What happened to Vinesh Phogat was heartbreaking, but she still has a lot to offer to Indian wrestling and we must utilise her: Ashwini Nachappa

As the post-mortem and overall analysis of India’s campaign at the Paris Olympics continues, one thing that has become very clear is that most experts feel that the campaign could definitely have been better.

But what really needs to be done to ensure that Indian sport overall continues to improve on the biggest stage of them all? After all, there are multiple athletes who do well at the continental level or the World Cup or World Championship level and then are unable to take that form or confidence into the Olympics. Why?

What role exactly do the federations play in assessing mental strength and is there any accountability after a below par performance? Why are many Indian athletes, who are being given the best of facilities, resources and support not being able to put up their personal best performances at the Olympics?

 These are some of the questions that came up for discussion in my chat with former Indian track and field athlete, Olympian, Arjuna awardee and someone who works tireless at the grassroots level to help improve Indian athletics, Ashwini Nachappa.

 Excerpts…

 Paris 2024, I thought, was a very interesting edition of the Games from an Indian perspective. Whether it was a success overall or not depends entirely on an individual’s definition of success, I guess, vis-à-vis the Olympics. Your overall take on the Indian contingent’s performance at Paris 2024…

I personally feel that, compared to our days, back in the 1980s – in the last three Olympic editions we have seen a large number of athletes, across disciplines qualifying for the Olympics. It’s not easy, so that is commendable, to have had 117 athletes (at the Paris Games). Having said that if you look at where we stand in the last three cycles of the Olympics. We are in a frame of mind – not just as athletes, but also as a general public, looking to win medals. I think that’s a transformational shift in the psyche of our athletes. Back in our days, it was mere qualifying. But today they go out to the Olympic Games or World Championships, looking to achieve that best performance and medals. Medals being the key. I think that started with Rajyavardhan Rathore, Abhinav Bindra and it has been a continuous 1-2, 1-2 (medals) till Tokyo, where we got seven and then this year, where we got six. Yes, in terms of disappointment, in the larger context of the general public, they were expecting (at least) 7 and almost doubling it. That doesn’t really happen. For me, it has been a mixed bag in terms of good performers, stand out performances and disappointments. If I take my own sport – athletics – we (India) fielded 29 athletes, who qualified. Most of them have been breaking national records after national records, most of them training overseas with exposure, everything given, (but), only one performer - Neeraj Chopra. Other than Avinash Sable reaching the final (men’s 3000m steeplechase), though he was nowhere close to his national mark that he broke, just before the Paris Games, everybody else was far, far below than even their (personal) best. The Olympic Games, the World Championships is for you to showcase your best performance. It’s not just about medals. Your season’s best, or repeating your national record – so that is questionable in my field (athletics). I think we need to have a serious look at that, because they (athletes) can’t go so much below their best. The federation needs to be accountable – how are they (the athletes) managing (to set) such national records, just before going (to the Olympics). There is no accountability and no questions asked. It is after all public money that is being spent on our athletes, which is good, it’s way, way beyond what we would have imagined say two decades back.

So, who should be held accountable here?

There has to be accountability from the athletes, the federation and the coaches. When you come to say badminton, I think there has also been disappointment and I think what Prakash Padukone said, I echo his sentiments. Back in our day we weren’t provided anything, it was difficult to even get a pair of running spikes. So, Chirag and Satwik (men’s doubles) were our best hope (in badminton) and Lakshya Sen came close, so the question is – what really is the mental ability or are we focussing enough mentally to be up there?

Prakash Padukone suggested that there must be a system in place, like it is in China, where they do not depend on one player and succeed in churning out players. Reuters

We have seen Olympic pressure affecting athletes in the past as well. You spoke about how you echo Prakash Padukone’s sentiments – now, we know that crores of rupees are being spent on the athletes, just for Olympic preparations – coaching, foreign exposure, equipment and facilities, diet etc. But when it comes to handling pressure, what more can be done? Who has to step up to the plate more? We have seen that the skills are there, but how can the mental challenge of being an Olympian be tackled better?

