The legendary Padma Shri athlete was in town for the Lusofonia Games Mascot launch. During his brief visit, he spoke to TOI exclusively. Excerpts:
Fans continue to wonder why you looked back during that historic 400m race in Rome...
It was just a human error. I wanted to see if someone was closing in on me. It was perhaps the biggest mistake of my life. I won 77 races out of 80 before entering the Olympics. I was confident, so was everyone who supported me. But that one moment changed my life.
Why didn't you ever think of becoming an official or minister yourself?
Had I wanted to get into politics, I would have done so during the time of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru only. I am a sportsman and have zero understanding of politics. I just blurt out what is on my mind. If you ask me, I will pitch Sachin Tendulkar's name as the future sports minister because he is already into politics and knows what the need of the hour is.
IOC's ban on IOA will finally be over...
The office-bearers never want to leave their chairs. I don't want to get political. I am happy that finally the IOA has succumbed to IOC's diktat. It is not about the IOA only; every sports organization here functions the same way. Most of the officials cling on to their posts for 40 odd years. And often they forget that it is not the athletes who are responsible for the outcome always. The onus to ensure better results, to a great extent, lies on the officials too.
0 comments:
Post a Comment