His story has been one of struggle and literally working against all odds in a sport which is hampered by both — lack of mind space on the part of the audience and imagination by the prevalent system in the country — but for five-time Olympian Shiva Keshavan, luge has been his life for over 17 years now and it will continue to be that way.
He was one of the three Indian athletes who participated in the recently concluded Winter Olympics at Sochi. This was his fifth attempt starting from 1998 Nagano Games in Japan but his performance, 37th position out of a total of 39 participants, was his most ordinary performance ever. Yet, he is hopeful that 2014 will be the watershed year for Winter Games is India because the sport got some attention even if it was a bit negative. India was suspended from the Olympics at the time of the opening ceremony and so the Indian athletes participated under the Olympic flag but by the end of the Games, the Indian Olympic Association held their elections and so the suspension was revoked and thus India became a part of the Olympic movement again.
"Olympics is always the highest aspiration level for any athlete and a good experience to know how far the athletes have come with the advancement of technology and the techniques. This time it was also different because there was a lot of politics happening between the IOC and the IOA. So we had not team and didn't have the normal facilities. Also the Indian flag wasn't there so that was an issue. But by the end of it, the issue was settled and that made the administrators in India realise what Winter Games is all about. So I hope this crop of new administrators will take more care in the future," Shiva told Sunday Pioneer after his return from the Games.
So, for a niche sport like his, has anything changed in the past 16 yearsIJ Is India at par with the world in the heavily equipment-driven sport or do we lag behindIJ Are the people running the show serious about the future or was it momentary talk and things shall remain the sameIJ Can we ever expect a medal from these disciplinesIJ
"Few things have changed considerably. When I started I had to explain what Winter Olympics were, what my sport was. There was no information at that time be it in the sports ministry or the IOA. But slowly, those things have changed. Now, people want to see athletes representing their country. Now, people are aware that there are 3,000 km of Himalayas in the country. These are all under-developed areas. So we have the best natural facilities for winter sports that one can hope for.
"If the government invests a little bit in the infrastructure, we can have the world's best winter sports facilities, plus these areas can be developed and you are also giving the youth a chance to build a career. But that’s all in the mindset level, in terms of real infrastructure we do not have anything on the ground. In fact that's long shot, we don't even have a long-term plan, a four-year development plan for the sport. Take the case of Nadeem, (Nadeem Iqbal was a part of the Indian contingent in the skiing classic cross-country event) but you will be surprised to know that we don't even have a cross country track in India. You only require a snow mobile and you need a beat the course. Cross country is basically an outdoor event. You don't even need huge money for stadium or anything. So basically there is a lack of vision and planning at the federation level. You need to correct that," the 32-year-old athlete added. It is a long road before winter sports get a piece of the Indian sports pie but Keshavan is only looking ahead.
"This year our main focus would be to develop equipment in India which can give us some competitive advantage. We have a small team of engineers who would be working on this. Then I have the nine World Cups which we have every year and this year also there is a World Championship (in Germany) which happens every two years and is the second-most important event for us. Then, Asian Championships is big event for me. I lost the gold last time so I want to get it back. So a lot of things coming up," he signed off. Clearly, Keshavan has a lot on his plate.