Manu Bhaker: Fourth-place heartbreak and a place in India’s Olympic history

Fourth-place heartbreak and a place in India’s Olympic history for Manu Bhaker (Pic Courtesy: X-@mufaddal_vohra)

Manu Bhaker’s memorable 2024 Paris Olympics campaign ended on a despairing note. The winner of two bronze medals before this 25m pistol final, she finished in the most agnonising position for an athlete — fourth, so close to the podium and yet so far.

But that is sports and reality. A number of Indian sports legends had finished in that position at the Olympic Games before Manu Bhaker. Milkha Singh, PT Usha, and even Abhinav Bindra. The difference between them and Manu is that she still comes back home with two bronze medals around her neck. This, in itself, is an unprecedented achievement for an Indian in the history of the Olympics as far as individual events are concerned.

At the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in France, a place she will have very fond memories of, Manu was in touching distance of a medal until the very end. She eventually lost out on another bronze medal after finishing behind Veronica Major of Hungary in a shootout. Jiin Yang of South Korea took gold, with France’s Camille Jedrzejewski settling for silver.

Manu, who qualified for the final of this event in the second place in the qualifying round, was in contention for a podium almost till the end. A few mis-hits towards the close cost her dear. It was very near and yet painstakingly far by the narrowest of margins. She looked dejected after the last shot and her expressions betrayed heartbreak.

Yet, make no mistake, what Manu achieved in Paris 2024 will take a lot of doing to match as far as India is concerned. Many of the best from the country finish fourth and this girl from Haryana had two third-places before finishing fourth. What she has achieved is completely unparalleled in the history of India’s Olympic adventures.

To think that Manu has achieved this at the age of 22 makes it ‘surreal’. That’s the word she had used after securing her first medal. And, after that, she kept saying that she is missing food cooked at home — the aloo parantha made by mom. Come back home, Manu, the country will treat you to whatever you want. You have done what no Indian had before you.

Not all sports glory stories are attested with a medal. Sometimes, the near failures add an extra layer of valour. This is what Manu has done in Paris, after the disappointment of three years ago in Tokyo. It’s all right that it didn’t end in the fairy tale that a third medal would have been. What Manu has done will still take some doing to surpass, for sure.

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