By now, news of the two Indian swimmers, Sajan Prakash and Shivani Kataria not making it through to the semi-finals have trickled into social media feeds and to the surprise of seemingly no one, this is the end of India’s swimming medal hopes at Rio. One prominent Indian with sizeable Twitter following has pronounced disappointment and sadness at what is apparently a ‘waste of money’ in sending Indian athletes to the Olympics.
With Sajan competing in the same event (200 M butterfly) as Michael Phelps, Laszlo Cseh and Chad le Clos and Shivani sharing the pool with Katie Ledecky, Missy Franklin and Sarah Sjostrom in the 200 M freestyle, chances of the two young swimmers making it to the podium were pretty thin. While this will not stop headlines from claiming that India has lost out on these two probable medals, the maiden appearance of two talented swimmers at events where they have been able to rub shoulders with the best in the world has significance of its own.
Sajan completed the race in 1:59.37 and came fourth in the first heat which comprised the B-time entrants of the men’s 200 meter fly. Hungarian Tamas Kenderesi, who had the fastest time among the men in the four heats completed it in 1:54.73. Michael Phelps, the world and Olympic record holder in the event, completed at 1:55.73 – a whole second behind Kenderesi. Between them were five others, including le Clos (1:55.57) and Cseh (1:55.14).
Prakash’s time was almost five seconds behind the fastest and while the star athletes usually hold back in the preliminary rounds, for the 22-year-old from Kerala, it was the stage on which he had to give his absolute best.
First-timers at Olympics competing against their idols
Seated in the calling room, before the men’s heats, Prakash looked nervous to the point of being agitated. By the time he appeared at the diving board, his nervousness had given way to a preparedness which he would once again lose in the last 50 meters of the race.
In touching the wall and ranking 21st among 30 men, Prakash took .10 seconds longer than his personal best time which is also the national record. At the Rio Aquatic Centre, Prakash was not just swimming for a place in the semis, he was swimming against a national competitive structure where he had undoubtedly succeeded but which was just not a high enough benchmark for him to be propelled into the semis of Rio.
None of us know what the predicament of two maiden Olympians might be when faced with the prospect of competing against the giants of the sport. But it could not have been an easy one. Competing in the first heat of the women’s 200 meter freestyle, just before Prakash’s heat, Shivani Kataria was visibly edgy. With her eyes firmly on the pool, she bent down to splash herself twice with the water before taking her position at the board.
She came second in her heat with a time of 2:09.30. Almost 15 seconds faster than her was Katie Ledecky – who wielded her rippling magic to top in the heats of an event which saw Sarah Sjostrom, Charlotte Bonnett, Federica Pellegrini, Emma McKeon, Missy Franklin and Shen Duo take positions after Ledecky. The names could well be a casual list of the world’s best women swimmers, but for 18-year-old Kataria the very people she had idolised would suddenly become competitors in a leap of both honour and injustice.
How a legend was born in the shadows in 2000
As the two make their way back from Rio, it may be a good time to remember the effect that being in the presence of greats can have on the young and the focused. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics a 15-year-old boy had made it to his first games and in doing so had cemented his excruciating love affair with the 200 meter butterfly. He did not win a medal then, but he did keenly observe an Ian Thorpe who was then at the peak of his career.
Years later, when the boy had become Michael Phelps, he would speak fondly of the effect of watching the medal sweep of his hero – a hero whose achievements he then surpassed with his own story.
To watch Phelps’s arms measuredly skim the surface of the water during the butterfly, to witness le Clos’s monumental burst of speed, to be around Ledecky’s eerie calm and to soak in the atmosphere of pure resolution that is the Olympics are experiences in themselves that neither Prakash nor Kataria are likely to forget. The road to Rio may have closed but the one to Tokyo may have opened tonight itself.
