‘You need to stay in the present to deal with pressure,’ says Abhinav Bindra

HE IS ARGUABLY the greatest Olympic athlete India has produced. And now, in his second innings post-retirement, he continues to make a difference to sport. Setting up and running the Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP) in states like Odisha and Assam with support from the state governments and the International Olympic Committee, and also setting up the most advanced Sport Science Centre in Odisha, Abhinav Bindra is giving back to sport in more ways than one. In Kolkata for the Trailblazers Conclave organised by Revsportz, Bindra spoke at length about pressure and how to deal with it on the biggest stage, with the Paris 2024 Games just four months away.

While many do well at the World Championships or World Cups, come the Olympics, sportspersons are unable to deal with pressure. What is your take on pressure and how to handle it?

The first step in dealing with pressure is to accept that there is pressure. Many athletes tend to run away from it and suggest that there is no pressure, whatever the stage of competition. I don’t think that’s the correct way of looking at things. It can’t be that you don’t feel the pressure when you are competing in the finals of the Olympic Games. It is human to feel the pressure.Once you accept that there is pressure, you can start making preparations to embrace it. As Sourav Ganguly had once suggested, you prepare every single day for the big stage and do it in a manner that it almost becomes a habit. Preparation is an everyday thing. It means when you go to the Olympics, you will be the best prepared. You haven’t suddenly woken up to the Olympic Games but rather trained yourself knowing that there will be pressure. That’s when you start to enjoy it. Soak in the pressure and perform your best.

So, you are suggesting a kind of stage awareness. Be conscious of the stage and be ready for it in a way that you can soak in the pressure of the Olympic Games or the World Cup.

I am speaking about a kind of mindfulness. You can’t suddenly wake up one day and say I will be mindful of the Olympic Games. No human being wants to be in duress or feel the pain of competing. It is against human nature. So, you need to be mindful of what you are up against. You need to do so because, inevitably under pressure, it is the past or the future that takes control of the mind. While that happens, you tend to lose control. What you need to do is be in the present. The ‘now’. And you can only do so if you are mindful and know what to do. That’s why Sourav spoke about preparing for it every day. That’s how this mindfulness can be achieved. You need to stay in the present.

Sportspersons have told me that they treat every competition in the same manner. When it concerns cricket, players have told me that an India-Pakistan game is just another game. Olympic athletes have said it is just another competition. Are they not speaking the truth , or is this a way to deflect pressure?

That’s exactly why I said the first step is acceptance. You need to have a sense of gratitude as well. That you are being able to com­pete in the Olympic Games should bring a sense of gratitude with it. Few can make it to the highest stage and that’s why you should be thankful for it. And accept the fact that because you are competing at the highest stage, the pressure will be there, and will be intense. Accept it, be prepared for it, and then try and enjoy it when you are there.

In shooting, we have already won 21 quota places for Paris 2024. We will compete in 28 events, and have a really good team. And yet, we feel apprehensive when we think of what happened in Rio and Tokyo. Do you think things will be different in Paris?

It will boil down to how well you are prepared and how you handle the pressure in Paris. We have an extremely talented bunch of shooters. They have won medals in every competition that there is to win. So, there is no debate whatsoever that there is immense potential. That’s where coaching also becomes important. In my case, I had a love-hate relationship with my coach. I hated some of the things I was asked to do. But now, when I think back, I feel I learnt some of the best things I did because I did what I was asked to do. You need to do things which may not be in your comfort zone, but they make you a better athlete. That’s how you become that extra bit better for an event like the Olympic Games.

What are the life lessons sport has taught you?

The first thing is that it is not just about winning medals. Yes, the Olympic gold medal was very important and had I not won it, I wouldn’t be here today with you. But then, there are far more important lessons that sport teaches you. It teaches you how to lose. How to deal with failure, for example. Sport makes you a better person, and helps you deal with the challenges of life better. For me, that’s what sport has done. It has given me different perspectives on life and made me a better human being at the end of the day. Had it not been for sport and the values that come with it, I wouldn’t be the person that I am now. That’s why I owe sport.

You are working closely with state governments in Odisha and Assam. Governments coming forward to support sport and kids.

Scale can only be achieved with government support. And when you have scale, you automatically have more chances to do well at the international level. The work that has been done in Odisha has been exceptional. The government of Odisha was the first state to embrace (OVEP), and now we have more than 200,000 kids who are benefitting from it. We also have the Sports Science Centre in the Kalinga Stadium precinct, and all our elite athletes can benefit from it. The government has been extremely proactive in promoting sport and there has never been any red tape in the way things have functioned. It has been a very good experience working with the government in Odisha. Coming to Assam, there is a huge keenness about making a difference in sport. We have now launched OVEP there and if you take a look at the quality of facilities being developed, you will know that the government is extremely keen on using sport to make a difference. It makes me optimistic about the future and I will do whatever I can to help such initiatives, going forward.

Abhinav BindraAssamOdishaOlympic gold medallistParis 2024shooter