P.T. Usha: Serving Olympics as athlete, administrator brings its unique pressure

P.T. Usha is just not another president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA), the umbrella body for country’s Olympic sporting disciplines. As she lands in Paris to watch the 117-strong contingent seeking to breach the double figure mark in medals with her administrator’s cap on, life will be coming a full circle for the athletics legend.

Exactly 40 years back, she had undergone the heartbreak of missing the bronze in 400 metres hurdles in Los Angeles by what the Times of India wrote: ‘’P.T. Usha came as close as one hundredth of a second to breaking India’s medal drought in Olympic Games.’’ In the pre-Neeraj Chopra era, her and Milkha Singh’s fourth place finish in 1960 Rome Olympics were as close as India ever came to an athletics medal at the greatest show on earth.  

Which role gives her most satisfaction – the athlete or the administrator whose tenure has not been exactly free of controversy so far? ‘’The journey from an young athlete to an administrator had been a long one - both roles came with a unique set of pressures and have been rewarding,’’ the 60-year-old remarked in an exclusive interview with this writer earlier.

‘’I find satisfaction in serving the Olympics movement in both capacities – if it was with performance as athlete, it’s with a sense of fulfilment now as an administrator,’’ she felt.

After an unprecedented seven-medal haul in Tokyo, which still accounted for a mere six percent medal ratio vis-à-vis the number of competitors, the expectations are at an alltime high. What has also fuelled the expectations in a 107-medal finish at the last Asian Games in Hangzhou, where athletics and shooting had accounted for nearly half of them.

These two disciplines again provide the bulk of Indian contingent in Paris: 29 in track & field and 21 in shooting but Usha is loathe about putting any numbers.  ‘’Setting any number of medals puts pressure on them, but I feel they will win more medals in Paris than Tokyo overall,’’ she said on an optimistic note.

 However, a major talking point on the eve of the contingent’s departure is the number of support staff – 140 as against 117 athletes – a three-fold increase since last time. While a total of 72 of them have been approved at ‘government cost,’ the criticism forced Usha to issue a statement on Wednesday: ‘’At IOA, we have embarked on an era where athletes are at the centre of our preparations. Instead of the usual 3:1 ratio between athletes and support staff, we have worked hard to change it to a slightly better than 1:1 ratio.’’

What are her expectations from golden boy Neeraj – whom she refers to like her son – as well as an all time high contingent in track & field?  ‘’The job is tougher for Neeraj this time but his biggest asset had been his consistency from the junior level till date. It’s all due to his talent and dedication and I am hopeful about him doing an encore though a lot depends on his form, fitness and level of competition,’’ a quietly optimistic Usha felt.

 ‘’In javelin, triple jump and long jump, if they can improve on current marks, there is a good chance of bringing in an extra medal. It’s tougher in track where there are more medals, but let’s see,’’ said Usha.

 Track and field and shooting apart, men’s hockey accounts for 19 members while the breakdown of the rest of the contingent are: eight (table tennis), seven (badminton), six each (wrestling, boxing and archery), four (golf) and three (tennis). Swimming and tennis will have two members each while equestrian, judo, rowing and weightlifting have one athlete each.

 An intriguing case of a qualified athlete missing from the final list is women’s shotputter Abha Khatua, who had earned a quota from the last Inter State meet.