Anju, Binu have the brightest chance

Though I was a little nervous to compete with other world athletes, I managed to record a better performance at the LA Olympics, clocking 2.46 minutes in my favourite 800 m run. 2.49 was my best before the Olympics.

Though I emerged as the first woman athlete from India to qualify for the Olympic semifinal, my greatest achievement, as well as for the Indian contingent there was to bag the fourth position in women’s 4×400 m relay. The team consisting of P T Usha, M D Valsamma, Vandana Rao and myself were the first Asian team to achieve this.

One of the French newspapers wrote a detailed report on my achievements, as the westerners could not believe that a middle distance runner would perform well in the relay. My success in 800 m and relay inspired some of the European teams to let their middle distance runners compete in the relay events.

The greatest disappointment the Indian contingent ever met with also happened at the same venue. We returned from Los Angeles carrying the disappointment due to Usha’s bad luck. Usha, and the country too, missed out on the medal in athletics by a whisker in 400 m hurdles at the LA Olympics.

As an Indian selector, I have witnessed the performances of most of the Indian athletes in recent days. I hope Anju and Binu would bring a medal for the country. The performance of Anju in the recent competitions proves that she has the mettle. K M Binu also performed well in 800 m and I believe that either of these two will win a medal in Athens.

After the training from England, Bobby Aloysius has also improved a lot. Anjali, Kunjarani and Karnam Malleswari are the other Indian medal hopes in their events.

The world athletics arena has changed a lot when compared to our times. Then, the standard of western athletes was much higher than the Indian athletes.

Our standards have improved a lot and we acquired new facilities to help the development of athletics here. It is for the athletes to utilise it in a positive way and bring honours to the nation.

I have represented the country in four Olympics. Now the event is back in its home land. As a sportsperson and a privileged one, who got an opportunity to participate in the mega event many times, I become nostalgic about Olympics. Actually I would like to be at Athens to witness and feel the kinship of sportspersons from around the world.

(As told to Jaison G)