“I could have died there”, this is what O P Jaisha has to say as she recalled the women’s marathon event at Rio Olympics during which she collapsed, claiming she was not provided any water and energy drinks by the officials despite designated stations were given for India.
“It was very hot there. The competition was at 9am, I ran in scorching heat. There was no water for us, neither recovery drinks nor food. Only once in 8kms did we get water (from the Rio organisers) which did not help at all. All the countries had their stalls at every 2kms but our country’s stall was empty,” said Jaisha who finished 89th in Rio Olympics women’s marathon event with a below-par timing of 2:47:19.
Jaisha collapsed at the finish line after completing the marathon and had to be rushed to a hospital where her coach Nikolai Snesarev got into an altercation with one of the doctors and ended up being detained for half a day by the local police.
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“We are supposed to be given drinks by our technical officials, it’s the rule. We cannot take water from any other team. I saw the Indian board there but there was nothing. I had a lot of problem, I fainted after the race. I was administered glucose, I thought I would die,” she recalled.
“My coach was very angry and he ended up arguing with the doctors. The coach thought I was dead. He pushed the doctor to enter my room because he knew he would be held responsible if anything happened to me,” she added trying to clear the air on Snesarev’s actions.
Meanwhile, the Athletics Federation of India refuted Jaisha’s claims and said proper arrangements were made for the marathon.
It added that neither Jaisha nor her coach had not told any athletics official present in Rio about any specific requirement for any drinks. “Each team is allowed to keep their own personalised drinks on the booths, marked in a colour as per the choice of the team and athlete.