Valiant Vikas falls at the final hurdle, finishes 8th

It was a watershed moment for Indian Athletics, as Vikas Gowda lined up as part of the Men’s Discus Finals. India had never won a medal in Athletics as an independent nation before, so to say hopes were high would be an understatement.

Vikas Gowda started out first, after receiving one of the loudest cheers at the time of introduction. If he was tensed, he wasn’t showing it; although there were close to a billion people tensed on his behalf.

After 3 throws, the top 8 of the 12 athletes would qualify for the next round and be awarded with 3 more throws.

Dressed in all-black, Vikas kicked off proceedings with a good throw of 64.79m and set the benchmark for the other athletes. Hadadi Ehsan of Iran soon bettered that mark with a huge throw of 68.18m. After all the athletes were done with their first attempt, Vikas stood in the middle of the field in 6th place.

His second attempt wasn’t anything to ride home about, as he barely crossed the 60m mark. The official score was 60.95m, well short of his first attempt and personal best of 66.28m.

As he stepped up for his third attempt, Vikas was in 7th position, a perilous position if there ever was one. However, his third throw was a disappointing 63.03m and he would now have to rely on those after him messing up their throws, if Vikas was to make it to the top 8 and stay in the event.

It was close, but Vikas did manage to squeeze through to the next round in 7th place and would be guaranteed a minimum 8th place finish at the Olympics. It’s no mean achievement to be in the top 8 discus throwers of the world, and the big guy had more than earned it. It remained to be seen whether he could trouble the front-runners though.

Top 8 round

The last-placed athlete would start off proceedings, so Vikas, having qualified in 7th, would be the second athlete to throw. His 4th throw was measured at 64.15m and the disappointment was clear to see on Vikas’ face.

2 more throws to stay in the competition and with 4 athletes having already scored more than 67m, Vikas Gowda would need to better his best mark by a long way to be in contention for a medal.

The 5th throw would turn out to be his best yet at 64.48m. One more throw to go, and all hopes rested on a miraculous recovery. He had slipped down into 8th place and would need a throw of atleast 67.3m to disturb the status quo at the top.

Going into his 6th and final throw, Vikas was still mired in 8th place. He received a huge cheer from the crowd, but even with the crowd at his back, Vikas was only able to manage 63.89m.

So there he was, Vikas Gowda, our strongest hope of an Athletics medal, finished in 8th place at the Olympics. He was certainly better than what the stats suggested, and there was a lingering feeling that Gowda wasn’t able to give it his all.

Nevertheless, Vikas Gowda still has time on his side and a medal in Rio 2016 is still a distinct possiblity. Good luck Vikas ! We are proud of you for getting where you did !