India’s Swapnil Kusale celebrates after winning the bronze medal in the 50m rifle 3 positions men’s final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Chateauroux, France. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
There are two numbers that constantly flit through Swapnil Kusale’s mind – 8.2 and 7.6. Out of all the shots the 50m three position rifle shooter has ever made, those two shots always gnaw at the back of his brain. Both were made at the 2022 World Championships and the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games. At the World Championships in Cairo, Kusale, who hadn’t shot a series under 50 in the final, inexplicably dropped a 47.5 in his final group of shots – the last of them being that infamous 8.2.
The ghosts of those final five shots in Cairo, found new life in Hangzhou as Kusale, comfortably having aced qualification and seemingly assured of a medal, landed a jaw-droppingly bad 7.6 right as the pressure decibel started to creep upwards. Both attempts were when he was in a medal position to win gold or silver and in both of those instances, his inexplicable collapse saw him drop from a certain medal to that dreaded fourth position.
“At the World Championships, I just tensed up. I tried to overcompensate by focusing extra hard,” says Swapnil. The ordeal of failing at the World Championships followed him right up till the Asian Games. “I was traumatised when it happened again. It was the same issue again, I forgot to prepare my body, and instead overfocused on the shot. In the one-hour bus ride back to the Village, I was on the phone with my mental trainer who tried to explain what happened but I just remember blankly staring out of the window.”
In Paris Olympics littered with six fourth-place finishes for Indians, Kusale, the original landlord of the spot in this Olympic cycle, was determined to not be Exhibit No 7, and for a third time no less. His bronze medal was not a surprise, but rather the course correction of a problem that had denied him a Worlds and Asiad medal.
“In Paris, around the 40th shot, I remember wondering, ‘Is this about to happen again’? I was in that moment for maybe five seconds, but then I remembered how strongly I built myself up. I remembered the areas I needed to focus on at that very moment. I kept telling myself that this was a different situation and that I was far more settled mentally,” says the 28-year-old, who is coached by Deepali Deshpande.
But even that wasn’t enough and he felt that he needed something extra. Usually one to wear earbuds during competition to keep the noise out, he realised this was his first Olympics, and his heartbeat started to go for a toss.
Swapnil Kusale of India reacts during the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men event of the Shooting competitions in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Shooting centre in Chateauroux, France.(PTI)
“I did something I never do. I took my earbuds out and allowed myself to listen to all the surrounding noise. Once I let all that sound in, my body got used to it and I felt like myself once again,” confessed Kusale.
Shooting broke a two-Olympic curse in Paris after no medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Games. Two pistol medals from Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh and a rifle medal from Kusale brought the Indians back into the mix in the shooting events after London 2012.
Kusale’s preparations had started a year earlier when he was part of a contingent from India that had gone to Chateauroux to scope out the venue. After coming back, the shooter would find himself checking the weather in France out of curiosity. And when the event finally came through, the qualification stage, which happens in an open arena, heat became a big factor.
“It was really hot during qualification. The coaches were constantly bringing ice in handkerchiefs to me so that I could wipe my face and cool down in between sets. I had also eaten meals that helped specifically with this type of weather in France. The weather affected all the shooters over there, especially because of our jackets,” explains Kusale.
One area that helped the Indian marksman though, was the location of the shooting programme. Three hundred kilometres away from Paris, Chateauroux was far away from the starry light show of the Eiffel Tower and the steady trickle of stars across various disciplines all staying together in the Games Village. The town south of Paris was far quieter in nature and all that one could really do was go from the accommodation to the competition venue and then back.
“In Hangzhou, I saw all of these big athletes from our country and other countries. I would observe how they would eat, how they talked and walked. That was my first multi-sport event and it was a new feeling for me,” says Kusale. “At Paris the mindset was different. I didn’t want any distractions. I gave the opening ceremony a miss as well because there would be travel involved and I didn’t want to put my body through a recovery session. I stuck to staying between the Village and the range, and that focus helped me.”
On his return to his village near Radhanagari, in Kolhapur district, the celebrations were the first time he truly felt that he was an Olympic medallist. Unlike Hangzhou where he was staring out of a bus wondering how quickly things had gone wrong, this time he was staring out of tempo to a rally of vehicles that were there to celebrate his medal.
“There’s a pole near a Devi temple in Kolhapur which has been renamed as the ‘Olympic champion pole’. Many people in Kolhapur demanded for that to happen and that made me very emotional. My village is 45 kms from Kolhapur – they held rallies for me from there till my village. We were stopped at every village on the way and people were stopping me on the roads to feed me sweets!”
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 24-08-2024 at 22:20 IST
