Bronze is good, gold would have been better: Aman

Aman Sehrawat, India's youngest Olympic medallist, reflects on his bronze win and dreams of gold at the LA Olympics.

While the entire nation was waiting for CAS decision on Vinesh Phogat’s appeal, diminutive Aman Sehrawat was back at the Chhatrasal Stadium, gradually easing into his training routine.

India’s lone male wrestler at the Paris Olympics returned with bronze to ensure wrestling’s winning streak at the Games remained unbroken. And while the welcome he received on arrival was impressive, the bigger story around Vinesh overshadowed Aman’s achievement.

But the 21-year old, who became India’s youngest Olympic medallist, isn’t bothered by the fanfare. What he is upset about is that the colour of his medal doesn’t match the one on the posters he’s put up at his room in Chhatrasal.

“My posters are that of gold medal so that dream has not obviously not come true. My aim was to bring back gold but missed out due to small mistakes. I am happy at winning bronze because any medal at the Olympics is a big thing. But not winning gold hurts. Next time, I will make sure to change the colour of the medal,” he declared in an interaction with The Hindu on Tuesday.

For a nation starved of medals, to have a medallist dissatisfied with the colour of his is a sign of changing times where athletes do not consider only participation as an achievement. For Aman, it was tougher because the youngster had to contend with the uncertainty of his spot at the Olympics, thanks to the tussle between the elected WFI and the IOA-appointed ad-hoc committee that could not decide on final selection trials.

“It was a very difficult road to Paris success. There was little time to practice because every 15-20 days there would be some competition or trials and at my level, increasing and decreasing weight constantly so often can lead to long-term weakness and health issues and you cannot focus on training also. I earned a spot at the World Qualifiers but then for almost 10-15 days there was no decision on whether there will be trials or not. Only after it was finally decided that I could start focusing on the Olympics. I think it was the right decision but it would have been even better if they had announced it earlier,” he admitted.

Asked about his biggest strength, Aman said it was his stamina. “My target is always to extend the bout till the very end and not give the opponent enough points early on; the longer it continues, the more it will be in my favour,” he suggested.