Olympic Champions’ Mothers Pierce Through Indo-Pak Animosity

In the recently concluded 2024 Paris Olympics, India won one Silver and five Bronze medals, finishing 71^st on the medal table. Though the score is tiny, the drama in the country was immense. All six medals came from areas which were active during the Farmers’ Protest 1.0 (2020–21). Manu Bakhar (2 shooting bronze), Sarbjot Singh (shooting bronze), Aman Sehrawat (wrestling bronze), and Neeraj Chopra (javelin silver); all from Haryana. Swapnil Khusale (shooting bronze) from Maharashtra is also from a farming family. Over half of the Indian hockey team that kept its bronze from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics comprises players from rural Panjab. Vinesh Phogat, the wrestler from Haryana – who in 2023 protested against sexual harassment of players against then chief of the Wresting Federation of India, Brij Bhushan Singh – gallantly entered the 50 kg freestyle wrestling finals, beating the four-time world champion Yui Susaki from Japan. However, on the day of her final she was found 100 gms overweight and was disqualified. The Indian Olympic Association was eager to let the news out so PM Modi could commiserate instead of negotiating with the International Olympic Committee. In 2023, the union govt. trampled upon the protests, and now, when Phogat was on a winning streak, the system did not support her. From both sides of pre-1947 undivided Panjab, Arshad Nadeem from Pakistan won the javelin Gold and India’s Neeraj Chopra won Silver. After the event, Chopra’s mother said, “Nadeem is like my son.” Nadeem’s mother added, “Chopra is my son’s brother.” Their words pierced the animosity felt between India and Pakistan.