Marathon runner and national record holder, OP Jaisha had alleged that Indian officials did not provide her water during the race and their desk was unmanned while she almost died due to lack of energy drinks and glucose under the scorching sun. “She never had any extra refreshments during her events”, he said.
Advertisement
On returning from Rio, Jaisha had alleged that officials were not present to provide her with water and refreshments during the marathon, as a result of which, she collapsed post the 43km marathon. At this juncture, Jaisha retracted her comments against the federation.
Jaisha, who had fainted at the finishing point, tried to gain sympathy saying she could have died at Rio. She used only normal water provided by organisers during the World Championships in Beijing in August previous year. “All the countries had their stalls at every 2kms but our country’s stall was empty”, said Jaisha who finished 89th in Rio Olympics women’s marathon event with a below-par timing of 2:47:19.
Nikolai added, “Jaisha has been distracted off late by all the negative media pressure, but just to clear things out even at the World Championships she had water from the organisers and didn’t ask for any extra refreshments”.
Doctors have said that those who had stayed with her, Jaisha and Kavita Raut, were also showing symptoms of the virus. Now I don’t know whether, Jaisha had told him or he told me on his own. “Instead, I will concentrate in 1500 m only”, she said.
A day before the race, Radhakrishnan Nair (deputy chief coach) asked me whether she (Jaisha) would need individual refreshment or drinks for the race. Soon after reports of athlete Sudha Singh testing positive for the H1N1 virus, comes another shocker- marathon runner OP Jaisha too has been diagnosed with the very same infection! When asked about the incident, Sports Minister Vijay Goel said it was the Athletics Federation of India’s (AFI) responsibility. So, I did not give any attention or thought whether there were such stations specifically meant for India or not.
Advertisement
“I took some medicines from the Games Village polyclinic”.
