Shooting star Bindra on golden past, starry future

GUNS AND ROSES: Abhinav Bindra and his parents AS Bindra and Babli Bindra on the show.

            

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August 2008 will go down in Indian history as the month when Indian Olympic sport finally came of age. At the Beijing Olympics, India - for the first time since Independence - had three individual medallists. And one Indian did what none had ever done. Abhinav Bindra did the seemingly impossible when he won the gold in shooting. On a special show Gold Finger, the understated Bindra gets candid about his achievement and his dream for Indian sport.

Rajdeep Sardesai: India's first ever individual gold medallist. Does that have a nice ring to it?

Abhinav Bindra: To an extent, but it also raises in me one question: Why didn't we do it before? That's the first thing I thought of.

Rajdeep Sardesai: This puts a lot of expectations on you? Has this changed your life in any way?

Abhinav Bindra: It does put a lot of expectations on me. I am in the public eye now, but for me life goes on and I am not going to change. I have to work towards a new goal now. And for that I need a new goal first.

Rajdeep Sardesai: Well, you are the shy retiring type, but now any place that you go to, you have lost your privacy. How does it feel?

Abhinav Bindra: Well it is flattering, but it is also embarrassing. It is a bit funny for me really. I feel embarrassed by all the public attention and people looking at me. Sometimes I feel awkward.

Rajdeep Sardesai: There were some who said that when Roger Federer wins he falls on the court. When Rafael Nadal wins, he cries. But when Abhinav Bindra won, you had a just slight smile on your face. We all thought you would cry or leap into someone's arms. Is that just the kind of person you are?

Abhinav Bindra: Yes to an extent that is the kind of person I am, but I also had belief in myself and that played a very important role to my reactions and emotions because I always believed that I could do this. I have dreamt of this everyday of my life. I dreamt of being on the Olympic podium. I never knew I would win gold but I dreamt of being on the Olympic podium everyday.

Rajdeep Sardesai: So did you ever get up in the mornings and say, 'hey I have become an Olympic champion'?

Abhinav Bindra: Well, it's been really exhausting after I won the medal and I have really not had the opportunity to sit back and enjoy the moment.

Rajdeep Sardesai: Is it more tiring after the medal or before the medal?

Abhinav Bindra: It's been more tiring after the medal. Twelve years of efforts suddenly seem very easy.

Rajdeep Sardesai: That particular moment when you knew you had won and when you got up on that podium, what was going through your mind? I heard that you first rang up your parents and first asked how is your dog? Is that true?

Abhinav Bindra: I got through to them only four or five hours after winning. Yes, I asked them about my dog because I have not been paying enough attention to him.

Moment Of Glory

Rajdeep Sardesai: That moment when you got up on to the podium, what was it like? Was there a sense of thank God, it's over? thank God, you've done it?

Abhinav Bindra: Yes to an extent it was a lot of relief because this is something I have worked towards for 13 years. There was nothing but train, train, train and I have dreamt of nothing else. There was a lot of relief it actually happened. A lot of relief.

Rajdeep Sardesai: During those 13 years, how would an average day for Abhinav Bindra start?

Abhinav Bindra: Well, I would wake up at 6:30 or 7 in the morning, go for a run for about an hour, have breakfast then head for the shooting range and train till about noon or 1 PM. Have lunch, then go back and train for another two-three hours, then head to the gym from the shooting range and then I would just go to sleep because I would be so tired by the end of the day. I did nothing else.