How Gomathi’s 800m Gold at Asian C’ships Was Planned to Perfection

“800m is one of the most difficult races because it’s neither a sprint nor is it a long distance.”

Novy Kapadia, senior sports analyst and commentator

“So it was planned to perfection,” he adds, a day after Gomathi Marimuthu surprised the world by clinching a gold in the event at the Asian Athletics Championships in Doha.

At 30, the lean runner from a small village Trichy in Tamil Nadu, clocked a personal best time of 2 minute 02.70 seconds to win India's first gold at the event.

“An absolutely amazing triumph of perseverance. She’s 30 years old and has had successive failures. What I really admire about Gomathi is the way she has overcome adversity both at the personal level – her father had expired, she went into debt trying to help him recover. She had other family problems. For many years she had injuries, for many years she had not been successful. Many athletes in such a situation would tend to relapse a bit or just remain content with their job, and feel they are not up to the mark. She has been so persistent that, at the age of 30, she has brought a continental gold medal.”

Novy Kapadia

Novy Kapadia Breaks Down the Race

“It’s the king of races, the 800m, because you have to pace yourself. Not even the greats like Sebastian Coe, Elliott could run the 800m flat out as a sprint. You have to preserve yourself. It’s very tactical, it’s like a chess battle. It’s from the 800m that athletes don’t stick to their tracks.  After the first curve, everybody goes on the near side, the first lane. So you have to plan out, it’s strategy, you can also be boxed in. The Kenyans do this very well – if there’s a major rival, one Kenyan  runner will be in front of him, the other at the back of him. They don’t give him space to come out,” says Kapadia.

“Even if you’re planning to be 10m behind, there’s a human element to it. Suppose, the front runner feels confident enough and increased his pace, then you’ve left it too late. It’s about what time to make the kick. Little bit of luck also in it, but Gomathi planned it and it worked. Right at the end, she went for that acceleration which left all her opponents, including some very top opponents from Bahrain who import African athletes. If those two Bahrain girls had gone ahead a little quicker, she wouldn’t have caught up with them. So it was planned to perfection.”

Unheralded Winner From Tamil Nadu’s Trichy

“She wasn’t a sensation like Tintu Lukka who has been trained by PT Usha and for all these years, Tintu Lukka overshadowed everybody in middle distance running, whether it was 400m or 800m. She was the sort of big hope.  But Tintu Lukka never really delivered on the big scene. Gomathi’s is a remarkable comeback. And credit also to her coach JS Bhatia who had faith in her. Her willpower is really something remarkable.  She has achieved this success and hopefully, it’s a stepping stone for her to continue to work hard and do well.”

Novy Kapadia