Discipline is the key: Nikolai Snesarev

BY SUHRID BARUA
suhridb@sakalherald.com
Pune: The Athletic Federation of India (AFI) took its own sweet time before waking up to the reality of recruiting a foreign coach. Persisting with home-bred coaches have largely helped our athletes to script a podium-finish in multi-discipline events like Asian Games and Commonwealth Games over the last decade or so.
But when it comes to the larger picture of winning medals at the Olympics and World Championships, we are often left with more uncomfortable questions than answers.
Harbouring serious intentions of producing athletes of world-class material, the national federation inducted Belarusian Nikolay Snesarev to hone the skills of our middle and long-distance runners.
Ever since Snesarev took charge in March 2005, there has been a steady and sure surge in the fortunes of our middle and long-distance runners.
The feats of Surender Singh, Sinimole Paulose, Sunil Kumar, OPV Jaisha and Preeja Sreedharan have gone a long way in grabbing the eyeballs.
Mind you, big-tickets events like World Athletic Championships happening this August (Osaka) and the 2008 Beijing Olympics not far away, Snesarev knows it only too well that it is preposterous to even think about a medal-rush at Osaka. “See, I’ve been with the Indian team for just over two years, which is just not enough to churn out medal-winning athletes at meets like World meet and Olympics,” he told the Herald on the sidelines of the just-concluded National Combined Jump and Throw Championships.
The 59-year-old Belarusian coach is swelled with pride when he says that he has been successful in inculcating discipline in the athletes. “Talent is there, but the discipline was missing earlier. The runners have the wherewithal to progress to the next level. The big plus is that they have disciplined themselves both on and off the track, which is showing in the results.
“It is just a question of putting it together. Success doesn’t depend on any one factor. For instance, an athlete must get proper diet, systematic training, proper massage, enough recovery time, adequate acclimatisation etc. These are essential ingredients for an athlete to succeed,” the soft-spoken Snesarev explained even he answers a call on his cell.
Snesarev, who was the head coach of the erstwhile Soviet Union athletic team from 1980 to 1992, took the opportunity to reveal the thinking process of how the sport is run in Belarus and India. “The population of Belarus is just ten million, which is half of Delhi. Yet, Belarus logged 15 medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Believe it or not, one of our top official was sacked because the expectation of 25 medals went unfulfilled,” he says, flashing a grin.
Ask him about the potential stars in the making, Snesarev, declines to open up. “I don’t want to emphasise on individuals. It is not good for the others. But I must tell you that we’ve improved more than one-and-half-minute in men’s 10km, 45 seconds in men’s 5,000m and more than one minute in women’s 5,000m,” the bespectacled coach remarked.