Two decades later, India still leans on Usha for a medal

Sixteen years ago, Isozaki and Usha stood on the same medal podium after the women8217;s 200m at the New Delhi Asian Games in 1982. Isozaki first, and Usha second. One more year and Usha would no longer know what it meant to be second in Asia. She was destined to be first. That8217;s how Murofushi, already a legend, saw her in 1986 in Seoul where he collected his fifth Asian Games gold medal for hammer throw.

Murofushi is now teaching his son; Isozaki is training athletes. And Usha is still running for her country and winning medals as she did today, a bronzeat 52.55 in the 400m final.

Foreign reporters ask, quot;Is it the same Usha?quot; Even though she did come off with only a bronze, there was enough applause for her and it included from her contemporaries Murofushi, Isozaki and others.

But Usha is still hoping for more when it is time for the 200 m and the relay and then finally the Asian Games in December. The best through an interpreter, came from Isozaki, quot;I still remember her coming second behind me, but what I cannot understand is how she can motivate herself so much after so many years?quot;

quot;Is she also coaching alongside running?quot; asks one; and even before that has been answered, the next guy perks up, quot;When did she make her comeback?quot; and the one next to him adds immediately, quot;Will she be coming to Bangkok for the Asian Games in December?quot;

It was like mid-eighties once again. That was the time, when local newspapers sent reporters and photographers to catch the arrival of the Indian team, nay Usha. In Jakarta in 1985 they gave us, a handful reportersincluded, special discounts in shopping malls. The Ambassador invited all of us for a special dinner. The reason: Usha. And in 1987 in Singapore, there were a million questions when Usha after losing to Lydia de Vega a day earlier in the 100m, merely stepped onto the track for the 200m and stopped after a few steps. quot;Is she fine?quot; quot;Is she injured?quot; quot;Is she going back?quot;

Usha was simply pulling out of a race because the 400m final, where she was sure of a gold was due to be held less than half an hour later. She duly won that and returned from that Games with three gold 400m and 400m hurdles besides the 4 x 400m relay and one silver.

A year earlier in 1986 when India had to wait for days before Usha took them into the medals list, rumour mills said the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called up the then Sports Minister, Margaret Alva and said something like, quot;If only Usha can get us gold medals, then why do we have to send so many?quot; India had sent over 400 and all it got was four gold medals. Usha had ahand in each of them. India has not won an Asian Games gold medal in athletics since.

In Beijing in 1990, minutes after the Indian quartet anchored by Usha finished second in the 4x400m, signalling the first time since 1983 that she would be returning from an Asian level meet without a gold medal, National coach J S Saini announced he was stepping down. A little later, Usha8217;s decision to retire too was made known.

It was the end of an era; an era that had almost succeeded in lending credibility to athletics in India. Parents no longer hankered for a son to call him Sunil Gavaskar. And Usha, a common enough name in India, now acquired a new meaning. With Usha settling down to run a home and raise a family, athletics, and more specifically women8217;s athletics in India, went back to its nondescript existence.

Then after one son and almost four years of marriage, Usha encouraged by her sportsman husband Sreenivasan, decided to come back to the track. But why, asked many. Hasn8217;t she had her fill; why does shewant to be beaten by the kind of athletes who she could hopped on one leg and beaten. quot;I love running,quot; she said. Maybe that8217;s what she knew best, and so she was back.

Beaten in domestic races, she was often pilloried in the media for putting herself through this ordeal. But all the while she kept saying, quot;I know I can still run as well as I did in the past.quot;

But when and or for what, we, cynics, kept asking. She made the team for Hiroshima Asian Games, and almost went unnoticed as her only medal came from a relay. But she kept going. Meet after meet. Sometimes she won in times that were unworthy of being put next to her name. Sometimes she lost to runners who grew up idolising her. After all that humiliation and pressure, she is back running times only she has bettered in the past.

quot;I told you,quot; her smile seems to say. But she is too polite to rap you on your knuckles.

On Monday, when it once again took an Usha 8212; Gurmeet Kaur won her javelin bronze barely five minutes before Usha came out for the400m final 8212; to put India on the medals tally, there were mixed feelings. Happy, that she hadn8217;t listened to cynics like this writer and come back to the track to save Indian athletics from total embarrassment. But sad because an Usha, who for many years did not know what silver and bronze medals looked like, was now happy taking those home. After all wasn8217;t it three silver medals from Beijing that so upset her that she decided to hang up her spikes?

What of Usha herself? quot;I still love running,quot; she says. But one gets the feeling, that deep down in her heart, she wants to wipe out memories of Beijing. Maybe if she had won gold instead of silver then, she may still have quit. But she wouldn8217;t have come back. So she only lives and runs for that last hurrah at Bangkok and then it will be adieu for good. Tough on her, but Indian athletics at least has one shoulder, albeit ageing, to lean on.