Medal is nice, but it has no life, says Bindra

Abhinav Bindra may have returned from Rio de Janeiro without a medal, but he labelled last month’s Olympic Games his favourite, ahead of the glory of Beijing.

“Out of all my five Olympic appearances, my absolute favourite is Rio because I gave everything to it in terms of preparation,” he said here on Saturday.

“I gave it all I had on that day. A medal is satisfying; it’s a nice ending, a reward, but it’s a mere outcome. The process, the journey is what stays with me; it’s what defines me. The medal is nice but it has no life.

“The medal I won in Beijing is in a room in my house. Since 2008, I may have looked at it five times. I’m not connected to it.”

Bindra was speaking at the Indian Institute of Management (Bengaluru) before a rapt, packed auditorium. “In the last one month, I’ve never thought of a comeback,” he said.

“But I’ve thought hard about what I could have done differently. And the answer is nothing, other than maybe fire a better shot in the shoot-off. And that has given me a lot of satisfaction. It has brought closure to my career.”

What was it like to retire at 33, Bindra was asked. “I feel like a 12-year-old boy again,” he said. “I have to start from scratch. It’s exciting, because I have to struggle. And struggle is what I like. It’s a process and the pleasure in the process is what takes you through the day.”

Bindra was typically self-effacing, his dry wit drawing chuckles from the gathering. What actor would he choose to play his character if a biopic was made? “I’m not even going to watch that film.”

Why did he not compete in multiple shooting events at the Olympics? “I haven’t been able to do one well enough.”

He was thoughtful and serious, though, in discussing India as an Olympic sporting nation. “We’re very confused. As a nation, we need to define our Olympic sporting aspiration. Do we want to get into multiple digits and become an Olympic power: is that important to us as a country? Because there are several challenges the country faces,” Bindra said.

“If we want to use sport and the Olympics as a medium to project ourselves as a country, we need to define our aspiration and work on it with a long term plan.

“If the country decides, then there’s no reason we can’t win multiple medals. In the current situation, we are not going to get above four-five medals.

“If we want to come back with 20-30 in my lifetime, we need to start working pretty soon,” said Bindra.