Now, armed with this unparalleled legacy, may each one of us draw inspiration from 'Mary Kom- The Coolest' to excel and succeed in any endeavour
The news of our own celebrated five-times boxing champion clinching gold for the sixth time made history. The latest: she punched into another gold in the 2018 World Boxing Championships. This victory has had her box and crushes to smithereens many misplaced myths and fallacies that crowd the collective minds. She has proved all these wrong by joining a very, rare, exclusive group of people with six golds in boxing.
This bastion of sports has conventionally been believed to be the stronghold of men. Even if this is accepted, there is a perception across the world that men or women= well into their thirties may not be very suitable for national or international sports. Once a lady ties the marital knot, and to top it, bears three children, her sports career is usually written off. Even if these beliefs are discounted, pundits of game theory would give suffocating decimal places of the low probability of repetitive wins for the sixth time, just as sports stars of the North-East are rare. Finally, after being a Member of Parliament of the Rajya Sabha, with a surprisingly better average attendance, having a successful Bollywood biopic, running an enterprise, and bearing the burden of various negative stories further diminish the already feeble chances of winning a gold, it is assumed. Many men and women also believe that a supportive, understanding husband and family is as scarce as hen's teeth.
As Mary Kom fought for her boxing finals in the World Championships on Saturday, a very pleasing and fulfilling spin-off is that her victory has simultaneously crushed and decimated all these prevalent ideas that find currency even today, even in the minds of educated, forward-thinking people of the world. Without any words, through her efforts and victory, she has demonstrated the possibilities of victory, against various odds and challenges. An iconoclast is a person who attacks or criticizes cherished beliefs or institutions. She has been a true iconoclast, whose silent yet loud victory has demolished petrified mindsets, opening up amazing possibilities for women who dare to dream and follow it, with discipline, diligence and determination.
Interviewed a few days ago, she was candid that "Anything can happen in a boxing bout. The country and the fans want a gold from me and I will give my best and try to win a gold," Talking of the public expectation, the Commonwealth Gold medalist added, 'I have been handling the pressure of expectation from the people of my country for the last 16 years and I have happy to face this pressure. In the initial years, it was a bit tough to handle this pressure but now I am used to it…. Anything can happen in a boxing bout. The country and the fans want a gold from me and I will give my best and try to win a gold,"
Her best efforts, backed by solid discipline, grit, consistent perseverance, positivity and national pride bore fruit, in spite of a few failures in between. After 17 years of her maiden medal in Scranton, United States, Mary claimed her sixth gold medal last Saturday, against chants of "Mary-Mary" and "India-India" as she beat Ukraine's Hanna Okhota with an unequivocal outcome. She tweeted that "She dedicates her medal to her three children, coaches and sports staff for believing in her." Mary has made India and the world proud and a special sports award institutionalised in her name for encouraging excellence in women sports and athletics may be a good idea.
Instead of being content with trophies decorating her shelves, she has stoked and kept the 'fire to win' alive. Let's hope and pray that she realizes her dream of an Olympic Gold in two years. As Muhammad Ali said: "Champions are not made in the gym. Champions are made from something deep inside them — a desire, a dream, a vision." Now, armed with this unparalleled legacy, may each one of us draw inspiration from 'Mary Kom- The Coolest' to excel and succeed in any endeavour.
The author is a Harvard-educated civil servant & writer, and has worked in the education sector
jayanti.ravi.dna@gmail.com
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