The recent story of Dolly Cherukuri, who set a new national record in archery nine days before her third birthday, prompts a revisit to the story of Budhia Singh, child marathon runner from Odisha. Dolly’s father, who is also her trainer, and runs an academy for archery, claimed that preparations to mould Dolly to be a future archer began even before her birth.
Nine years or so ago, Budhia made it to the Limca Book of Records for a remarkable feat: Aged just 4 then, he ran from Bhubaneshwar to Puri, completing that distance of 65 kms in just over 7 hours. His story intertwined with that of the man who trained him, Biranchi Das, gripped the world’s attention.
Budhia, born in a poor family, lost his father early and was sold by his mother for a paltry sum. Biranchi Das, a judo trainer, who took him under his wing, noticed Budhia’s amazing skills – the boy’s ability to run for long periods – quite by accident and developed a programme of rigorous training for him. Budhia ran many marathons and appeared in a few commercials. But when he collapsed during a particularly stressful marathon,
Das’ methods came under severe criticism. Budhia was temporarily barred from participating in marathons.
What later followed is in turns tragic and also hopeful. An inquiry by the Odisha child welfare board looking into Budhia’s alleged exploitation by Biranchi Das led to the boy being taken into state care. Presently Budhia, now 13 years old, is in a government sports hostel in Bhubaneshwar, where he will be till he turns 17. He was also given a scholarship to attend one of Bhubaneshwar’s highly regarded English medium schools.
Budhia Singh’s story came to worldwide attention after a documentary on him, Marathon Boy, was aired by HBO in 2011. Incidentally, Das was murdered in 2008 after he intervened and raised his voice in support of a model and aspiring actor who claimed that a gangster had been stalking her. The killers were sentenced to life in prison in 2010.
Though Das was benevolent and loved by the boys – and there were others he and his wife Gita adopted – there was always the suspicion and also allegations that he was keener by far to find a sports champion among them. While Budhia made no allegations against his coach mentor, the maker of Marathon Boy, Gemma Atwal, at that time expressed her concern at the rigid and rigorous schedule Budhia was put through.
The trust Atwal and other producers helped set up four years ago in 2011 would extend financial help to the orphanage Biranchi Das had set up and also go a long way in assisting Budhia once he leaves the sports hostel. His present coach was quoted as saying that it’s too early to say if Budhia will run marathons again, though he still practices avidly.
It is a matter of debate whether sports champions can be groomed from birth and infancy, or do genes decide this? There are the examples of skateboarding champion Ryan Shekler who began at the unbelievable age of 18 months, the woman golfer Michelle Wie, ice hockey players like Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby and, of course, better known ones of Pele, Tiger Woods and Sachin Tendulkar.
In 1936, at age 13, the American springboard diver, Marjorie Gestring, became the youngest ever to win gold at the Olympics. It’s a record that will stand forever as athletes now have to be 14 to compete on the Olympic stage.
Besides one’s talent then, what the above examples make clear, is the need for clear guidelines and also professional, competent and sustained mentorship.
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