The gym is 10 feet away from Satish’s home, a modest building that struggles for space to accommodate the trophies he won. His mother, S Dheivanai remembers the days when Satish, a clerk in the Southern Railway, would wind up work at 2 pm and travel more than a 100 km to be in time for his evening training at the Atlas Gym. That was in 2011, three years before he would burst on to the international scene with a gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
“No one can claim ownership to the gym though. Everything that happens there is a collective effort of the community (Mutharayars),” says Dheivanai. Maintenance of the gym, buying and replacing equipment is done by pooling resources. Every person that has availed of a job as a result of training in the gym is expected to contribute a part from their salary, and funds, whenever required. Satish Kumar has contributed the highest: Rs 11,000.
For all its success in producing lifters, there is no designated coach; but practice sessions go on with clockwork precision at the gym. This, the veterans say, is possible because the youngsters listen to the seniors. It helps that they all are related by virtue of belonging to the same caste. “Atlas was started as a community gym. It will remain one,” says M Ranganathan, a retired armyman.
The discipline, too, borders on military. “We were told not to go to second shows (late night cinema) or ogle at women. Discipline is very important until we land a job,” recalls M Velu, the second person after Tamil Selvan to land a government job.
Satish’s schoolmate and weightlifter N Karthik says that the boys would be chided if found playing other sports, especially Kabaddi and Cricket. Both the sports, Karthik says, have high risk of injury. The lifters also are banned from consuming alcohol and smoking. At least, until they land a job. “Rod pudikriya, selavu panriya, vela vaangidum. Adhuku aproam nee national, international, un ishtam. Nee vela vaangitu kudichu kooda azhinju po. (If you touch the rod, make sure that you work hard until you land a job. What you do after that is up to you),” is the commonly given advice, says Karthik.
By the virtue of these rules, female lifters are not allowed to train in the gym. Aspirant females from the district have a place to train at the State-run weightlifting centre at Sathuvachari. The centre was established in 1997 after the success of homegrown lifters. In spite of this, the lifters from the Mutharayar and Sengundha Mudhaliyar communities train only at the Atlas and Gandhiji gyms.
State Weight lifting association president M Tamil Selvan believes the government should come up with a residential facility to tap the potential in the area. “Competition has grown by leaps and bounds and it is high time we began following the scientific methods in diet and training,” he said.