There is a lot of introspection that is required. Today’s athletes – the government is giving them every kind of support that is required and it can only enhance that support based on their performance. As an organisation or a federation how do they evaluate the mental strength of an athlete? These misses and all can happen to the world’s best athletes. They (Indian athletes) are winning at the World Cups, they are winning at the toughest tournaments. It’s not that they are not winning, so you cannot say that they are mentally not prepared for it. Of course they are mentally prepared for it.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty embrace at the centre of the court as Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik celebrate following their hard-fought victory over the Indian pair in the Paris Olympics badminton men’s doubles quarter-finals. AP

Right. Athletes like Satwik and Chirag – you would say that in a sport traditionally dominated by Asians, they won the Asian Games gold medal, just last year…

And then you (also) see in archery – the team (men’s recurve team) winning the World Cup (gold medal), beating the world’s best, South Korea, just before the Olympic Games. So, it’s not that they are not prepared for it. Yes, mental training needs to be one of the main focus areas for these top athletes. And, not just our top athletes. I think we should look at giving that kind of exposure to our B and C teams also, if you are looking at hosting the 2036 Olympics, because this churning out of athletes must be a consistent process. Personally, I feel it’s not enough to say I went for four or five Olympics. If at every Olympics you are doing your season’s best – great job. Because you have got everything else. In our days, we could say that – ‘oh, it was such a struggle to even qualify’ and for us there was no (foreign) exposure at all. Our only exposure was trials after trials, against each other. Now, if you take for example, golf – some of the best tournaments they are winning against the best players in the world, but they didn’t even finish in the top 10. So, is it enough? Are we happy? The Prime Minister, patting every athlete’s back before they go and when they come back or when they win (a medal) – this kind of encouragement has never happened before. Today, the athlete’s position is such that they are there (at a tournament like the Olympics) only to perform. They don’t need to think about anything else. One or two stray cases you will have despite the system coming up. Manu Bhaker’s coach (Jaspal Rana) was not paid for three years. But those who have been paid, are they questioned about it? And yet, Manu and Jaspal proved to the world what they are capable of.

One thing that has always intrigued me, when it come to pressure getting to athletes, is the approach. One very common refrain that we hear quite often, especially from cricketers, ahead of a high pressure match is ‘it’s just another game. We are not thinking about the opponent or what stage we are playing at.’ Now, we see non-cricket athletes for instance doing so well at the Asian Games or World Cups or the World Championships and then not managing to translate that form or those skills into Olympic medals. Can the mindset not be the same – that it’s just another match, another tournament, another couple of weeks of competition etc.?

When you are in an Olympic village and you are rubbing shoulders with Novak Djokovic or Usain Bolt or any other big name, it can quite intimidating, but it can also be quite inspiring and motivating. See, the fear of failure should never be there, because you have trained, you are confident, you have been performing, just before the Olympics. So, the fear is created within yourself, it is a choice one makes and how you handle that pressure is what mind training is all about.

So, you would say that it’s a very personal thing? Very individual…

It’s a personal thing. It also needs work. It needs training. It needs attitude. And today don’t tell me our athletes are not confident. Of course they are confident, they are empowered. We were never empowered.

And when you see athletes from other countries who are teenagers – 16, 17-year-olds, competing in maybe their maiden Olympics walking away with medals. Every individual is different of course and everyone feels and handles pressure differently, but when you see a 17-year-old swimmer, still in school, walking away with multiple gold medals, you would have to say that she is just handling the pressure way better. It’s not that she is not feeling the pressure, she is just handling it better, right?

Who doesn’t feel pressure? You think someone like Noah Lyles, because of his showmanship is not feeling the pressure? That’s the way he is handling the pressure. Every athlete on the track or the playing field has tension. I was reading today that Manu Bhaker’s coach said - ‘only the dead or the ignorant will not have pressure.’ Who doesn’t have pressure? You are going for an interview, you have pressure, you are writing an exam, you have pressure and today there are technology and tools available to help you handle that. Have we advanced in that sphere is something we need to look at and focus more on. Every four years we are constantly talking about medals and I think we should not measure India’s performance with medals, we should measure it by the process and the kind of performances that athletes put up. Medals are just the by-product.

