Paris Olympics 2024: Why is Ram Baboo not included in the Indian athletics contingent despite breaching the qualification standard?
Indian men’s 20 km race walker Ram Baboo failed to find a spot in the Indian athletics contingent for Paris 2024 despite breaching the qualification standard as a nation can field a maximum of three athletes in one event at the Games.
In the men’s 20 km race walk event, four Indian athletes surpassed the Paris Olympics 2024 qualifying standard, while one secured the quota via the World Rankings route.
Recently, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), while selecting the men’s 20 km race walk squad, went ahead with Akshdeep Singh, Vikash Singh, and Paramjeet Singh Bisht. Meanwhile, Ram Baboo and Suraj Panwar faced the axe despite making the cut as per qualification rules.
It’s important to note that for athletes achieving the qualification standard and securing the quota is just one part of the Games qualification process. However, National Olympic Committees (NOCs) will have the final say on who will be selected to the NOC team for Paris 2024.
Interestingly, Priyanka and Akshdeep secured the Paris quota in the marathon race walk mixed relay event. However, AFI named Suraj and Priyanka in the mixed relay event for Paris 2024.
Ram Baboo achieved the Paris Olympics qualification standard in March 2024
In March 2024, Ram Baboo achieved the Paris Olympics 2024 men’s 20 km race qualification standard, clocking his personal best timing of 1:20:00 at the Dudinska 50 Meet in Slovakia, finishing at the third spot in the Race Walking Tour Gold-Level event.
Baboo, a bronze medallist in the 35km walk race at the Hangzhou Asian Games, emerged as the first Indian athlete to end on the podium in this meet’s history. The cutoff mark for Olympic qualification is 1:20:10.
Baboo is the son of a daily wage worker and started working as a waiter to self-fund his athletics training. He later joined his father in road construction under the MGNREGA scheme during the COVID-19 lockdown.
He was keen on running 5 km, and 10 km marathons. However, his knee pain didn’t help the cause. Nevertheless, his local coach Pramod Yadav advised him to shift to race walking which didn’t put too much pressure on his knees.