Thursday marked the 40th anniversary of P T Usha's Olympic heartbreak. It was on August 8, 1984, that the Payyoli Express, one of the greatest athletes the country has seen, narrowly missed out on an Olympic medal in the 400m hurdles event by one-hundredth of a second in Los Angeles.
Usha, who took charge as the president of the Indian Olympic Association in December, is currently in Paris looking after the Indian contingent. As she revisited those moments of delight and despair with a sense of nostalgia on Wednesday night, a special guest came to meet her. It was Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco, who won the 400m hurdles gold in Los Angeles.
The chance meeting of the two champion athletes took place at the Stade de France, the venue for athletics competitions at Paris 2024. When she saw Usha, Nawal ran up to her shouting "Oh my champion." "You know one thing, she is my champion... she is my sister..." Nawal told the people around her. Her face was bright with happiness.
Usha stood still as memories came flooding back like waves. Her eyes were welling up. Nawal responded with a warm embrace and words of comfort. "Everyone hoped that Usha would win the gold. Even my trainers kept saying that she was the favourite. It was a tactical race with a lot of technical aspects, and unfortunately, Usha did not get her running tactics right on that particular day. I was lucky that everything fell in place for me," Nawal said.
The women's 400m hurdles event was introduced at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Nawal, who won the title with a timing of 54.61s, became the first Moroccan, African and Muslim woman to win an Olympic gold medal.
After she did exceptionally well at African athletic championships, she got an invitation to train in the US In 1984, she moved to the US. to study physical education and physiotherapy at Iowa State University of Science and Technology.
"A week after I shifted to the US, my father passed away. He really wanted me to win an Olympic medal. Thereafter, I did everything possible to realise his dream," Nawal said.
"I first heard of Usha while preparing for the 1984 Games. My trainers told me that she was an excellent runner and warned that she could be a real threat. They used to force me to watch Usha's races to detect her weaknesses," she recalled.
"The finals took place at 2.30 pm local time," Usha remembered. "We were ready at the starting block. The race official pulled the trigger and I was quick off the block. Unfortunately, Australia's Debbie Flintoff, who was occupying lane six, made a false start. The race was cancelled and I had to return to the starting block once again.
"In the second attempt, I had a poor start and could not make up ground during the course of the race. Cristieana Cojocaru of Romania and I crossed the line together and the stadium announcer declared that I won the bronze. Holding my breath, I looked at the replays of the race shown on the giant screen at the stadium. After a few seconds, the final result appeared on the screen. I was fourth with a timing of 55.42s," Usha said.
"After the 1984 edition, I met Usha at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Over the last 20 years, we have met each other during the Games in Beijing, London, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo. I'm still in touch with all the athletes who competed in the 400m hurdles finals in Los Angeles," Nawal, who is two years older than Usha, said and took out her mobile phone to make a WhatsApp call. A face appeared on her mobile screen. It was former American athlete Judith Brown who won silver behind Nawal.
Nawal has always been energetic and cheerful, said Usha. "She was the minister of sports in Morocco for two terms. Since 2012, she has been serving as the vice-president of the International Olympic Committee. Whenever we stay in the same place, she would come running up, excited to see me. She always calls me 'champion' or 'PT'.
"Although the pain of narrowly missing out on an Olympic medal still lingers, I'm blessed to have met Nawal in Los Angeles. She is a priceless gem," Usha said and kissed her foe-turned-friend.
