A RevSportz Exclusive
By now, we’ve all seen the pictures and replays many times over. The false start, the chaos that ensued, a ten-minute delay, all the girls being allowed to race, and Jyothi Yarraji’s long, loping strides that allowed her to come back from a slow start to win a medal that was upgraded to silver once China’s Yanni Wu was rightly disqualified. On Monday morning, James Hillier, Athletics Director at the Reliance Foundation and Jyothi’s coach, spoke to Boria Majumdar, RevSportz Editor-in-chief, and tried to make sense of one of the most extraordinary races any of us has ever seen.
Boria: Jyothi dedicated her medal to someone who she said ‘taught her sports’. Could you tell us a little more about that?
James Hillier: Her senior [Gautam]… he was very influential at the start of her athletics career. He was a 200m athlete and he kind of got her into athletics. He encouraged her, helped her a lot. And he died in a motorbike accident a month ago. It was very very tough. She saw him just before he died. It was terrible. He was in a coma, and then he died just after she saw him. So, she dedicated this to him, his memory.
Boria: This was all about mental strength yesterday. If you could kindly tell me what she was being told…what transpired there?
Hillier: You saw the pictures, right? So, this Chinese girl [Yanni Wu] went early. There was a lot of pressure, a lot of tension. The Chinese girl was quite worried actually. During the warm-up, Jyothi told me she was looking at her a lot. They were worried about Jyothi for sure. They know how good Jyothi is and the Chinese girls, especially the one that false-started – you could feel she was worried about Jyothi.
So, she went early. When the athlete is next to you, you tend to go [too]. You twitch or something like that. You act on the movement of the athlete next to you. This girl has gone. False start. Then they pulled Jyothi into the situation. They’ve given her a red card as well, which is just bizarre. I’ve told her in the past, if anything like this happens…if you ever get pulled for something like a false start you didn’t do, you stand your ground. You go and speak to the officials. Worst case, if they won’t let you off for the false start, you run under appeal.
🚨Jyothi Yarraji & James Hillier Exclusive🚨
“I want to thank all of India for standing by me. I dedicate this medal to Gautham who brought me into sport. He passed away last month after an accident” Jyothi Yarraji.
“I don’t care who says what. Jyothi is the best in Asia. It… pic.twitter.com/PRpxjBSzTq
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) October 2, 2023
Boria: Thank God you did that!
Hillier: Thankfully, I’d had that conversation and told her exactly what to do. She went and spoke to the officials, she was calm, she was collected. She explained the situation, asked what was going on. She told them the girl next to her moved, and that’s what caused all this chaos with the other girls. I think one of the others went as well [Japan’s Masumi Aoki in lane 3].
I was in the stadium, but I didn’t see any replays of it. In fact, I still haven’t. And they didn’t show any of the reaction times, so we don’t even know if it was under the legal limit.
In the end, both the girls ran under appeal. There was a furore going on. I literally raced out to the TIC [Technical Information Centre] to get ready to do a protest. The Chinese appealed. Thankfully, their appeal failed. In the end, like a good Bollywood movie, it was a happy ending, and an amazing one for Jyothi.
It’s been an incredibly long season and no one has been more consistent than her. She’s had four international medals this year. What she’s done is incredible. The Chinese girl [Yuwei Lin] won. Fair enough. She did well. But she didn’t do well in the other events. Jyothi beat her in the Asian Championships and the World University Games. That Chinese girl only targeted this event, whereas Jyothi targeted all the events. She won a gold in the Asian Championships in the hurdles, and a silver in the 200m. She won a bronze in the World University Games and a silver here. Jyothi is the best in Asia. I don’t care what anyone says. The most consistent, and she’s won four international medals. What a season, and what drama.
I mean, I can’t even talk to you about what happened in the 200m in the morning. You know about that. She ran so badly that she didn’t even qualify for the final. It’s the most angry I think I’ve ever been as a coach. She just didn’t do what I know she can. I had a very very tough conversation with her. Full respect to Jyothi, she took everything I said on board. She said: ‘Absolutely right, coach. I made a mistake.’ She rectified it in the hurdles and full credit to her. I think the mistake in the 200m was part of her destiny for the hurdles, if that makes sense. The mistake there galvanized her, and made her more focused. She had the best warm-up I’ve ever seen her do. She was just brilliant, and the nation is proud of her. And what a story. That’s what we want. We want stories in sport, don’t we?
Boria: One final question. We talk about sport being physical and mental. This is such an incredible mesh of the physical and mental. What will this do to Jyothi as an athlete going forward? Clearly, both of you, as coach and student, have turned a leaf with such adversity. What will be the lasting impact of this race? She will now become a far better and more mature athlete.
Hillier: I’ll put it into context. I’ve been coaching her just over two years. She did really well in the first year. Made a big breakthrough, ran under 13s [in the 100m hurdles] for the first time, and stuff like that. Now, it’s really hard in the second year to keep progressing because you have to have some consolidation. This year was always going to be tough in a weird way because the expectation was certainly high. What’s she’s done is consistently performed under pressure. Next year is going to be amazing because she can push forward to the next level. It’s a perfect stepping stone, and a perfect end to the international season. What she’s done against the Chinese, in their own backyard as well.
It’s not an easy place to come. When they introduced the Chinese girls, the crowd went absolutely crazy. When they introduced the Indian girls, they were silent. It’s a tough place to come and run. I’d like to see those girls come to India and race Jyothi, you know [laughs]. That’s going to be a different story.
She’s learned a lot, and is growing up all the time. She’s been a professional athlete only for two years. That’s not long. I don’t think I’ve seen drama like this in my life. Yesterday was the maddest day of my life. From anger and frustration in the morning. After the 200m, I had to sit by the river for two and a half hours on my own because I couldn’t speak to anybody. It’s so tough on the coaches, you know. You’re so emotionally attached to these things. And then, we had the drama of last night.
Also Read: Celebrate Jyothi Yarraji’s Silver, but Also Question Stolen Gold