Refuting marathon runner OP Jaisha’s claim that the Indian stalls hadn’t provided any energy drinks during the race, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) said that the athlete and her coach refused to avail of the energy drinks at the Rio Olympics.
Reacting to the AFI’s statements, OP Jaisha said,
Jaisha Orchatteri Puthiya Veetil is India’s national record holder in the women’s marathon event. She has run the just over 42-kilometre race several times in her life.
However, in Rio, fighting for the country’s pride on the biggest stage, Jaisha collapsed after crossing the finish line. She had placed a lowly 89th, missing her personal best by well over 13 minutes.
She wasn’t ill prepared, she wasn’t out of practise. She was dehydrated.
“I could have died there”, said a distraught O P Jaisha as she recalled the day when she claims she was not provided any water or energy drinks during the race by the Indian officials despite designated stations allotted to the country.
Jaisha had collapsed at the finish line after completing the marathon and had to be rushed to a hospital where her coach Nikolai Snesarev got into an altercation with one of the doctors and ended up being detained for half a day by the local police.
The runner claimed that she got no response from officials when she asked why water was not provided to her at the stalls.
“I asked officials why there was no water for us but I got no response. I don’t know what they were doing. There were lot of people in the Indian athletics contingent, anybody could have done this job,” Jaisha told Times Now.
(With inputs from PTI and Times Now)
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