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Journalism of Courage
Collectively, they propelled India closer to her best-ever finish at the Asian Games. Individually, the two gold medallists – Parul Chaudhary and Annu Rani – were driven by their deep-lying motivations and frustrations.
One was fired up by the prospect of finally landing a government job, the other was consumed by the guilt of ‘wasting’ the government’s money, slipped into depression as a consequence and nearly quit.
On a nippy night when India collected half a dozen medals from track and field to take the overall tally to 69, including 15 gold, the two Indian women – both from Meerut – savoured their moments of redemption.
When she came prancing out of the bend, Parul had the gold medal within her sights – and the UP Police on her mind.
After running 12 gruelling laps on the 400m track and entering the final 100m stretch, the long-distance runner saw the tape, looked at the Japanese runner in front of her and, in that split-second, in that moment of heat, thought about the prospect of a government job.
Or to be specific, the position of a Deputy Superintendent of Police under the sports quota. “Hamari police he aisi hai ki gold medal lekar aayenge toh DSP bana denge (Our Police is such that if I got a gold medal, they’ll make me a DSP),” the Meerut resident, currently with the Railways, said with a laugh. “In the last 50m, I was thinking that my government would give me a nice job. DySP is good.”
But the last 50m was when the lung-busting race sprang to life. Until then, it had been a slow-burning battle of attrition. And Parul, who finished the race in 15 minutes, 14.75 seconds to finish on the top of the podium, aced the tactical race.
You can read all of Mihir Vasavda’s stories from Hangzhou here
After sleeping for just three hours the previous night, the daughter of a modest farmer who used to run barefoot as a teenager returns home with two medals, having also won a silver medal in a punishing steeplechase run the night before.
“I was tired after that race and barely could sleep the whole night,” Parul said. “But since I wasn’t able to win the gold medal, I wanted to win the 5,000m race anyhow.”
Her American coach Scott Simmons, who oversees India’s long-distance running programme, was conscious about the uphill nature of Parul’s ambitions. “It was a really good field, (and had) several women with better personal bests than she has,” Simmons said.
Japan’s Ririka Hironaka was one of them. The pre-race favourite’s best time of 14 minutes, 52.84 seconds was almost 18 seconds quicker than Parul’s and purely going by the personal bests, the Indian was the fifth-best runner in the field.
And for large parts – nearly three miles of the race – this reflected in the positions on the track. Ririka set the pace, followed by her compatriot Yuma Yamamoto, Kazakhstan’s Caroline Chipkoech, and the other Indian in the fray, Ankita.
But Parul was never too far behind. Simmons had set her a target of completing one lap in 74 seconds to stay in the medal hunt. When he glanced at his stopwatch midway into the race, Parul was doing slightly better. “After the first kilometre, it was 72,” Simmons said. “It was in the neighbourhood of being a solid race.”
There were moments when she stormed into bronze medal contention, and dropped to the sixth position in the middle part of the race, before clawing her way back towards the top.
“The leaders slowed down but she stayed with them. She didn’t have to be in the lead, just be in the striking distance,” Simmons said, explaining the race strategy.
Simmons knew if she’d follow the plan, a medal would be assured. For months, they’d trained for the ‘finishing kick’ – the ability of athletes to sprint at the end of endurance races.
And Parul’s final burst was mesmerising. She began to shift gears with one-and-a-half laps remaining in the race, moving from fourth place to third and then to second within no time.
Then, like a tiger slowly sneaking up on his prey and pouncing on it, Parul stayed on Ririka’s shoulder until the final 50m, when she went full-throttle at the sight of the tape, the allure of the gold and the prospect of a government job.
“God was kind enough tonight,” Parul said. “Now, I hope that UP Police will make me a DySP.”
While Parul was dreaming of a secure job with the government, the night’s other gold medallist – javelin thrower Annu Rani – endured sleepless nights, worried that the taxpayers’ money was being wasted on her.
Like Parul, Annu too wasn’t among the favourites going by the distance thrown this season. But unlike the long-distance runner, who was upbeat after pocketing a silver on Monday, Annu was fighting demons in her head.
“I haven’t had a great season and have been throwing very poor distances, as low as 54m,” she said. “So I was depressed and considered quitting the sport.”
She looked up to fellow javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who takes the field on Wednesday, for inspiration. India’s Mr. Consistent has been throwing long distances and finishing on the podium routinely since winning the Tokyo Olympics title two years ago.
For Annu, it was enough motivation in times of great despair. “If one of your own is doing well, especially in the same event as yours, it acts as motivation. But for me, the problem was whatever I did, the results weren’t coming. I felt very bad because the government was spending a lot on my training and I was not delivering,” Annu said.
One throw changed it all. On her fourth attempt, she hurled the spear at a distance of 62.92m – farther than everyone else in the 11-woman field.
And with that, her guilt turned into golden glee.
