With age, one looks for security, that never happens in elite sports: Abhinav Bindra

Among the five shooters so far to have won a quota place for India at next year’s Olympics in Rio is Abhinav Bindra. Speaking to Gaurav Kalra, India’s only individual Olympic gold medalist reflects on his approach at this stage of his career and what excites him about the sport after two decades.

Abhinav, you must be pleased to secure a quota berth with more than a year still to go for the Olympics?

It’s always nice to get it out of the way. We anyway have an exhaustive domestic selection awaiting us, there’s still a lot of shooting to go in the next half of the year. Its nice to get it out of the way, but it doesn’t really matter.

You said last year you were now going to be a “hobby shooter”. How has that changed your routines and the way you look at things you want to accomplish?
I am more process driven now; I don’t really care for the outcome so much. I want to be the best that I can be and shoot to my potential. I don’t chase anything else.

How do you look at the prospect of competing at a fifth Olympic games- it is an incredible number?

I don’t really care about the numbers, what I really care about is my shooting and if I am able to be the best that I can be. To be able to shoot under stress and pressure is the biggest challenge and that has started to excite me again.

How different is the Abhinav Bindra of 2015 to the one who won the Olympic gold in 2008?

I would rather compare myself to what I was in 2000 or 2004. The mindset changes when one is older, one looks to find security in your performance. In elite sport, you can never be secure. When one is younger, you enjoy the risk. Each shot is a risk. W h e n you are younger you don’t perceive it, as you get older you don’t like the risk so much. That is something I am trying to re-learn, to try and enjoy being vulnerable and not look towards security. In elite sport, you will be on the edge, not secure.

How much do you think about 2008? Is there a desire within you to experience that feeling again of winning an Olympic gold?

If I am in Rio, I want to enjoy being in that uncomfortable position again, to be in that deep hole and try and get out of it successfully. In Beijing, before the final, I shot a 4 in my first sighting shot. I ‘enjoyed’ being in that situation and that’s how I came through it. That’s what I would like to experience again, to not resist the risk, but enjoy it from deep within.

Have you noticed that the younger shooters coming through now approach big competitions differently to when you started out?

Seeing success coming out of India has changed their mindset, it instills a bit of belief at the start of their careers. For them it’s a challenge, it’s exciting. In my generation we were more defensive. They are chasing that medal and are far more competitive.