Paris 2024 Olympics

Intense training, fines & community service: How Manu Bhaker became an Olympic medallist

Chateauroux (France): An elite athlete gets to bite an Olympic medal after years of blood and sweat and it was no different for the 22-year-old Manu Bhaker, who relied on the teachings of Bhagwat Gita to fulfil a long-cherished dream.

The first Indian woman to win a shooting medal at the Summer Games, the Jhajjar-born was rated highly ever since she burst on the scene with the gold in the 10m air pistol at the 2018 Youth Olympics.

Umpteen medals followed on the international stage but the ultimate prize eluded her.

After the heartbreak of her first Olympics in Tokyo, where she ended up in tears, Bhaker finally realised her dream with a bronze in the 10m air pistol event here on Sunday.

In a country where Olympic medals are extremely hard to come by, bronze feels as good as gold and Bhaker had to follow a relentless routine prepared by her hard taskmaster coach Jaspal Rana in preparation for her second Olympics.

Harsh lessons from her maiden Olympics coupled with intense training methods around the world proved to be invaluable. For mental preparation, she started reading the Bhagwat Gita after the Tokyo setback and is now a firm believer in karma.

"I have become religious after Tokyo but not in an extreme way (laughs). I believe that there is an energy that guides us and protects us. And there is an aura around us that feeds on that energy. I think there should be some faith in God who has created us."

Bhaker was remembering the lines from Gita in a high-pressure final that saw athletes being eliminated from 12 to 22 shots, with the last two shots deciding the silver and gold medallist.

"The most famous quote in Gita is don't worry about the results, just keep working diligently. So the same was going on in my mind (in the final)," she said.

The presence of coach Rana in the stands was also comforting. Their communication through eyes is a constant during competition, giving Bhaker the strength to deal with pressure.

Bhaker explained how reuniting with Rana over the last year or so made her a better athlete.

"I had figured out where Jaspal sir was sitting in the crowd and I was making sure I was only looking at him and nobody else.

"Looking at him gives me courage and I am grateful that you know all those years of hard work that we have put in together paid off with this and probably even more.

"So we will not let this get the better of us and we will keep trying hard in the future. I owe a lot to him. He made the training so difficult for me that this was not very difficult for me when it came to performing," she said referring to her remaining two events at the Paris Games.

To her credit, she looked extremely confident both during the qualification on Saturday and the final 24 hours later. That positive body language was also observed by former shooter Abhinav Bindra, one of India's only two individual gold medallists in Olympic history.

"For me the greatest moment was when I saw a picture of her yesterday after qualification. There was no emotion that she displayed which meant she was in business for today," Bindra said.

"Her journey has been wonderful. She is showing what an athlete's life is all about (highs and lows)," he added.

A pistol malfunction during qualification at Tokyo Olympics left her crestfallen but three years later, Bhaker said she wouldn't be standing on the podium if it was not for that painful experience.

"In Tokyo, things definitely didn't go to plan. But somewhere, I would be careless. I fell short because of whatever reason.

"I think that if you can't win something, you can learn a lot from it. If I didn't have those lessons in my life in Tokyo, I wouldn't be here today.

"We have a lot of talent here but we lack confidence that whether we can do it or not at this stage or we let the pressure get the better of ourselves.

"I am so grateful that I was able to break this chain and get the medal home."

Whether she was training in Luxembourg or Dehradun, Rana had kept clear cut targets for Bhaker even for a regular session. In the event of failing to shoot the score decided by Rana, Bhaker would pay fines which were then used to help the needy around the world.

"His working method is very different from the rest of the people. Usually he sets a goal and if you score that much, then it's okay.

"And if you don't score that much, then the points that were less in that score, let us say we decided to score 582 and I scored 578. So those four points will amount to 40 Euros and sometimes 400 Euros depending on the situation and country. You have to donate that much," said Bhaker.

More details of their mutual agreement was revealed by Rana who was naturally emotional given the enormity of the occasion.

"I remember once in Dehradun, she bought jaggery worth thousands of rupees to feed to cows. The money would also be used to feed beggars around the world.

"More recently, we were in Luxembourg and she ended up giving 40 Euros to performers in a restaurant. They too were left surprised by that gesture," recalled Rana.

Having finally broken the barrier, Bhaker is in no mood to relax. She senses a medal in women's 25m pistol and 10m air pistol mixed team events.

"She went beyond limits to prepare for this Olympics. There is more to come from her," said Rana.