Date:24/12/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/12/24/stories/2002122401642100.htm

Sport - Sports : General

Olympic award for Ashwini Kumar

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI DEC. 23. He has won many awards in his illustrious career, including the Padma Bhushan 30 years ago, but the 81-year-old Ashwini Kumar would hold the Olympic Order most dear to his heart.

Though Ashwini Kumar was awarded the Olympic Order in the 114th Congress of IOC recently in Lausanne, by the IOC president Jacques Rogge, he kept quiet about it till his friends persuaded him to jog down memory lane.

"In recognition of your outstanding merit in the cause of world sport and your faithfulness to the Olympic ideal as illustrated by Pierre de Coubertin, Renovator of the Olympic Games, I award you the Olympic Order'', said the citation.

The award was accompanied by a metallic Laurel wreath. Only two others, the French President Jacques Chirac and Flor Isava Fonseca of Venezuela were presented the award this year.

Ashwini Kumar was elected as an IOC member in 1973, and became a member of the IOC Executive Board in 1980. He served IOC as vice-president from 1983 to 1987, and was re-elected to the IOC Executive Board from 1992 to 1996. He became an IOC honorary member in 2000.

Having retired as the Director General of the Border Security Force in 1978, after 36 years of service in the police force, Ashwini Kumar served as a security delegate in organising security for all the Olympic Games since 1980. He was adjudged the `Policeman of the millennium' in Sydney in 2000.

Recalling his long association with the Olympic movement, Ashwini Kumar talked about the word `amateur' giving way to `eligible' from 1984, with regard to the participation of the top athletes in the Olympics, as he chatted with a few from the media at his residence in New Friends Colony here on Monday.

Quickly touching the next Games to be held in Athens, he said that the city was trying to battle the issues of smog and heavy traffic.

"They can't do much about the dust and smoke, but have built a metro system to ease the traffic pressure'', he said about Athens. Talking about drugs in sports, he said that it was a pity, but stressed that there was no escaping the fact that most were taking it.

"The ethical approach is important. Sports is a test of an athlete's education, character and virtues'', he said, emphasising the need to keep sports clean. However, he expressed his fear that sports would become a casualty in the long run.

He refused to comment about India's aspirations to hold the Olympics, but was quick to point to the fact that the country had managed to win a solitary vote in its bid to hold the Asian Games, despite the fact that it had formed the idea and conducted two Asian Games including the first in 1951.

Having served the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) for 16 years, Ashwini Kumar revealed his love for the national game, as he recalled the thriller of a final of the last Asian Games in Busan, between India and Korea.

"It was a very good match, as our boys recovered from being down 0-3 to 3-3. They nearly scored the fourth goal. And then there was this stupid decision by the umpire to give a penalty corner against India'', he said, unable to hide his disappointment.

The chef de mission of the Indian contingent for 1960 and 1964 Olympic Games, Ashwini Kumar said that Indian hockey would be a lot better if the players improved their stamina further.

A versatile personality and the life president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Ashwini Kumar had also written a book, the Casual Symphony, on Indian classical music.

It was indeed a pleasant experience for Ashwini Kumar, a few days before his 82nd birthday on December 27, to walk down memory lane. His focus has always been the development of the Olympic movement, despite the recent conflicts within the Olympic family. It was thus no wonder that a man of his stature was bestowed the rare honour of the Olympic Order.