Five gold medal in less than three weeks, Hima Das has already been crowned the golden girl of India’s track and field.
It is a rare occurrence for an Indian athlete to be in such top form and be so consistent in track and field. The internet is abuzz with congratulatory messages and expectations of how India’s search for their maiden medal at the track and field events in the Olympics could be over soon.
But a closer look reveals a different picture.
Hima’s ‘golden run’ started on 2 July when she won 200m Gold in Poznan Athletics Grand Prix in Poland. Five days later on 7 July, she won 200m gold at the Kutno Athletics Meet, again in Poland. Next week on 13 July she won her third Gold at the Kladno Athletics Meet in the Czech Republic. Her fourth gold came on 17 July in the 200m race at the Tabor Athletics Meet, also in the Czech Republic.
However, a look at her timings should temper those expectations a little.
At the Poznan Athletics Grand Prix, Hima clocked 23.65 seconds. The timing went up to 23.97 seconds at the Kutno Athletics Meet. In the Czech Republic, Hima fared better with timings of 23.43 seconds and 23.25 seconds at the Kladno Athletics Meet and Tabor Athletics Meet respectively.
So, the best Hima could manage at these events was 23.25 seconds.
Earlier this year in March, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) released the qualifying standards for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and according to it the qualification timing for 200m is 22.80 seconds.
Although it doesn’t demean Hima’s achievement, it is a reality check for fans whose expectations are skyrocketing with every passing day.
Hima’s personal best in 200m is 23.10 seconds which was registered more than a year ago in Guwahati. And 23.25 seconds, which is her best timing in the four races, finds a place at the 128th position in the timings list this season.
Even in her most recent conquest in her pet event of 400m at the Nove Mesto nad Metuji Grand Prix, Hima might have won the gold but she was again nowhere near her personal best.
Her timing of 52.09 seconds was her season’s best but it was way off the qualification-mark – both for the World Athletics Championship and the Olympics as well or her personal best of 50.79 seconds.
The 400m qualification mark for the World Athletics Championship has been kept at 51.80 seconds, while for the Olympics it is a little bit steeper at 51.35. Despite the gold, Hima failed to qualify for the World Athletics Championships, as this was her last 400m event before the cut-off date of 6 September 2019.
Not only the World Championships, the Olympics has also continued to be a distant dream for her.
If we take a look at Hima’s competitors, it will also tell a similar story, about the standard of competition at Hima’s disposal.
Among her competitors from her one of the races in Tabor, the three most experienced ones were no match for Hima on current form.
Czech Republic’s Klara Seidlova is World No 234. After her we have World No 464 Martina Hofmanova, who is also from the Czech Republic, while Slovakia’s Monika Weigertova is at a dismal 931. The list of competitors also include India’s VK Vismaya, who is a 400m specialist.
Her previous three events weren’t much different.
Even in the 400m event the standard of competitions was questionable. The event had two groups - A and B. The A group in which Das ran was an all-Indian contest and she was the best among the lot. So, the result was on predicted lines.
A look at the standard and the level of the events where Hima registered her triumphs in the past couple of weeks also doesn’t help the cause.
IAAF ranks its events based on level of competition and the ranks of the athletes participating in it.
Out of the five events Hima partcipated in, two were in the ‘Category F’, which is the lowest ranking for a meet. The other three were only ranked one notch higher at ‘Category E’. Sadly, IAAF doesn’t recognise these events as ‘world standard’.
However, Hima is just doing everything right to move towards her ultimate goal. She is training hard, competing and winning all her races. And we all know that winning is a good habit.
But it is the current level of expectation among the fans which is frightening. Even the Athletics Federation of India is not doing enough to educate the fans about the nature of the competition.
As a result if tomorrow Hima Das doesn’t qualify for the Olympics, all hell could break loose.
We certainly don’t want that.
The fans should be realistic with their expectations which in turn will also help Hima have her feet on the ground, and closer to her Olympics dream.
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