It all started with a bag. A travelling bag.
When Priyanka Goswami was growing up in Meerut, there were athletic competitions with prizes. One such had a bag as a present, which she keenly wanted. But having never participated in an athletic endeavour before, she kept running in different events — and losing.
While all of her friends managed to bag some reward, she didn’t till the final discipline of the event, race walking. With three competitors in the fray, Goswami finally got her prize—for finishing third. “I was really small then. I thought I only have to walk for this event and I didn’t know any better. So, I did,” she said recently on the sidelines of an event organised in Mumbai by GoSports Foundation, the not-for-profit organisation that supports sportspeople like her.
That bag, which led her accidentally to this sporting discipline of race walking, gave Goswami a career choice that’s now got her a bigger prize, a Commonwealth Games silver medal in Birmingham. On August 6, the 26-year-old became the first Indian race walker to bag a CWG medal, a result that came unexpectedly.
Goswami feels race walking does not get its due in the country, reason why there was no expectation of a medal from her and reason why when it came, it surprised everyone. The lack of recognition is one of her pet peeves, but one she deals with good-humouredly.
Just a week earlier, at an event in which HSBC announced its support for female athletes in partnership with the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) in Mumbai, Goswami asked those familiar with race walking in the audience to raise their hands. When just three went up in a room of 50-odd people, it almost seemed to prove her point.
“Everyone should know the event,” she insisted later. “People never expected one here (in the CWG) because they didn’t know about the event only. People think it’s just walking. It’s not; it’s a technical event.”
The short-term mission in her life is not just to win more medals, but also to raise awareness. It’s just as well that the diminutive Goswami likes to be photographed and loves taking selfies. She has ambitions of being a model, has interest in fashion and wants to use the power of social media to further her cause.
“I have been thinking of making some videos on social media, explainers on what race walking is,” she said. “Make people aware of it through social media. If I deeply explain that, on Instagram, Facebook, it will help.”
She elaborated on what she would be posting explainers on: Running happens on the toes, walking is on the heels. The knees cannot be bent in race walking and, at any point of time, one foot has to be in contact with the road/track. If both feet are in air, the athlete gets a warning. After three warnings, they have to wait for two minutes before they can resume walking. The fourth warning leads to disqualification.
“I am still learning,” Goswami said, to emphasise the complexity of the discipline.
Though she competed in the 10km walk at the CWG, race walking event in the Olympics is over a distance of 20km.The winning time at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics was 1:29.12. Goswami’s best timing in the event is 1:28.45, a national record which came in February 2021. In Tokyo, she finished 17th with 1:32.36, but she believes it was inexperience that cost her a better result.
“I want to improve my personal best and qualify (for Paris 2024). I have a chance for a medal,” she said, smiling. “I didn’t have experience in Tokyo, which I will have by (2024, for) Paris. Some of the other girls (in Tokyo) had participated in a few Olympics.”
To get that medal, she would need to get mentally stronger and gain more experience. Goswami said she makes meticulous notes of her workouts and studies it step by step. Her current training is in Bengaluru, but once she moves to a national camp, it could shift anywhere.
“Everyone wants a medal,” said the two-time national champion in the 20km race walk. “Our standards have improved so much that we are on par with the world. The competition is increasing in India, which shows in our results abroad too.
“I have the national record, so I should try and better it. Or some young person could have that target. The previous record was about 1:31, which was everyone’s target till I got there. Now it’s 1:28.45. That’s how we keep striving to do better.”
It was an important medal for her, in Birmingham, because she didn’t have one before in an international event. She believes that in her discipline, medals are not quick to come by. Birmingham also changed her life—she gets recognised more often. A promotion is due from her employer, the Indian Railways, while her family treats her with greater adoration.
“About 90 per cent of the people now recognise me. They say she is the girl who won a CWG medal in race walking. It’s also because of Laddu Gopalji that I have become more famous,” she said, referring to the idol of a baby Lord Krishna that she carries with her.
But Goswami now refers to the CWG medal as if it was in the distant past. That’s what competitive sportspeople do, shift their focus to the next event, their aim to the next medal. “The (CWG) medal is silent now. It’s lying. The main events are next year, the Asian Games, World Championships, the Olympic qualifiers...”
For someone who has recently come into the spotlight, how does she deal with detractors? “I don’t worry about what others are saying,” she said, grinning. “If we did, we would not move forward or focus on the training. Bolne wale bolenge. Hamara kaam karte rehna hai (people will talk, we just have to do our work).
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