates that to some extent the athletes themselves have to introspect as to how they couldn’t find the best version of themselves on the grandest stage.