Weeks after the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced that Mary Kom would lead the contingent as the Chef de Mission at this summer’s Paris Olympics, the boxing legend resigned from the position on Friday.
Mary, a bronze medal winner at the 2012 London Olympics, has cited personal reasons for stepping down from the role, it is learnt. The Padma Vibhushan awardee informed the IOA president, PT Usha, the Union Sports Ministry and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) of her decision via an email on Friday. It wasn’t immediately known her resignation was accepted.
The IOA, on March 21, announced contingent officials for the Paris Olympics, which begin on July 26. While Mary was chosen as the chef de mission, winter Olympian Shiva Keshavan was named her deputy.
Sources said Mary had initially been reluctant to take up the role but accepted after being convinced by Usha and government officials. “However, she analysed the situation and decided to step down as she didn’t feel she could do justice to the role owing to personal reasons,” a source said.
Chef de Mission is the most important administrative member of a contingent for a multi-discipline event. The CDM is responsible for ensuring the welfare of the athletes, liaising with the organising committee on a range of issues and being ready for fire-fighting if any controversy erupts.
Mary competed at the Tokyo Olympics, where she lost in the round of 16. The 41-year-old isn’t eligible in Olympic-style boxing any longer because of the rules that bar anyone aged 40 and above from competing.
Apart from Mary and Keshavan, the IOA made London Olympics bronze medallist Gagan Narang, also an IOA vice-president, in charge of ‘overseeing the shooting village operations’. Unlike most sports that will be held in Paris and its suburbs, shooting will be hosted in Chateauroux, a town roughly 300 km away.
Renowned sports medicine expert Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala has been appointed as the chief medical officer.
Table tennis star Sharath Kamal, who will head into his sixth Olympics, was named as the male flag-bearer, with a woman flag-bearer – as mandated by the International Olympic Committee – expected to be announced in the coming days.