'Indian athletes have got too many facilities'

Delhi: Gurbachan Singh Randhawa was a versatile athlete, arguably the greatest that India has produced. He was inclined towards track and field events from his school and college days, and eventually went on to represent India at the Olympic Games.

His biggest moment came when he finished fifth in the 110 metres hurdles at the Tokyo Games in 1964. On a wet track and within 45 minutes, Randhawa ran two important races - the semi-finals and the final. Against the world's top athletes, he clocked 14.09 seconds, which still stands as a national record.

He also held the Indian decathlon record for 12 years, until Vijay Singh Chauhan broke it. Randhawa won the national 110m hurdles title from 1962 to 1964 and remained decathlon champion from 1960 to 1963.

The government recognised Randhawa's contribution to the sport and bestowed on him the Arjuna Award in the year of its inception, in 1961, ahead of Parduman Singh, champion shotputter, discus thrower and his senior. Randhawa was also given the Police Medal, in 1978, for meritorious services.

Married to Jaswinder, the Delhi-based Randhawa is at present the government observer on the national athletic selection panel. "Indian athletes do not have any affinity towards their departments. They have got too many facilities," Randhawa said in a free wheeling interview with India Abroad News Service.

What were you basically - a high jumper, a decathlete, a long jumper or a javelin thrower? I inherited the qualities of my father and elder brother who were athletes. I started with high jump, but would still do anything initially - high jump, long jump and javelin. In 1958, I was declared the best athlete of Punjab University. In the 1960 Nationals, I participated in decathlon. I created the high jump record of 2.02 metres and with it, I qualified for the 1960 Rome Olympics. I then qualified for the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games, in decathlon. After that my elbow and shoulder got injured, which affected my javelin throw. It was then that I (fully) concentrated on 110m hurdles.

With which event were you more comfortable as a school and college student?

I was interested in all the events. Nothing is easy in the life. You should have good concentration, should be dedicated and do a lot of practice to excel. It is a different matter if you are doing an event as a pastime. But if you want to specialize, no event is easy.

I was a poor sprinter; my 100m time was not so good. But, since my clearance and technique were good (for hurdles), it always compensated for the lack of good speed. I was lucky to finish fifth in the 110m hurdles at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Who was your coach in college?

There used to be no coach in colleges during those days. Like schools having a P T teacher, in colleges there used to be a director of physical education, who used to take care of all the disciplines. However, in 1960, I trained under Mr S F Vincent Reel, who was the chief coach of California University - the athletics federation had invited him before the 1960 Olympics - and in 1962 Hungarian Kovacs guided me for some time in Patiala, where he was the chief athletics coach at the National Institute of Sports.

However, I did not gain as much from the coaches as from my hard work, dedication and the competitions that I took part in. Nevertheless, Kovacs, who himself was a top class hurdler, helped me a great deal before the Rome Olympics, specifically with the warming up for the hurdles, because warming up varies for each event.