There has been a lot of talk about the six fourth-place finishes that Indian athletes had at the Paris Games and most people are looking at them as six missed medals. But the flip side of that could also be that these are also very encouraging signs, because never before have so many Indian athletes come so close to winning a medal in a single edition of the Games?

There’s absolutely no doubt in that, but this has to be a consistent thing. It cannot be in one cycle of the Olympics (only). We had a lot of hope from London (2012) to Rio (2016) and Rio was a disaster (2 medals) and then Tokyo was good (7 medals) and now (in Paris) we are almost at the same number. So, of course it’s encouraging, but a miss is a miss, there are no ifs and buts in life. Fourth is fourth. It’s easy now, in hindsight, to say ‘yes, we could have won these many more medals, had they won.’ But that’s not reality. Many fourth places – encouraging, yes. Is there hope for the next edition? Lot of work in progress. That’s the way I look at it. I started off by saying that it’s so encouraging to see 100 plus athletes qualifying and being at the Olympic Games in the last few editions.

We were just talking about the mental ability of athletes. Now, what is the difference in the mental training of someone like (PR) Sreejesh vs the rest of the young players? It depends on how much you are willing to sacrifice and focus. Look at Manu Bhaker – against all odds (winning two medals in Paris). Look at Vinesh Phogat – that 15-18-month cycle of turbulence (and then to get to where she did). But I agree that a lot needs to be done in that area and more accountability and transparency needs to come in. There is enough encouragement from the government of India and TOPS (Target Olympic podium scheme) and other schemes of SAI (Sports Authority of India) to look into the way they are going to do it, they need to revisit some of the areas.

With gold and silver, Neeraj Chopra is India’s most successful individual Olympics athlete. AP

A word on Neeraj Chopra - winning silver this time, could have very easily have been gold, considering he threw his season’s best, if not for two monstrous throws by Arshad Nadeem. Don’t think anyone saw that one coming and a great moment for Pakistan athletics – they have their first individual Olympic gold medallist now. Your take on this Indian Olympic moment, because it looked, especially after qualification that Neeraj was on track for another gold…

I gave an interview a week before the Olympics (in Paris) started and I had said that we would all like to see Neeraj cross the 90m mark and I won’t guarantee you the colour of the medal this time. It is a high-pressure situation for a back-to-back Olympian, trying to get that medal back. And I think for Neeraj, performing his season’s best on that field was commendable. A silver is no easy task. No medal is an easy task. I think good for Arshad Nadeem, he had two throws above 90m, it wasn’t just one fluke throw. First time ever. He deserved it (gold medal). The performances of both the boys, Neeraj and Arshad were commendable.

You already talked about Avinash Sable, but another quick word on him. He did make the final of the 3000m steeplechase…

Not his personal best, but for me he was the dark horse. I thought he would come in the first bunch of the finalists.

Also, he is 29, so by the time the Los Angles Olympics roll around in 2028, he will be around 33…

So, who after Avinash? Do we have a B-team? Those are things we need to focus on. For me, it was a personal choice – of moving out with grace. You know when the time has come and let the second rung get that experience. For me personally, that has been my thought process. You should know when to let go, to make way for the others. And I think Sreejesh did a brilliant job – to leave on a high note is the best thing to do.

It was in some ways an exit like that of Cuban wrestler Mijain Lopez, who won five straight gold medals and retied…

Exactly. Yes.

