THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary - July 14, 2018 - Topic 2

Quartermile stone: on Hima Das' gold medal

Received opinion has it that it takes years to master the quartermile and that progress at the highest level is painfully slow. Incredibly, Hima Das has proved this wrong. For someone who took to the 400 m just this year and who ran her first individual race as recently as in March, the 18-year-old from Assam has produced one stunning performance after another. So much so that her World Under-20 championships gold at Tampere in Finland on Thursday night did not exactly come as a surprise. 

It is a remarkable tale because Indians have never done well in sprints on the global stage, even if athletes such as P.T. Usha dominated the 400 m at the Asian level. In fact, Hima’s under-20 title was the country’s first-ever gold in a track event at any IAAF World event. Over the last few years, athletes such as discus thrower Vikas Gowda and javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra — also a World junior champion and junior world record holder — have kept India close to the global level in the throws. But it is in Hima’s strong run that the country has had a breakthrough in a track event. A farmer’s daughter from Assam’s Nagaon district, Das was a 100 m and 200 m sprinter earlier. Seen in that light, her performance graph in the 400 m this year is breathtaking. From 53.21 seconds (in her debut race in March), she has brought down her personal best to 51.13 s in just four months. “With that sort of progress, I will not be surprised if she breaks the national record — Manjit Kaur’s 51.05 s — and runs something like 50.65 s in next month’s Asian Games at Jakarta and even goes below 50 s in a couple of years,” said Usha, who came close to an Olympic bronze in the 400 m hurdles during the 1984 event.

Still, there is a feeling that all this is too good to be true, as it usually takes years of training to produce the kind of timing that Das is clocking now. While other runners appear fatigued with about 50 m left for the finish, she seems to find an extra gear and frequently powers past her wilting competitors. Her stunning progress has forced many to adopt a wait-and-watch strategy before assessing her fully. Is she a wonder girl? Only time will tell, but India needs to grab this golden opportunity to take the sport forward. The Japanese, backed by a strong junior programme, are reaping rich rewards at Tampere, and an Indonesian has emerged as the fastest man at the junior Worlds. But in Indian athletics, improvement is a big struggle and our athletes’ choice of locations for foreign training trips have often raised questions. It is to be hoped that Das’s achievement will stand the test of time and serve as a beacon of hope.

Vocabulary

Stunning: extremely impressive or attractive.

Example: She looked stunning

Synonyms: remarkable, extraordinary, staggering, incredible, outstanding

Dominate: have a commanding influence on; exercise control over.

Example: The company dominates the market for operating system software

Synonyms: control, influence, exercise control over, command, be in command of

Breakthrough: a sudden, dramatic, and important discovery or development.

Example: A major breakthrough in DNA research

Synonyms: advance, development, step forward, success, improvement

Breathtaking: astonishing or awe-inspiring in quality, so as to take one's breath away.

Example: The scene was one of breathtaking beauty

Synonyms: spectacular, magnificent, wonderful, awe-inspiring, awesome

Hurdle: an obstacle or difficulty.

Example: There are many hurdles to overcome

Synonyms: obstacle, difficulty, problem, barrier, bar, snag, stumbling block

Fatigue: extreme tiredness, typically resulting from mental or physical exertion or illness.

Example: He was nearly dead with fatigue

Synonyms: tiredness, weariness, sleepiness, drowsiness, exhaustion

Assessing: evaluate or estimate the nature, ability, or quality of.

Example: The committee must assess the relative importance of the issues

Synonyms: evaluate, judge, gauge, rate, estimate, appraise, consider

Struggle: make forceful or violent efforts to get free of restraint or constriction.

Example: Before she could struggle, he lifted her up

Synonyms: fight, grapple, wrestle, scuffle, brawl, spar, scrap

Beacon: a fire or light set up in a high or prominent position as a warning, signal, or celebration.

Example: A chain of beacons carried the news