I dedicate this medal to my father after all that we've gone through, together, says Sreeshankar
BIRMINGHAM: There was India's latest athletics hero, long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, draped in the Tricolor, on his knees, bent at the waist in some strange obeisance to some secret god. His feet did a quirky to and fro movement. You couldn't see his face, hidden under his nation's flag, but there were tears rolling down his cheeks.
He had just won silver, his first-ever medal at a multi-discipline event where athletics is mostly top-drawer stuff. In a sense, it was perfect redemption after all that he has gone through in the last four years.
There in the stands of the Alexander Stadium, was his father and coach Murali Sivashankar, constantly egging his son on, offering nuggets of advice after every jump. What to do next? What strategy to apply? How much should he push the take-off board so that he can optimize his jump? And the landing, yes, the landing. Get that right!
During the long jump hour, son Sreeshankar also looked to his father every time he needed him. The father-son duo work as a team, despite all the criticism they have had to face over the years.
Watching from the stands, high-jumper Tejaswin was certain a medal would come in the sand pit. "I was expecting a gold, though," he whispered to no one in general.
Tejaswin's belief in Sreeshankar wasn't misplaced. At one point, the 23-year-old long jumper looked just a cm off the gold with a giant leap but that was ruled off. Laquan Nairn of Bahamas won gold with a 8.08m in his second jump. Sreeshankar came on equal terms with 8.08m in his fifth jump, but on the countback, Nairn's second-best was 7.98m (sixth jump) while Sreeshankar's second-best was 7.84m.
South Africa's Jovan van Vuuren got the bronze with a top jump of 8.06m. In fact, Vuuren was at the second spot till the time Sreeshankar came up with his biggie.
The story, however, is about Sreeshankar's fourth jump. Supported by a 27,000-strong crowd at the Alexander Stadium on a chilly evening where the temperature hovered around 10-12 degrees, Sreeshankar made what looked to be a jump in the range of 8.20m. But it was declared a foul by a miniscule 1 cm - with the new laser beam technology employed by the World Athletics catching the foul jump. World Athletics has brought in this technology since November 2021 and the laser beam catches even the minutest transgressions on the take-off board. "It was this little," a rueful Sreeshankar brought his forefinger and thumb real close to show how much -- or how little -- to his father in the 'India corner'.
"It was not even one cm!" he said later but chose not to dwell on it. "I got a good jump in the fourth, but I fouled by the smallest of margins you could ever imagine. But even after that I could do a good jump and win a silver medal."
"I knew that one good jump will take me to the top. I was aiming for gold. Dad was telling me that I can do it," Sreeshankar said.
It was such a different scenario just a year ago. After the Tokyo Olympics, father and son came in for a lot of flak after Sreeshankar finished 24th overall with a best jump of 7.69m and failed to progress to the final. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) wanted to disband the father-son association and hire a foreign coach for the next Olympic cycle. Sivashankar's coaching methods are "not professional or scientific" said AFI, even going to the extent of asking Sivashankar to "give it in writing" that he will stop coaching his son if Sreeshankar failed to go past the 8-m mark at Tokyo.
Before the Olympics, Sreeshankar was plagued by Covid - even having to be hospitalised -- and that affected his performance a lot. Even in the 2018 Gold Coast CWG, he had to pull out just 10 days before the event after undergoing an emergency appendicitis surgery. "I dedicate this medal to my father, after all that we've gone through," he said, quickly adding, "Together".
"I still have the selection picture of the 2018 Commonwealth Games that I was not able to go. I still remember it and cherish it. So this one is a big thing for me," said, adding, "I was in intensive care for a week, followed by intensive rehabilitation. It took me five, six months to get back on track. So, winning a medal now here four years later feels really great. This medal is for everyone who stood beside me."
