CHENNAI: "Zero regrets". "Big burden off my chest". "I felt as if I was part of the team."
Tejaswin Shankar embraced his situation quite magnanimously. On Wednesday, when he won India the first ever medal in men's high jump at the Commonwealth Games, he was happy and content. Not brooding too much over things that happened in the past, he was happy concentrating on his event. There were moments of trepidation, angst and frustration but once he landed in Birmingham, he always thought about having a medal around his neck.
Just over a week before the Games, he was waiting impatiently to get into the flight to Birmingham. The organising committee and the Commonwealth Games Federation had agreed to allow him to participate during delegate registration meeting (DRM) some 10 days before the Opening Ceremony. He needed to get his visa on time as well as tickets.
Tejaswin touched upon the touchy subject of being dropped from the athletics team initially and how he had to approach the Delhi High Court to get into it without malice.
"Once I was allowed to compete everything was smooth," he said during an interaction on Thursday, a day after winning the bronze medal with a jump of 2.22m. "That really made it easy for me. Tickets and visa formalities were completed within a short time. Everyone helped me. What made things easier was when I reached the Games Village. No one treated me as if I didn't belong there but everyone accepted me. They supported me and I too supported them. Things were much easier for me once I was here in Birmingham." He finished behind Hamish Kerr of New Zealand and Brandon Starc of Australia. Both were tied on 2.25m but Kerr won on better first-attempt clearance record.
The 23-year-old athlete from Delhi explained why he could not come and compete at domestic meets, which were made mandatory by the Athletics Federation of India. He also pointed out that he is a stickler for the rules, but at the same time, he said rules should be applicable for everyone. If there are exceptions, then it should be applicable to others as well. "This was when I was studying in the US and I couldn't have come to participate so frequently because getting leaves was not easy," he said. "That was the reason why I couldn't come and now that I have finished school, there should not be a problem anymore."
Tejaswin, whose best is 2.29m, said that more than personal best, during events like this what matters is winning a medal. "Kerr and Starc have better records than me and they are capable of clearing 2.30m. But yesterday (Wednesday) they managed 2.25m and that indicates that conditions were good enough for such heights. Also there were stops in between because 100m and 10k races were going on. So the entire field did less than their PBs."
Now that he has won a medal at the marquee event, he will turn his attention towards decathlon, a discipline he wanted to pursue because of tendonitis on his knee. "Certainly I will switch to decathlon and next Asian Games, I would be competing in the event," he said. "Even if I don't compete, I would continue with my decathlon training because that has worked for me. Because of the constant tendonitis in my knee, I have not been able to jump as much. I have been supplementing my high jump training through long jump, hurdles. I have moved that space from where I needed a lot of high jump sessions to be a better high jumper but now I feel the improvised decathlon training has really helped with my high jump."
As of now, he wants to go back to the US and train and also get some work experience. "I just finished my schooling and in the five years programme, you get one year to get work experience. I just got an opportunity with Deloitte in Kansas City," he said. "If I get some higher level competition, I would like to compete so that I get some points."