A top Indian athlete ‘almost died’. Blame it on Rio?

Disclaimer: This image is not from Rio 2016 but from the 2006 Asian Games held in Doha, when OP Jaisha fell down and crashed out of the 1,500-metre event.

It was a hot and humid summer day in Rio de Janeiro. Turns out, August 14 at the 2016 Olympics was a bit hotter and more humid than some of the marathoners had bargained for. Of the 157 women who started the race, two dozen did not last 42.195 kilometres. Of the 133 who did, many were dangerously dehydrated and barely made it past the post. Australia’s Lisa Weightman needed medical attention. Mary Joy Tabal, the first Filipina marathoner to qualify for the Olympics, had to be wheeled out. And India’s OP Jaisha collapsed at the finish line, and had to be rushed to the polyclinic in the Games Village.

So far, not so good.

It gets worse. On Monday, upon returning to India, Jaisha alleged that it was not just the heat and the humidity that led to her clocking 13 minutes below the national record she’d set at last year’s World Championships (for the record, even Tabal clocked 19 minutes below her own best). The long distance runner lamented the loneliness of running without anyone from the Indian contingent on the sidelines lending her or compatriot Kavita Raut any kind of support — moral or in the form of much-needed refreshments.

A quick run-through of Jaisha’s allegations — India’s refreshment stations, unlike those of other countries, were unmanned and empty, so she had to depend on the organisers’ water stations that were eight kilometres apart in temperatures of over 40 degrees, and “almost died” — was enough to cause righteous indignation. Then, in the nick of prime time, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) released a statement that effectively branded Jaisha a liar.

The federation’s argument? Jaisha and Raut had refused additional refreshments, and that even if they had said yes, the country’s officials would not have been the ones personally manning the stalls and handing over bottles to them.

For television news channels, it was time to step aboard the outrage train. Unfortunately for them, Jaisha was not willing to play along just for the sake of their narrative of ‘official apathy’. On India Today, a channel that did not get the federation’s memo in time, the athlete blamed the Rio organisers instead of the Indian officials. “Chief coach Bahadur Singh, deputy chief coach (Radhakrishnan Nair) and my personal coach (Nikolai Snesarev) were there in the start-finish area,” she said. “Unlike the World Championships in Beijing, nothing was available in Rio. The organisers should have made arrangements.”

Over on NDTV‘s Left Right and Centre, the script was similar. While Jaisha said there was an empty booth with India’s board, she stopped short of blaming the country’s officials. “It is not the fault of our officials (but) the organisers. Even in local marathons, water is available after every two kilometres.” When journalist Shekhar Gupta said it was unfair for an athlete to say “my officials were not there… because they cannot” and suggested that Jaisha’s coach perhaps could not explain the rules to her, the athlete shot back, saying, “I don’t know the rules, I just know how to run. Please stop questioning me like CBI.”

Predictably, it was Times Now that got the outrage train back on track. Jaisha said she had got fresh information that it was her coach, Snesarev, who said she would not need water or refreshments. “It is foolish to refuse water in 42-degree heat,” said Jaisha. “It is me who has to run, not Dr Nikolai, not any of the officials, not the federation, not the government.” This was all the ammo Arnab Goswami needed to launch into first of two hour-long The Newshour debates on successive nights, demanding apologies and clamouring for the removal of federation officials.

But what really happened that fateful day, and the night before? And what do the rules say? Newslaundry tried to get in touch with Jaisha, but she could not be contacted. We did, however, speak to Raut, the other Indian participant in the women’s marathon, as well as AFI secretary CK Valson.

“At the team assembly the evening before the marathon, team officials asked me if I wanted personal refreshments,” Raut told Newslaundry. “I refused.” Raut added that Jaisha and Snesarev were absent from the assembly, and refused to comment on whether they had been approached by the officials. But why did Raut refuse refreshments? “I am not used to consuming them. Even when I train for 30-40 kilometres, I stick to normal drinking water,” she said.

During the marathon, Raut depended on water and sponges from the organisers’ stations. She said there were enough, but did not mention a number. Asked about India’s stations, Raut said she did not notice them since she had refused personalised drinks, which sounds like an evasive strategy more than anything else. She did say it was the hottest day since she had landed in Rio a week ago. “At my previous marathons, including Guwahati (during the South Asian Games) where I qualified, the weather was much cooler,” said Raut. “It was very hot here. I started feeling exhausted after 15 kilometres.”

Valson told Newslaundry it was coach Snesarev who had refused personalised drinks on Jaisha’s behalf. Asked about the organisers’ arrangements, the AFI secretary said there were water stations every 2.5 kilometres. Why, then, did Jaisha say the interval was seven to eight kilometres? “Usually, athletes don’t go for water at the first station,” said Valson. “And since 150 athletes are running, it is possible that she failed to spot a station later.” Jaisha, however, has repeatedly accused the Federation for not supplying water every 2.5 kilometres.

One of the problems with AFI’s statement was the bit about team officials not being allowed. “An athlete stands to be disqualified if he or she accepts a drink from any other person or official standing along the course except taken on their own,” said the statement, “be it personalised drink submitted to the organisers in advance or the drinks provided by the organisers on the water and refreshment booths respectively.” The rule book seems to suggest otherwise, though. 

Rule 240.8 of International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) governs “Drinking / Sponging and Refreshment Stations” of road races including marathons. For events longer than 10 kilometres, refreshments have to be provided in addition to water. Ordinarily, the interval is five kilometres, but “in warmer climates every 2.5km is advisable”. Refreshments — “drinks, energy supplements, foodstuffs” — can be provided by either the organisers or the athlete. These personal refreshments, which are stored by the organisers until the start of the race, are kept on separate tables that are placed less frequently.

How does an athlete collect the refreshments? As per the rules, they “shall be placed so that they are easily accessible to, or may be put by authorised persons in the hands of, the athletes”. The regulations also say that “a maximum of two officials per Country may be stationed behind the table at any one time”. According to Valson, these country officials are only allowed at the personal refreshment tables, not the water and refreshment stations that are common to all athletes. “Since both Jaisha and Kavita had refused personal drinks, there were no country officials present,” said Valson.

Valson is not wrong — AFI was going by the rulebook in not providing personal refreshments to athletes who, either themselves or through their representatives, had refused the same. Then again, the need of the hour was to do something not by the letter, but by the spirit. In this particular case, the Olympic spirit. India’s officials have yet to display the kind of support our athletes need. While the athletes had not done a recce of the route, Snesarev had on August 12, and it was the Belarussian who allegedly decided that Jaisha could do without refreshments. Given his reputation as a tough taskmaster, that does not come as a surprise.

The bottomline is this — an elite athlete, a bronze medallist at two Asian Games eight years apart in two different kinds of races (the long-distance 5000 metres at Doha 2006, the middle-distance 1500 metres at Incheon 2014), fainted while representing the country at the Olympics in an event she switched to as late as last year. Feeling let down, she dared to speak up, which only triggered a blame game and resulted in her being interrogated as if she were a suspect, not a victim — both by authorities who were busy finding a scapegoat, and by TV news channels, who tried to force-feed their respective narratives.

While Jaisha might be forced to absolve AFI of its responsibility, let’s not forget that the least one can expect of a federation is that it stand by its athletes. It could have overruled the coach, used common sense and provided hydration that would have been adequate for the tropical conditions. After all, setting up those stalls would not have cost much. Not doing so, though, is proving rather costly.