Track and field athletes who qualify for the Paris Olympics must ensure they maintain their performance level to be cleared for participation by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).
AFI has set its marker to test their form during the selection trials to be held at home in June. Their performances must be on a par with at least the top-16 finish at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics to be considered for selection. The onus therefore will be on the athletes to find their peak closer to the Olympics, to be held from July 26 to August 11.
The Inter State Athletics Championships scheduled in Panchkula from June 27-30 will be the final selection trials for the Olympics. At the Tokyo Olympics, several Indian athletes gave a below-par performance but escaped scrutiny amidst the euphoria that surrounded Neeraj Chopra’s historic javelin gold. In the same competition, India’s second thrower, Shivpal Singh flopped, finishing 27th with an effort of 76.40m. He was way off his personal best of 86.23m achieved in 2019. The race walkers too disappointed, coming nowhere close to their best in familiar hot and humid conditions in Tokyo. Shivpal was suspended for doping soon after.
“We do not just want to fill numbers at the Olympics. We want our athletes to perform at their best in Paris,” said AFI president Adille Sumariwalla. “The qualification criteria have been drawn to ensure that athletes repeat their domestic performance at the Olympics. Athletes have nearly five months to prepare towards that. We are looking at good consistent performances from our athletes in Paris,” he said.
The expectations of the federation are reasonable considering that India’s athletes are now regularly sent for exposure trips abroad. They also participate in top international competitions like the Diamond League and World Tour continental meets. The results have also improved at the big stage. At the Asian Games in Hangzhou, athletics accounted for 29 medals – six gold, 14 silver and nine bronze.
More athletes are now making the cut for the world championships. For 2022 Eugene, 23 Indian athletes had qualified while in the Budapest edition this year a record 26 took part. Olympic champion Neeraj produced a season’s best 88.77m to become the first Indian to win a world title.
Besides Neeraj, a few others too gave their best. In individual competitions, only Parul Chaudhary in 3000m steeplechase broke the national record, while Ajay Kumar Saroj in 1500m and Kishore Jena in javelin also recorded their personal bests. The men’s 4x400m relay team also came up with a top-class performance, setting the Asian record (2:59.05) while qualifying for the final. However, several others struggled to even come close to their season’s best.
“What we have noticed is that many athletes work towards an early peak that can help them qualify for the Olympics or world championships and when the championships happen their performances go down,” Anju Bobby George, a world championship long jump medallist who is AFI’s senior vice-president.
“It is something that AFI has been saying for some time, but we need to execute it now. The federation is concerned about the performance of athletes in major championships. We just cannot have people going there as participants. We need real performance,” she said.
At the AFI annual general body meeting in Amritsar recently, the federation think tank spoke to the coaches and trainers to prepare a plan for the Olympics. “We had discussions with everyone. We need to work towards peaking twice this season. Once to qualify for the Olympics and then reserving their best for the major competition. It is not important to break records at Grand Prix meets, but to push themselves to give their best in Paris,” Anju said.
AFI have also told the athletes that the qualification mark for the Paris Olympics must come in events where they are being entered by the federation. It means that athletes cannot go and participate in international events on their own to seek qualification. The move will help AFI to monitor the progress of athletes.