Where do we stand? (Part II)

                                         Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, India's best bet for
                                        Tokyo Olympics. _Photo by G. Rajaraman.

Can Asian Games standards be compared to Olympics and World championships? The just-concluded games produced no world-leading result in athletics for the year. It did have an unofficial world best in an event that has just about started making its presence felt through the world, the mixed relay. Bahrain clocked 3:11.89 for the gold.

We love comparing efforts in Asian Games by saying “This would have fetched him gold or a medal at least in the last Olympics”. One example doing the rounds of an athletics timing in Asian Games being compared to an Olympic gold medal in Rio is Jinson Johnson’s effort of 3:44.72 for gold in the 1500m in Jakarta. It happens to be better than what American Matthew Centrowitz clocked (3:50.00) for the gold in the Rio Olympics. This has been highlighted in sections of the media to drive home the point that the Kerala man could be in contention for a medal in 2020, not in so many words, though.

The unpredictability of middle distance

He might well be, but not because his latest timing is better than the Rio gold medallist’s but because the middle distance events are always unpredictable, especially when the first 1000-plus metres happens to be slow in a 1500m or the first lap or 600m happens to be near jogging pace in an 800m. Centrowitz’s timing was the slowest for the 1500m gold in an Olympics since 1932.

Fermin Cacho clocked 3:40.12 to win the Olympic 1500m gold in Barcelona in 1992 in front of his home fans as he took off from 250 metres out to destroy the field that included the peerless Algerian Noureddine Morceli. It was the slowest Olympic final since 1956. The Spaniard could turn around six times to make sure that no one was close to him and still win comfortably. He would take the silver behind Morceli in the next edition in Atlanta where the great Morocccan, Hicham El Gurerouj took a tumble going into the final lap and never recovered. El Guerrouj was beaten by Kenyan Noah Ngeny in Sydney despite being the overwhelming favourite. The Moroccan would have the final word, though, in Athens, and he took the 5000m gold as well to go as icing on the cake that the 1500m gold was. El Guerrouj still holds the world record in the 1500m at 3:26.00, timed in Rome on 14 July, 1998.

Centrowitz had the credentials in 2016 when he took the start in the 1500m final, but he was not the favourite. He was a former World championship silver and bronze medallist and a fourth-place finisher in the London Olympics in 2012.

When you compare a winning time with one clocked a few years back in an Olympics or World championships to suggest that your athlete has reached the standard that can win global medal you also have to see how many others had clocked the same (Rio gold medal) time the same season. More than 1000 athletes did in 2016! And that included Johnson also at 3:44.9 (hand-timing) and Centrowitz with 3:34.09 at 21st place. Johnson qualified only for the 800m with a stunning 1:45.98 in Bengaluru but could not go beyond the opening round in Rio, clocking 1:47.27.

Johnson realistic

Sensibly, Johnson has explained to the media on his return from Jakarta that middle distance races in championships invariably produce timings that need not match season bests and forecasts since the athletes are running for medals and tactics would determine the pace.

The semifinals in Rio were much faster, the second ‘fastest loser’ to go through to the final clocking 3:40.20. Johnson knows it and has acknowledged it.

Johnson was surprisingly beaten by team-mate Manjit Singh in the 800m in Jakarta and looked determined to compensate for the disappointment of ending with the silver. Manjit clocked a PB 1:46.65 for his first international title. That happened to be the first Asian Games gold in 800m since Charles Borromeo won in New Delhi in 1982. Manjit's success after 36 years and that of Arpinder in triple jump after 42 years only go to show how much Indian athletics had stagnated through decades.

There has been much praise for Russia-born US coach Galina Bukharina who has been credited with six medals, the women’s 4x400 gold and the silver in men and women’s 400m, men’s and mixed 4x400 relay and the men’s 400m hurdles (Ayyasamy Dharun in national record of 48.96s).

