Murali Sreeshankar’s inspiring comeback gathers momentum

I have always looked for resilience in an athlete. The desire or the deep hunger for success. For high-performance athletes, things can never be smooth. And in the case of Murali Sreeshankar, who had the worst possible injury, the chances of making it back in a short timeframe were almost nil. And yet, he is back, with 8.05 m in his comeback attempt and thereafter 8.13 metres in the World Athletics Continental Bronze Level meet in Odisha. Sreeshankar has defied the odds, and that’s what we need to celebrate.

“The qualifying [mark] for the World Championship is 8.27 metres,” said Sreeshankar. “And I can tell you that I had indeed done an 8.30m jump in Bhubaneshwar. It was deemed a foul by a whisker, else it was enough for me to make it to Tokyo.”

After a pause, he added, “There was a lot of self-doubt. Many doctors believed my career was over. People hardly make it back with such an injury. Yet, when I went to Qatar for my surgery, they were confident of stitching me back and getting me on track in six months. But they also said it all depended on my body thereafter. I have never abused my body. Never smoked or had alcohol or much junk food. It was my body that returned me the favour, and I was always ahead of the curve in the course of my recovery.”

Coming back from a career-threatening injury is often the biggest challenge an athlete faces. “It was an everyday thing,” said Sreeshankar. “I did not rush and just stayed patient. It was very difficult, Sir, but there was no other option. So I would tell myself that I needed to bend my knee a few degrees more every day, then walk properly in some months, and only then should I jump. And when I jumped, it started with 3 metres. Then 4 and 5, and 6. Finally, on April 16, I jumped 7 metres, and in July, in my comeback competition, I jumped 8.05. Now, I am feeling good about my body and enjoying being an active athlete again.”