Usha announces retirement

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 25. ``Athletics has been my life and it will continue to be so in the years to come in some form or the other. It is a painful decision, but a well thought-out one.'' So said P. T. Usha on Tuesday as she announced her retirement from international athletics.

``I am not fed up with sport or athletics. I miss my son,'' said the Kerala sprinter, at a hurriedly got up, but well- attended press conference here. She was non-committal as far as her continuation at the national level was concerned.

This is the second time that Usha has announced her retirement. At 36, this one has to be for good, for, she has little to look forward to, in terms of major goals. The first one had come in 1990, immediately after the Beijing Asian Games. She returned to the track in 1993, but since then has had only limited success at the Asian level.

Usha felt that after having missed much of the off- season training due to her knee injury forcing her to skip the entire competitive season so far, it would be futile to attempt a comeback at this stage. The Asian championships in Jakarta, at the end of August, was thus out of question and so too the Sydney Olympics in September. Both were very much on her mind at the start of the season. She saw little point in stretching a career without the challenge of a major international next year.

Obviously, there were questions about her greatest and worst moments, about her rivals, about her records, the lack of class emerging from Kerala these days, about her proposed school of athletics and about the charge of doping in Indian athletics.

Usha termed her fourth-place finish in the 400m hurdles in the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 as her greatest achievement. She also felt that in a way it was her most disappointing moment, too. She named Filipino Lydia de Vega as her toughest Asian rival in sprints during her heydays. ``I didn't have an opposition in the 400m'', she pointed out.

Her records in the 200m and 400m, she felt, could have been bettered earlier by herself. ``I wanted to run below 23 seconds for the 200. Yet, I tried hard to break that record, but failed.'' Barring the 400m hurdles mark of 55.42 secs clocked at Los Angeles, all of Usha's records have been bettered in recent weeks, though not yet ratified. In the intermediate hurdles, the next best timing is M.D. Valsamma's Jakarta effort of 57.81s in 1985.

She said that the best talent was not coming through to the selection stage in Kerala. As for her proposed school, the Usha School of Athletics at Koilandy, near Kozhikode, she hoped that public and private sector organisations would come forward to assist her.

Usha hoped that her academy would provide her the launchpad to give the country an Olympic medal which she had missed after having come very close to it at the Los Angeles Games.

On Tuesday, she and a group of MPs from Kerala met the Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister, Mr S.S. Dhindsa and the Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Dhananjaya Kumar, to seek their support for the setting up of the school. Both the ministers assured her and the delegation all the support including funding for the synthetic track and tax exemption for donations.

Usha evaded questions about doping, pointing out that she had recently talked about the subject and she had nothing to add to it at this stage.

The foreign coaches, she felt, would be better off training youngsters, especially the under-11 batch, for, they were mainly teaching technique. ``Altering technique at a late age becomes impossible,'' she said.

Asked about her reluctance to continue her association with her long-time coach O.M. Nambiar, on her comeback in 1993, Usha said that ``Nambiar sir`` was not sure whether she would be able to cut her weight down from 79kg to 62kg. ``He appreciates my effort in reducing my weight nowadays,'' she added.

In a written statement, Usha paid tributes to Mr. Nambiar as well as Balakrishnan Master, the person who introduced to the sport and her present coach, Mr. J.S. Bhatia. She also expressed her gratitude to her employer, Kerala Government and the Union Government, among others.

* * *

Usha: Facts & figures

Born: 20 May, 1964 at Koothali, Kozhikode Dist.Kerala.

First National: 1978 inter-State meet at Quilon, Kerala (three gold medals).

First International: Qaide-Azam invitation meet, Karachi, 1980 (four gold medals).

Olympic Games: Moscow, 1980 (out in 100m heats), Los Angeles, 1984 (fourth in 400m hurdles in 55.42s), Seoul 1988 (out in 400m hurdles heats), Atlanta, 1996 (part of 4x400m relay team).

Asian Games: New Delhi, 1982 (silver each in 100m and 200m), Seoul, 1986 (gold medals in 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay, silver in 100m), Beijing, 1990 (silver in 400m, fourth place in 200m), Hiroshima, 1994 (fourth in 200m, silver in 4x400m relay); Bangkok, 1998 (fourth in 400m, failed to make 200m final).

Asian Track and Field: Kuwait, 1983 (silver in 200m, gold in 400m); Jakartya, 1985 (Gold in 100m, 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles, 4x400m relay, bronze in 4x100m relay); Singapore, 1987 (Gold in 400m, 400m hurdles, 4x400m relay, silver in 100m, 4x100m relay); New Delhi, 1989 (gold in 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles, 4x400m relay, silver in 100m, 4x100m relay); Fukuoka, 1998 (gold in 4x100m relay, silver in 4x400m relay, bronze each in 200m and 400m).

National records: 100m (11.39s), 200m (23.25s), 400m (51.61s), 400m hurdles (55.42s). (Barring her record in the 400m hurdles, all the others had been bettered in recent weeks. The new records are, however, yet to ratitied and Usha's marks continue to be listed.)

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