"It was down to the wire" - Paris-bound swimmer Srihari Nataraj on the competition for Olympic qualification
With the Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony set to take place in just a few days, swimmer Srihari Nataraj is one of the athletes who is expected to lead India’s winning charge in the tournament.
With just a few days left until the start of the summer Olympics, Srihari, who has previously represented his country at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in 2018, spoke in an interview with GoSports about how he got his start in swimming at the tender age of two, as well as his feeling at representing India in Paris.
“The past six months or so have been a journey towards making [Olympics qualification] happen. So for me, more than excitement or sense of accomplishment, it was a sense of relief this time because it was down to the last minute. It was down to the wire. And unfortunately, even though I’ve trained daily I didn’t get the qualifying time,” Srihari Nataraj told the interviewer.
“We were waiting for the quota spot, and we had no idea how any of the other Indian [swimmers] were going to perform. So we're just waiting to see who does what,” he added.
However, after a few days, Srihari Nataraj realized that his fellow swimmer would not be meeting the qualification criteria, and that gave him hope that he would be on the plane to the Paris Olympics 2024
“That [realisation] gave me a little bit of confidence that the [qualification] spot was pretty much mine,” he said.
Having already made his grand-stage debut at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, Srihari Nataraj is not fazed by the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024.
“For me, every Olympics and every meet I swim is going to be the same. I'm going to treat it the same way. I'm not going to look at it like it's something big or special, even though it is. But that's just how I've been growing up,” he said
However, the experience of appearing for the Commonwealth Games and other major tournaments definitely helped Srihari at the previous Olympics.
“Being in so many different major tournaments before the [Tokyo] Olympics, I already knew what to expect. It's very similar to the World Championships in the way it's conducted. I had swam with a lot of the swimmers that I raced next to, so I had a good sense of idea what to expect in terms of racing,” Srihari said.
However, being in the Olympic Village with the best sportspersons from around the world was a new experience and the ‘best part of the Olympics’ for Srihari Nataraj.
"I had a passion for the sport" - Srihari Nataraj on becoming a swimmer at the age of two
The fact that Srihari would be an elite swimmer was evident from an early age, as the boy from Bangalore found himself in a pool at the early age of two.
“I started swimming at two. I was just pretty much thrown into the pool. It came naturally to me. I didn't cry even once [while getting] into the water. I might cry now, but I didn't cry when I was two or three,” Srihari said in the interview.
“Now, there are days where I just don't swim now, so I might cry if I have to train sometimes,” he added, laughing.
A serial winner by his own admission, Srihari Nataraj got the habit of winning at an early age.
“I started winning quite young. So I think I had that kind of passion for the sport as well because everyone loves success. And I saw success quite early. I think it was around the age of 15 when I won my first senior medal,” Srihari Nataraj said.
“So since my very first tournament, I won two golds. I think till I was eight, I didn't lose even once. So I always wanted to win. I was being extremely competitive, but that's not just with swimming. It's everything in life,” he added. “I've just become a much more mature swimmer, and I've learned to deal with things better.”
The Indian swimming team, which landed in France on Sunday, will start their Paris Olympics 2024 events on July 27.