Paris Olympics Dispatch: Manu Bhaker takes the cruel end in her stride, hoping to turn it into motivation

A fourth place, as they say, is the cruellest of all losses. It leaves behind a heart-break story of what-could-be. Yet, Manu Bhaker, who finished fourth in the women’s 25m pistol final at Chateauroux, presented a very calm and composed demeanour after a heart-wrenching loss in a shoot-off. She was on the doorstep of history as she was gunning for third medal and bettering her own status of being the first Indian to win more than one medal at a single Olympics.

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Indians have had about 20 or so fourth-place finishes in the Olympics over the years. Among those heart-breaks was one from PT Usha, the President of IOA, who was one-hundredth of a second away from a bronze in 400m hurdles in 1984.

The 22-year-old Bhaker’s fourth place was the third one in these Games itself. This followed Arjun Babuta was fourth in men’s 10m air rifle and the mixed archery duo was Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat lost a bronze play-off match.

Bhaker’s fourth was different in that she had two medals already in her kitty and at 22 she has many more Olympics ahead of her. She herself promised that.

Read | How Manu Bhaker missed out on medal in women’s pistol final, what is a shoot-off?

Bhaker’s turnaround story from a devastating failure to make a final amidst a pistol malfunction in Tokyo 2020 (the Games were held in 2021), is a fairy-tale. Her poise after the painful loss in the shoot-off, was as classy as it was candid. In that fleeting moment, her innocence, while she fought back tears, was childlike. Yet, she kept a brave front and said, “I am already looking forward to the next one. I got really nervous in the last shot. I was trying to keep calm, but it was not enough.”

“Fourth place is not as amazing (as a medal) … I was trying to give my best. In this event, I was not able to give my best performance," added the Jhajjar shooter.

It was almost as if she was trying to console us — the media corps and through us, her millions of fans back home. “I am happy with the two medals I got, and this (the fourth place) has given me more motivation to work harder.”

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She went on, “I am already looking forward to the next cycle,” she added, while not forgetting all those who had backed and supported her directly or otherwise.

Even before this final, Bhaker had told fans not to be disappointed if she was unable to win a third medal. And when she actually failed to do so, her fans understandably were forgiving and social media was full of praise for a girl so young but with a mature head on her shoulders.

Manu’s first bronze medal in 10m Air Pistol earlier in the week was India’s first medal since 2012 London, when Gagan Narang, now the Chef de Mission won a bronze. She also became the first Indian woman to earn a medal in shooting and two days later, Manu added a second bronze to her in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team with Sarabjot Singh.

During the three years of keeping her hurt inside while trying to rebuild herself and rebuild the relationship with her coach, Jaspal Rana, Manu has matured a lot. She has religion and yoga to support; she has a team led by Rana and her parents and a doting federation. To that add the governmental support, which has been monumental.

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“There has been a lot of hard work going on in the backstage. So many people have worked hard so that India can win a medal. Throughout my journey, it has been great. I would like to thank the entire ministry, SAI, PM Modi, my coach, Jaspal sir, my family, my friends and the support staff at the range… I thank each and every one of you. I hope we come up with a better result next time,” said Manu graciously.

A litany of heart-breaks

Fourth places after are not a nice place to be in. An elimination earlier than that is sometimes handled better. Through the years, many Indians have suffered a litany of ‘fourth place’ heart-breaks.

More Indians have finished fourth in wrestling than any other sport. They include Randhir Shinde (Antwerp 1920 Olympics in men’s 54 kg freestyle) but that was in the days when wrestlers had a play-off for bronze.

Then followed Keshav Mangave (Helsinki 1952 Olympics, men’s 62kg freestyle), Prem Nath — (Munich 1972 Olympics, men’s 57kg freestyle wrestling) and Sudesh Kumar (Munich 1972 Olympics, men’s 52 kg freestyle wrestling) and Rajinder Singh (Los Angeles 1984 Olympics, men’s 74 kg freestyle wrestling).

The stories of Milkha Singh (Rome 1960 Olympics, men’s 400m athletics) and Usha (Los Angeles 1984, women’s 400m hurdles) are part of Indian sports folklore, having been repeated millions of times.

Leander Paes lost a chance to take a second medal, when he and Mahesh Bhupathi lost in the semi-finals of the men’s doubles in Athens, 2004. They then lost 7-6 ((7-5), 4-6, 16-14 to Croatia’s Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic in the bronze medal match. Paes had earlier won a bronze in men’s singles in 1996 when he beat Fernando Meligeni in a bronze play-off match in Atlanta after losing the semi-final to Andre Agassi.

Another tennis pair Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna lost a chance to medal as they lost to Radek Stepanek and Lucie Hradecka 6-1, 7-5 and missed out on a bronze in the mixed doubles in Rio 2016 Olympics.

At Athens in 2004 where Rajyavardhan Rathore bagged a bronze in Double Trap shooting, the diminutive women’s weightlifter Kunjarani Devi was fourth in women’s 48kg weightlifting

Joydeep Karmakar was the unlucky fourth in men’s 50m Rifle Prone at London in the 2012 Olympics.

Four years later, Abhinav Bindra, a gold medallist in 2008 in 10m Air Rifle was within a whisker of a second medal, albeit a bronze in Rio 2016 Olympics, but ended fourth in what was his fifth and farewell Olympic Games. He shot 10 in the play-off, while Ukraine’s Serhiy Kulish of Ukraine shot 10.5.

Also in Rio in 2016, Dipa Karmakar was a path-breaking fourth in women’s vault gymnastics and in Tokyo in 2021 (the 2020 Games were delayed by a year) Aditi Ashok was heart-breakingly fourth in women’s golf.

Two Indian teams, the Indian football team in the 1956 Melbourne Games and the Indian women’s hockey team in Tokyo 2020 were also fourth. The Indian women lost the bronze medal match 4-3 to Great Britain while wrester Deepak Punia missed out on bronze by a whisker in the men’s 86kg category in the same edition.

These Games have seen Babuta in men’s 10m air rifle shooting, the mixed archery team of Dhiraj and Ankita and Manu Bhaker in fourth places, one outside of a place on the podium, that would have put them in the history books.