A View From Mount Olympus

There are Olympians whose lives are studded by a few Games. Then there are the likes of Randhir Singh, the grand old man of Indian Olympics. This Rio Games will be the 14th consecutive that he will be attending. His first Olympics was when, as a five-year-old, he accompanied his father Bhalendra Singh—then president of the Indian Olympic Ass­ociation—to the Helsinki Games in 1952. Randhir has been part of the Indian contingent at six successive Olympics, starting in 1964, as a trap and skeet shooter. The next seven he attended as an administrator.

Randhir turns 70 this year and says he hopes to attend many more Games. From an affluent and influential Patiala family, Randhir attended Yadavindra Public School and graduated in history from Delhi’s St Stephen’s College. He chose rifle shooting, but remained for long under the shadow of legendary sho­oter Karni Singh, a family friend. At the Olympics, his best per­­formance came in 1968, when he was tied 14th in the clay pigeon trap event. His high point was when he won gold at the 1978 Bangkok Asian Games, besides a bronze (individual) and silver (team) at the 1982 Asiad in Delhi. After his playing days, Randhir became IOA secretary-general in 1987 and occupied the seat for 27 years, till 2014. Here he runs an ane­­cdotal eye on the past, touching on each of his Olympic outings.

• 1964 Tokyo
  Randhir was a reserve shooter in the clay pigeon trap event. He didn’t compete but he soaked in a lot of experience, interacting with sporting legends. He watched the great Gurbachan Singh Randhawa run the 110m hurdles in 14 seconds, stayed in the room next to Milkha Singh at the Games village and even shared his birthday cake.

• 1968 Mexico city
  In his first Olympics as an athlete, Randhir put up what turned out to be his career-best performance at the Games—tied 14th in the clay pigeon trap. Besides, he was mesmerised by a host of legends in action— American high jumper Dick Fosbury, long jumper Bob Beamon, and double marathon champion Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia.

• 1972 Munich
  He remembers Munich mainly for two reasons. One was his injured shoulder that bled while competing—an injury, suffered while training in 46-degree summer heat in Bikaner, turned septic. The other reason was meeting Grace Kelly, the Hollywood diva. He says he wasn’t affected by the notorious terrorist attack on the Games village.

• 1976 Montreal
  After a poor performance, the extra tight security made it ‘suffocating’ for him. But he perked up, watching Shivnath Singh finish a creditable 11th in marathon. “He actually led the race, surprising the world. But close to the finish he poured water on himself, got body cramps, and lost the lead,” he says.

• 1980 Moscow
  With his personal performance not­hing of note, this edition of the Olympics instantly reminds Randhir of the brilliant dribbling of the legendary Mohammed Shahid, who guided India to an Olympic hockey gold after 16 years. “I watched the hockey final. I was close to Shahid. I spoke to him just before he was hospitalised in Varanasi (and died in Gurgaon on July 20),” he says.

• 1984 Los Angeles
  These were his last Olym­pics as a shooter and he points out that the fast clay pigeons contributed to his poor performance. What impressed him most, though, was Peter Ueberroth completely turning the Olympic movement around by bringing in sponsors for the first time. “Even car parks bore sponsors’ logos,” he recalls.

• 1988 Seoul
  His sporting career over, Randhir attended the Games as IOA secretary-general. In his new role, he, along  with Olympic Council of Asia president Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, sowed the seeds of the Afro-Asian Games. After the Indian government’s dilly-dallying, the first—and only—edition of the Afro-Asian Games were held in Hyderabad in 2003.

• 1992 Barcelona
  With India failing to win a medal for the third Olympics in a row, Randhir’s best memories from Barcelona are of watching the American basketball ‘Dream Team’, comprising the likes of Mic­h­ael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. He recalls Spain’s King Juan Carlos bec­oming a ‘lucky charm’ for his country’s athletes.

• 1996 Atlanta
  Apart from watching Leander Paes clinch a bronze, Ran­dhir proudly says that it was the first time the Ind­ian Olympic contingent was sponsored by private companies (AT&T was the main sponsor). “I met Muhammad Ali and Brooke Shields, then Andre Agassi’s girlfriend,” he remembers.

• 2000 Sydney
  Randhir’s abiding memory of the Games was a bronze medal in the 69 kg category by weightlifter Karnam Malleswari, who became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal. “She was a perfect athlete—dedicated, hard-working and focussed,” he recalls. “Also, they were one of best organised Games that I have attended.”

• 2004 Athens
  Besides being the IOA secretary-general, Randhir appeared in his new role as an International Olympic Committee member. When the organisers asked him for his choice of events to present medals, he chose the double trap event in which Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore competed. He says presenting the silver medal to Rathore was his ‘best moment’ of the Games.

• 2008 Beijing
  Although Randhir didn’t present the 10m air rifle gold medal to Abhinav Bindra in the Chinese capital, he had a ringside view of history being made by the son of his ‘junior’ at Yadavindra Public School in Patiala. “The other memory of Beijing is chatting up with Princess Norberta ‘Nora’ of Liechtenstein, an IOC member.”

• 2012 London
  Well before India won a record six medals, the IOA signed an Olympic-specific sponsorship deal for the 2012 Olympics, points out Randhir, for whom this was the last Games as IOA secretary-general. “All the money of around Rs 3.5 crore was distributed among the athletes,” he says. Samsung, Amul and ONGC were among the sponsors.

• 2016 Rio
  Randhir is in Rio attending his 14th successive Olympic Games. Before leaving Delhi, he told Outlook that he would be there for the entire duration, watching the action and attending meetings. Coin­cidentally, India has sent its largest ever Olympic contingent to Rio—120 athletes.