There are two sides to a coin. If the entire country was unified in celebrating the medal clinching performances by Sakshi Malik and PV Sindhu, we should stand united in supporting Indian marathon runner OP Jaisha, who was given a hard deal by Indian officials at the Rio Olympics.
Who would have thought that while the whole nation was celebrating the achievements of its daughters Sakshi Malik and PV Sindhu and lauding the hard work and stellar performance of Dipa Karmakar, another of India’s daughters would be denied even basics by Indian officials.
Jaisha, India’s national record holder was running a tough race when she collapsed at the finish line. The 42.195-km run couldn’t have been possible to win without water and energy drinks. But that’s exactly what Jaisha missed. Thanks to the apathy of the Indian officials who failed to provide her water and energy drinks at refreshment points, the runner finished her race in 2 hours, 47.19 seconds.
“I could have died there,” said a distraught, Jaisha as she recalled the women’s marathon event at Rio Olympics, during which she claimed she was not provided any water and energy drinks by the officials despite designated stations being given for India. “It was very hot there. The competition was at 9 am, I ran in scorching heat. There was no water for us, neither recovery drinks nor food. Only once in 8 kms did we get water (from the Rio organisers) which did not help at all. All the countries had their stalls at every 2 kms but our country’s stall was empty,” said the runner.
Jaisha had collapsed at the finish line after completing the marathon and had to be rushed to a hospital where her coach Nikolai Snesarev got into an altercation with one of the doctors and ended up being detained for half a day by the local police.
The runner claimed that she got no response from officials when she asked why water was not provided to her at the stalls.
"I asked officials why there was no water for us but I got no response. I don't know what they were doing. There were lot of people in the Indian athletics contingent, anybody could have done this job," Jaisha told Times Now.
When asked about the incident, Sports Minister Vijay Goel said it was the Athletics Federation of India's (AFI) responsibility. "Every time any small incident happens, we take note.
It was the AFI's job, it is the federation which should have taken care of this," he said.
AFI, on its part, said that Indian officials in Rio were not told by the athletes or their coaches about any specific requirement for any drinks.
"It is the responsibility of the organisers to provide water and energy drinks. For that there are water and energy stations throughout the course. We could have provided water and energy drinks to our athletes but neither they nor did their coaches inform us that they would need water and energy drinks separately," AFI Secretary CK Valson, who was also in Rio during the competitions said.
In its defence, the Athletic Federation of India said that as per rules, an athlete can to be disqualified if he or she accepts a drink from any person or official standing along the course except taken on their own -- be it personalised drink submitted to the organisers in advance or the drinks provided by the organisers on the water and refreshment booths respectively.
"Therefore, it is an incorrect statement made by Jaisha that the Indian officials accompanying the team did not provide her water or any other form of tonic drinks. Further, it is also informed that Ms Jaisha had declined to use personalised drink in another event, the 2015 World Championships held in Beijing and the coach informed the Indian team management that she wasn't in the habit of using personalised drinks."
Meanwhile, Indian athlete Sudha Singh, who returned from Rio Olympics with fever and body ache last week, has been undergoing treatment at a private hospital here for a suspected Zika virus.