 "Marathon runner, O P Jaisha")
To say that Indian athletes are not new to indifference from sports authorities would not be an understatement. O P Jaisha’s divulgence of her collapse at the end of taxing 42 km women's marathon at Rio Olympics 2016 brings to light the suffering of the athletes.
In an interview to Times of India, Jaisha said she collapsed after the run as she was deprived of the basic need- water. Talking about the irresponsible behavior of the Indian officials, Jaisha said there was nobody present from the India to provide the national record holder with refreshments.
"Though there were officials from all other countries to provide refreshments to their runners at designated points - after every 2.5 km - there was no one from India and our desks were empty next to the country's name and flag," said Jaisha.
Jaisha recalled that athletes from other countries had constant supply of not only water but also glucose, honey. The athlete from Kerala said that even she did not know how she managed to finish the marathon without any liquid intake to keep her going. She finished the race in 2:47:9s.
Even though the organisers provided water and sponge after every 8km, Jaisha said that it hardly lasted her 500m, making the run very difficult after 30km, especially under the strong sun.
Narrating the ordeal, Jaisha said she was injected with seven bottles of glucose to give her energy enough to regain consciousness after she collapsed by the end of the marathon. "My body was so dehydrated and my condition was so bad that I don't know how I survived. I didn't see any doctor from our contingent while help came from fellow marathon runner Gopi T and coach Radhakrishnan Nair. Coach Nikolai was also there for few hours before he was taken away by the organizers," she said.
The experienced runner, who had had finished at 18th position last year in Beijing Worlds, refused to get admitted in a hospital after returning back to India and said that she would require 2-3 months of ayurvedic treatment and body massage to recover completely. Sports Authority of India doctors claimed that she had high fever.
The experienced runner Jaisha's unfortunate encounter at Olympics 2016 brings out the apathy meted out to Indian athletes. She also revealed that coach Nikolai was to be blamed for forcing her to run the entire marathon, despite all the problems, whereas she wanted to qualify for the 1500m. "Even when I suffered an injury during the training period the coach didn't give me time to recover. Moreover, we always trained early in the morning, first in Ooty and later in Rio. So, it was tough to adjust to the heat here," she added.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has laid down rules that it is the duty of the federation and coach to assign their own officials at refreshment points, other than the ones handled by the organisers. According to the report, if an athlete uses refreshments from a table of another country, he/she might end up being disqualified.
