New Delhi: India’s ace track superstar PT Usha has claimed that she was forced to eat just rice and porridge with pickle at the Games village during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics which cost her a medal by one-hundredth of a second.
“I remember it – the pickle we in Kerala call ‘kadu manga achar’. That and some sliced fruit. I was not accustomed to baked potatoes or half-boiled chicken with soya sauce and some other typical American food,” Usha recalled.
“No one had told us that in LA we would get only American food. I had no choice but to eat rice porridge without any nutrition supplement, and that definitely affected my performance in the last 35 metres of my event since I couldn’t sustain the energy level.”
In that epic 400m hurdles final, Usha and Cristieana Cojocaru of Romania crossed the finish line at almost the same time but the latter prevailed as she went for the decisive lunge. Usha regrets that in those days only the bare facilities were available to Indian athletes.
“We would jealously look at the athletes from other countries enjoying fabulous amenities; they had the latest equipment at their disposal. We wondered if we too would one day have access to such facilities,” Usha was quoted as saying in an interview to a magazine.
My life now is completely focused on creating sprinters to fulfill my unfulfilled dream. My school seeks to give these budding athletes those sources I was denied as an athlete
PT Usha
Usha, blazed the track for 18 glorious years winning medals for India at various competitions. Now the ace sprinter runs a coaching academy – Usha School of Athletics.
However, now after 34 years of that nightmarish event, Usha wants to fulfill her dream through a student of her school.
“Now my life is completely focused on that goal with the start of Usha School of Athletics. The school seeks to give the budding athletes things I was denied as an athlete. Eighteen girls are training here as boarders,” she concluded.
