26 days to Tokyo Olympics: Former Indian athlete Rajeev Balakrishnan recollects his Sydney experience

[Rajeev Balakrishnan talks about his experience at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Here is the narration of the account as told to Sportskeeda's Suhas Nayse.]

It was an honor and a lifetime achievement for me to be a part of the Indian contingent at the Sydney Olympics. The 2000 Summer Olympics were held from September 15 to October 1, 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

It was the second time the Summer Olympics were held in Australia, the first being in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1956.

I was really fortunate to represent India at the world’s biggest sporting extravaganza in Sydney. As an Indian sprinter, I competed in the men’s 4x100 meters relay at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

We did quite well to qualify for the Olympics for the first time. We tried our best but we could not deliver a medal for India.

I have so many beautiful memories of the Sydney Olympics. It was such an unbelievable experience to be part of the Indian side.

I remember being on the athletics team. We arrived late in Sydney as athletics normally held in the latter part of the event. We missed the opening ceremony but we attended the grand closing ceremony on October 1, 2000. It was a festival-like atmosphere on the last day of the Olympics with several athletes getting emotional during the farewell.

The entire Indian contingent stayed in one apartment which was a multi-storey building in the Sydney Olympic Village. We all used to meet regularly at the dining hall while having our food. It was good to interact with Indian athletes of other events.

I used to go to watch hockey matches and support our other Indian athletes in Sydney Olympics: Rajeev

I used to go to watch hockey matches and support our Indian team. It was always good to support our hockey stars. They had a brilliant team at the time.

The Indian field hockey team didn’t make it to the semifinals, and finished in seventh position after a 2–3 loss against England in the classification.

Our hockey team did reasonably well initially. We finished third in Pool B with eight points. India and South Korea finished with an equal number of points but a better goal average helped South Korea enter the semifinals.

But overall it was a decent display by our hockey players. I believe they deserved a placement in Sydney.

I also went to cheer for other Indian athletes while they were competing. It is always fun to support our Indian players as they try their best to match the performances of athletes from the other nations.

I remember our 4x100 Indian relay team taking a picture with John Smith. He was a US coach training Maurice Greene, the 100m world record holder at the time. It was great to catch up with Maurice Greene and his coach John Smith. The experienced coach shared some valuable tips with the Indian athletes.

As far as my event is concerned, we did not do well. Actually we were pretty tired by the time the Sydney Olympics happened. The athletics events were held in the last week of September in Sydney and we were completely drained out by that time.

We had been running in various qualifying meets and other international events since January 2000. Had the Olympics happened a couple of months ago, we would have definitely performed better.

Overall the Indian track and field stars did not put up a good show in the final phase of the competitions.

Our 4x100 meter relay squad of Thirugna Durai, Ajay Raj Singh, Anil Kumar and myself crashed out in the first heat of the event. We ran a disappointing 40.23 in the heat won by Cote d’Ivoire with a time of 39.06, with Thailand coming in second in 39.13.

It was certainly not our best. We were capable of doing much better than that but we were completely tired by the day of our event. Anyway, it was a learning experience for all of us, particularly the younger athletes of the squad.

For the Indian contingent, it was an unsuccessful Olympics except for the bronze medal of Karnam Mallewari.

Karnam Malleswari became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal when she took bronze in the 69-kg category. Karnam Malleswari lifted a total weight of 240 kgs, finishing third behind China’s Lin Weining and Hungary's Erzebet Markus.

Karnam Malleswari’s record still remains intact as no woman from India has won a medal in weightlifting at the Olympics. We all congratulated Malleswari and took pictures with her.

I distinctly remember the huge support of the Australians for Cathy Freeman. She was so popular Down Under that she became a cynosure of all eyes.

Cathy Freeman was born on February 16, 1973, Mackay, Queensland. The Australian sprinter excelled in the 400-meter race with a gold medal. She became the first Australian Aboriginal person to win an individual Olympic gold medal in Sydney. In the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Cathy Freeman won the silver medal.

I had watched Cathy Freeman’s race with quite interest. A year earlier, I had trained with her for a few weeks and I had closely watched her daily regime. She was a fantastic athlete and very popular.

The Sydney Olympics was my last competitive event. I announced my retirement from competitive athletics after the 2000 Games. When I represented India at the Olympics, I used to stay in the United States. After doing my post-graduation in engineering, I trained in the US for nearly a decade.

However, I was so overwhelmed with Australia and their people that I shifted there after the Sydney Olympics. During my ten-day stay during the Olympics, I was completely impressed with their beauty and lifestyle. I liked Australia as a sporting country and its friendly people.

Now I am staying in Brisbane for the last two decades. My son Arjun plays tennis and it is my dream to see him competing in the Olympics like me one day.