Egg-flip and a robust brew of self-discipline: PT Usha on coach Nambiar shaping her profession

Considered one of PT Usha’s earliest dreads was the considered reaching late for coach OM Nambiar’s coaching session at 6 am. An old-school coach and a stickler for self-discipline, Usha got here beneath Nambiar’s wings when she joined the hostel of the Sports activities Division in Kannur as a Class eight scholar. “If anybody reached at 6:05 am, they’d be punished. You needed to run together with your pair of spikes held over your head across the floor. I needed to run like that a few times simply after I joined the hostel, however not after that,” Usha recollects.

To achieve on time, it was essential to get up by 4:45 am no less than. The hostel had simply two bogs and three bogs for 80 trainees. A protracted lavatory queue was not an excuse the retired air drive sergeant-turned-coach would settle for.

“I’d stand up actually early and stand within the queue. At instances I’d inform somebody to carry my place within the queue and have a fast slumber earlier than my flip,” Usha says.

The police floor, in the midst of town, didn’t have any buildings blocking the view. “When you have been punished the entire city actually knew about it,” Usha says.

PT Usha throughout a coaching session with coach OM Nambiar (Credit score: Usha’s private photograph album)

Coach Nambiar was a taskmaster but additionally incentivised coaching. “Whoever did the warm-up drills the very best would get a toffee. I’m the one who received probably the most toffees,” Usha says of the early days of the profitable coach-athlete partnership which started within the late 1970s. A fourth-place end on the Los Angeles Video games and a number of medals received by Usha on the Asian Video games and Asian Championships earned her the moniker of Golden Lady. Nambiar, her coach, mentor and fixed shadow turned a family title within the 1980s.

Earlier this week Nambiar was named as a Padma Shri winner. At 89, he’s struggling for Parkinsons, not often will get up and doing and desires help to stroll. “When he heard about being awarded the Padma Shri he was very joyful. He felt he ought to have obtained it earlier, however higher late than by no means,” Suresh his son says. Nambiar received’t be capable of journey for the award ceremony, Suresh confirms. “Haven’t considered it but. Perhaps a member of the family must signify him. The one time he leaves the home is for a medical check-up.”

On Monday, hours earlier than the checklist of award winners was formally introduced, Usha had visited her coach. “We had gone for the engagement of my husband’s niece. It befell near Nambiar sir’s home. So I dropped in. He insisted that I’ve a cup of tea,” Usha says. “At any time when I meet him a variety of recollections come flooding again.”

Altering the food plan

Within the 80s, the assist system wasn’t nice so Nambiar needed to put on many hats, one in all them being a nutritionist. When coaching on the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, Nambiar hit it off with the wrestling squad. “Wrestlers have been huge into badam milk. He would at all times get a glass for me. After a degree the wrestlers would preserve badam milk for me,” Usha says.

It was Nambiar who requested Usha, a pescatarian to begin consuming eggs and undertake a non-vegetarian food plan. At first, Usha discovered it exhausting as a result of she didn’t just like the scent of eggs. However as ‘sir’ was insisting, she knew it might solely profit her on observe and through coaching. “I used to be a vegetarian who would eat fish. Within the sports activities hostel, I’d not eat the boiled egg and would retailer it away in my bag. However finally, Nambiar sir discovered and gave me a yelling. There have been so many eggs in my bag and so they began smelling,” Usha says. Over time, Usha received used to the egg-flip – uncooked egg blended in a glass of scorching milk and stirred until it froths – which Nambiar would make for her each different day. “I’d shut my nostrils with my fingers and drink it. As Nambiar sir was giving it to me I drank it.”

A younger PT Usha (credit score: Usha’s private photograph album)

By the early 1980s, Usha knew she wanted Nambiar by her facet. The idea of a private coach was remarkable in India, Usha says. As soon as an athlete was a part of the Indian staff, coaches on the nationwide camp took over. Usha was adamant to alter the system. She first tried to persuade athletics federation officers, however when that failed she went to the sports activities ministry. Lastly, she knocked on the door of prime minister Indira Gandhi. “The prime minister was not in her workplace however I met PC Alexander (principal secretary) and instructed him why it was essential for Nambiar sir to journey with me. Mr Alexander stated, ‘don’t fear, it is going to be executed’.”

Choice to focus on hurdles

This was across the time Nambiar had proposed the concept of Usha focussing on the 400 metres hurdles for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics which was a yr away. It was a wise transfer by the coach because the occasion was comparatively new and was to be a part of the Olympics for the primary time. Usha was nonetheless smarting from bagging solely the silver within the 100m and 200m on the Asiad in Delhi and the coach was eager to problem his ward.

The Asian Observe and Discipline meet in Kuwait is the place Nambiar examined Usha’s potential by making her run within the 400 metres. She received the gold at Kuwait Metropolis, which made Nambiar assured of being heading in the right direction.

“Nambiar sir instructed me I’ve an excellent stride sample and he stated I’ve the potential to develop into a prime 400 metre hurdles runner,” Usha says.

Such a beautiful second for all of us college students of Nambiar Sir. The first Dronacharya Awardee in Indian athletics historical past now additionally the first athletic coach to be conferred the PadmaShri. It’s a proud second for all coaches in our nation. I’m immensely grateful for all his teachings. pic.twitter.com/dvEHiShXpv

— P.T. USHA (@PTUshaOfficial) January 27, 2021

Inconsolable at Los Angeles

How the lean at Olympic glory led to a heart-breaking fourth place end at Los Angeles has been retold over time. In Usha’s newest retelling her coach was inconsolable.

“At first once they introduced the top-three finishers my title was third. Then they began going via the slow-motion digicam for half an hour. I used to be within the dope room when it was formally introduced that the Romanian got here third. Nambiar sir broke down. He wouldn’t cease crying. I used to be hurting inside, however I didn’t need my coach to see it. So I held myself collectively and consoled him. ‘Don’t fear we are going to win a medal on the subsequent Olympics’ I instructed him.”

Usha and Nambiar minted medals in Asia, however the Olympic medal remained an unfulfilled dream. ‘An amazing remorse’ is what each have referred to as it.

‘If solely Usha had dipped on the end line’, he rued. ‘Perhaps I didn’t get sufficient publicity’, she consoled herself.

But as her coach, a Dronacharya award winner, is bestowed with a prestigious civilian award, Usha recollects the person who stood out within the crowd as a result of he was carrying a cap and coat within the humidity when she first noticed him at a sub-district meet. “With out Nambiar sir’s steering I’d not have been capable of obtain what I did for the nation.”