Seeking personal bests a step towards ‘dreaming big’

The year 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of Bangladesh's maiden Olympic participation in Los Angeles and its 11th successive appearance in the 'Greatest Show on Earth'.

The recurring theme for Bangladesh since its first outing in the Olympics has been the athletes returning home empty-handed.

Golfer Siddikur Rahman and archers Ruman Sana and Sagor Islam's direct qualification to the Olympics is still considered the highest achievement for Bangladesh in the Games' history, as other athletes have only participated through wildcards or quota places.

During a recent interview with The Daily Star, swimmer Sonia Khatun acknowledged that their participation in the Olympics is akin to "token participation," as they are happy just to get the opportunity to feature in the global event alongside top athletes of the world.

This year, a total of five athletes from Bangladesh will take part in four disciplines -- archery, athletics, shooting, and swimming -- at the Paris Olympics, and among them, Sagor qualified directly on his merit, while the remaining four -- shooter Robiul Islam, swimmers Samiul Islam Rafi and Sonia Khatun, and sprinter Imranur Rahman -- were handed wildcard entries.

Former Olympian and current BKSP shooting coach Asif Hossain Khan admitted the harsh reality of Bangladesh's chances in the Olympics, but he was hopeful that if these athletes can deliver their best individual performance in the meet, they can count their participation differently.

"To be honest, we are far behind other athletes from different countries. It's difficult to overcome the difference within a short time," said Asif, who won a gold medal in the 10m Air Rifle individual event in the 2002 Commonwealth Games and also participated in the Athens Olympics in 2004.

"I hope they deliver their best individual performance in Paris, so that they get the self-satisfaction of achieving what they previously had done," said Asif, whose opponent in the Manchester Commonwealth -- India's shooting legend Abhinav Bindra -- went on to win the first individual gold medal for his country in the Beijing Olympics 2008.

Asif added that it's a failure of the whole process that Bangladesh is unable to clinch a medal in the Olympics till date.

"I would say it's an overall failure. We need to dream big. And then comes the execution after four years… I think we need a big collaboration between our athletes, officials, BOA, and sponsors, so that we can have a long-term plan for the Olympics and get a good result there.

"We are currently stuck in the middle of dreaming and helping others dream. I think there is a gap between these two for which we can't go ahead."

However, Asif was optimistic that someday they will scale the heights that India has achieved regularly of late, a country where "everything is managed locally" and without reliance on foreign coaches.

"There is a saying that a person gets mature at the age of 40. Our country is still unripe for the Olympics. I think it will take time. But I am hopeful that we can achieve something here as we did in other games like the Commonwealth, SA Games, and Asian Games."