My father wore this blazer for the first time when he was 21. I am wearing it at 73”. When Derek Boosey, who was appointed recently as the high performance director of athletics, said this, one could easily guage the gamut of emotions that flashed across his face.
Donning a blue blazer with official imprint, Derek was at the Indira Gandhi national athletics stadium to watch the day’s proceedings. The pages of history had to be opened to understand the gravity of the comment and Derek was more than willing to oblige. The now US-based athlete-cum-administrator’s father LT Boosey was a national triple jump champion in British India and had appeared for the country in several international events. Following in his father’s footsteps, Derek also took up triple jump and came fourth in the 1960 Delhi nationals. He was just 18 and was invited to turn up for selection trials for Rome Olympics at Mount Abu in Rajasthan. The youngster fared well in the trials but was sent back due to his ‘young age’. That was the end of Derek’s dream to don the Tricolour on the Olympic stage.
“I was born in India. So were my parents. In fact we have an Indian connection. My great grandmother was from Kerala. She was from Wayanad and family records put her name as Maria. That was the name given to her by great grandfather. He gave her his mother’s name. With this much attachment to the country, I would’ve been happy had I been sent to Rome. But I wasn’t picked,” Derek said.
With changing socio-political scenario, Derek left for Britain in 1961 and soon his family also followed him. In 1968 Derek had his Olympic baptism under British flag. He represented Britain in 35 international competitions.
After his retirement as player, Derek joined Royal Air Force and later joined several universities as master coach — one who trains coaches. Occasionally he wore the cap of administrator also, bringing in money into athletics and sports in general through his marketing strategies. He also worked in Korea, Saudi Arabia and China.
Acclaimed all over the world, Derek had decided to go into retirement. He had moved his family from California to Utah so that he could “play with his dog in the garden”. That’s when the Sports Authority of India (SAI) decided to hire him and the septuagenarian immediately agreed. “Half of my relatives are buried in India. Grandfather, uncles, aunties. They are buried in Madras, Ooty, Colar field (near Bengaluru) and elsewhere. Many of the second and third generation of the Boosey family are still living in India,” he says.
Derek, who was once stripped of the chance to participate in the Olympics under Indian flag, is now monitoring the athletics team’s Rio Olympic preparations. He feels the Indian flag will fly high in Rio, but is also realistic. “We can hope for that in Rio but we are planning in such a way that we could mould junior athletes to ensure medals in 2020 (Tokyo).”
In the background, Indian national anthem was being played. The country had added another gold to their tally. And Derek, who could easily sing the entire anthem from memory when he was a teenager, was on his feet, mumbling the first few lines of the anthem. Fifty-four years haven’t taken much of India out of him!