You talked earlier about how the main aim of any athlete should be to continually improve their performances. In that context, what would your take be on the men’s 4x400m relay team? They narrowly missed out on a finals berth after finishing fourth in their heat, behind France. They did run a season best time, but that wasn’t enough. In Tokyo (2021) too they had missed out on the final by a whisker after finishing just outside the top 8, in ninth place…

They ran brilliantly at the Asian Games (gold at the 2023 Hangzhou Games). But they couldn’t repeat it here. Again, introspection. I don’t know if federations will ever do it, but analyse the process, analyse the performances. What went wrong, why it went wrong. Unless you do that, you really can’t prepare for the next one (Games edition).

For this men’s relay team in particular do you think it was also a case of the other teams on the day doing just much better, because they did manage to run a season’s best…

In relays, it also depends on which draw you are in. It’s like in tennis – you are in the worst draw and then you really don’t get up to the final. So, there is also a little bit of luck that is required to be in the right draw.

Julien Alfred won the women’s 100m title at Paris Olympics to make history as St Lucia’s first Olympic medallist. AP

Also, what about international athletics? You must have watched these Olympic Games very closely for non-India athletes and sports where there was no Indian participation, as well. Quite a few firsts this time, some big surprises. Which were your favourite moments? 

There was such a hype about the U.S vs Jamaica rivalry in the sprints. And I saw the St. Lucian athlete (Julien Alfred) win the women’s 100m – what a brilliant run. So, it’s not just the best technology, the best training – everybody is beatable on the day. That’s the mindset of all these smaller islands and countries coming in. The Turkish shooter (Yusuf Dikec – silver in mixed team 10m air pistol) who proved to the world that you don’t need top end gear etc. You just come and have that focus and go at it. I thoroughly enjoyed the Djokovic vs Alcaraz gold medal match. Two great champions and I was so happy for Djokovic – his 5th attempt. It was (also) nice that our 14 year old swimmer, Dhinidhi Desinghu managed to qualify and I hope that inspires and motivates her to do far better.

Vinesh Phogat missed out on an Olympic medal due to disqualification. Reuters

Your take on the entire Vinesh Phogat episode. It was absolutely heartbreaking what happened of course, to be disqualified because she was 100 grams overweight. But some would argue that the rules are the rules. The rules, which can be perhaps unnecessarily stringent, need to be changed first perhaps?

I had said that on that day itself – it’s very difficult to change the rule, just for our athlete. It will not be fair and others will not keep quiet. It was heartbreaking, the way it was done. What Vinesh’s episode has really contributed is to a discussion and re-look at the rules, which are more sensitive in nature.

Aman Sehrawat with the bronze medal that he won in the men’s 57kg wrestling event. Reuters

Then there was another Indian wrestler – Aman Sehrawat – who, according to news reports, was helped by the coaching staff etc to lose about 4.6kg in 10 hours or so… 

You know, in the larger context, men can lose weight easier than women. Women’s weight is not that easy to lose. It’s much more difficult. And Vinesh going into that category (50kg), knowing that it’s going to be a challenge, with not much time. There are things that they (governing body of wrestling) can look at – whether they can give a margin of 50-100 grams. Those things must be looked at. For me, to watch her in those three bouts was incredible. The way she fought – clean, no hanky-panky, on her own terms, came there and won it. I think she has inspired a generation and the legacy that she will leave behind is that of a woman of substance, truly a woman of substance.

Vinesh put out that post which sounded like she announced her retirement, but I am hopeful that she will reconsider and maybe be back to competitive wrestling again – As a senior, as one of the best athletes India has produced and as someone whose words carry a lot of weight, what would your message be for Vinesh at this time, when she needs everybody’s support? 

Vinesh has proved to the entire nation how tough she is mentally and physically. She didn’t let her personal challenges come in the way of her goal in life. When you look at that, it clearly shows a very, very strong and powerful woman – mentally and physically. Something like this (being disqualified) is hurtful, it needs time, but she should be awarded what a champion is awarded and that will motivate her to take the right decision, going forward. I think she has a lot to offer to wrestling in India and we must utilise her.

Akaash is a former Sports Editor and primetime sports news anchor. He is also a features writer, a VO artist and a stage actor see more