But why is it that not many are talking about the others, mostly Indian coaches, who helped Johnson, Manjit, Tejinder Pal Singh Toor (shot put) and Swapna Barman (heptathlon) win gold medals and three others (sprinter Dutee Chand, steeplechaser Sudha Singh and long jumper Neena Pinto) take silver? Even triple jumper Arpinder Singh, who took a surprise gold against higher-ranked Chinese, was under Indian coach S. S. Pannu when he registered his personal best and national record of 17.17m in Lucknow in 2014.

The women’s 4x400 team of Priyanka Panwar, Tintu Luka, Mandeep Kaur and M. R. Poovamma had clocked a Games record 3:28.68 in winning the gold in the last edition in Incheon. That team was trained by Indian coaches. It did not have a training base abroad. That record still stands despite the excellent effort of the team moulded by Ms. Bukahrina. Hima Das, Poovamma, Saritaben Gayakwad and V. K. Vismaya clocked 3:28.72 to beat the challenge of Bahrain which was without its second best runner, Kemi Adekoya, due to an injury. Adekoya, just to recall, had clocked a Games record 54.48s in defending her 400m hurdles title. She had won the 400m also last time.

Was it the strategy?

Hima Das (PB 50.79) leading off against Bahrain’s third best runner Aminat Jamal (PB 53.02) has been hailed as a master-stroke by Ms. Bukharina. In the event, Das ran 52.1 and Jamal 53.7. Bahrain slipped further behind when the reserve runner Essa Iman Isa Jassim, coming in for Adekoya, put in a lap of 54.0 as against Poovamma’s 52.0. The gap had widened beyond repair for Bahrain by the end of the second leg. The sprint double winner, Edidiong Odiong ran spiritedly though she is not a regular one-lap runner. Her 52.96 against Sarita Gayakwad’s 52.29 allowed India with a comfortable lead by the time V. K. Vismaya took over on the anchor. The result was a foregone conclusion, a victory for India in 3:28.72 as against Bahrain’s 3:30.61.

But how much did debutant Vismaya clock?. She was unruffled and held onto the lead against the top Asian, the 2017 World Championships silver medallist in the 400m, and No. 2 in the world this season, Salwa Eid Naser. The Kerala girl timed 52.23s against the Nigeria-born Bahrain runner’s 49.93s, a gap of 2.30s. Obviously, Naser did not exert herself looking at the hopelessness of the task though she has a PB of 49.08 against Vismaya’s 53.30. Let’s not get confused with the suggestion that Vismaya ‘beat’ Naser or about the 'brilliant strategy' of Ms. Bukharina in putting an injured Hima Das on leg one and Vismaya on anchor having paid rich rewards. Any combination would have sufficed against a team that had a runner who could clock only a 54.0 relay split despite a running start.

Once the AFI decided to drop the ‘non-campers’ from the 4x400m relay team, the path was cleared for the inclusion of Vismaya and Jisna Mathew both of whom had failed to progress to the final of the Inter-State meet in Guwahati, the final selection trials. It needed a time trial in Jakarta to decide the fourth place and there Vismaya (52.47) prevailed over Jisna Mathew (52.80). Soniya Baishya (53.43) and Vijayakumaru (53.90) followed.

Why was Sarita Gayakwad considered as a certainty and kept away from the time trials along with Poovamma?

The medal-winning athletes and their coaches, without exception, deserve attention and accolades, cash awards and promotions. But let us not go overboard in presuming that we have reached world standards. Let us not start penning improbable stories like we did before the Rio Olympics about the relay teams. Let us wait and see how much our athletes can improve in the next two years, with the exception of Neeraj Chopra that is, to determine where we stand vis a vis Tokyo Olympics. Chopra is already among the world’s best with his latest performance. He has to achieve consistency in the big meets among the top throwers, especially the 90-metre-plus Germans who look formidable.

The AFI needs to be complimented for the rich haul of medals in Jakarta. It has obviously planned meticulously and brought off the desired results with the aid of the coaches, Indian and foreign. Not all athletes might have justified their inclusion and eyebrows would be raised over the performance of some of them at home and in the Games. The training stints abroad, at considerable expense to the exchequer, were not totally productive. We will leave the debate for another day!

-(Concluded)

(Updated 6 Sept 2018)