THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Richa Mishra will turn 35 this December. But her hunger to win hasn’t reduced one bit.Her eyes still retain that steely look when she walks to the starting blocks. It resembles that of a tiger, who has sensed that a catch is near.Describing Richa is a difficult task. She has been tagged with myriad traits, some real and some concocted. She has been described as someone who doesn’t give an inkling of what she is thinking yet also as a hard-hitting straight-talker.
She has been called both strong and sensitive, elusive and accessible, someone who can detach herself from the past and someone who is still anchored to the happenings of bygone times.Yet everyone agrees on one thing: her talent.
Richa undoubtedly is one of the best women swimmers India has ever produced. After 24 years in the pool, she carries 6 national records and has been adjudged the best swimmer at the nationals 10 times. After she touched the wall in the 400m medley clocking a record time of 4:59.17, she had a smile on her face. The silver had gone to a 19-year-old, the bronze went to a 13-year-old.
“Look at the age gap. We belong to different generations. Those who were my rivals — be it Nisha Millet or Shikha Tandon — they are now running families, “ Richa said.In a country where female swimmers bid adieu in their early 20s, Richa is an aberration. Richa says it was her passion that kept her immersed in the field this long. Even on the day, NADA passed a ban on her for taking a stimulant, she swam as much as she wanted. Perhaps the two-year ban was the only blot on her otherwise illustrious career. But even those darkest days failed to unsettle her. “The 2010 incident (doping) made me mentally tougher,” she says. “Maybe it has got to do with how I was treated when I joined swimming.”
Coming from a lower middle-class family, her competitors used to look down on her. They mocked her cheap apparels and sent her a feeler that the sport belonged to rich girls. For three years it went on, Richa says.
“It only subsided after I joined CRPF in 1999 and began earning from the sport. With my income, my living standard also improved. Victories and medals made me. Those who mocked me, they began saluting me. That was my revenge and I drive satisfaction out of that,” Richa bares her mind.Charu, Richa’s sister who is a year elder to her, gave an insight into her sister’s mind.
The authorities of a Delhi-based swimming pool, who had bones to pick with Richa, tried to prevent her from training there by asking a huge fee for alloting a lane. The fee and the security deposit came to about `1.25 lakh and they thought they had checkmated her.
“During winters, we needed to train 4 months in a heated pool. They knew that and asked for money. But she paid it and trained there for almost four years,” Charu, who was once a national record holder in 1500m freestyle and now trains her sister, says.
Having collected two golds so far and with a couple of events more to come, Richa is a strong contender for the best swimmer laurel. But how far can she go on? As long as I love doing swimming, Richa says.
shan.as@newindianexpress.com