Bindra gets ‘mad’ with his training for Games

Perhaps it is just coincidence. As Abhinav Bindra walks out of the Indian team building at the Games Village, the DJ at Central Plaza — where recreational activities for the athletes take place — plays: “We are the champions... we’ll keep fighting!” At the same time, a bunch of Chinese athletes, who stay just opposite, make their way out of the building. The usually poker-faced Bindra breaks into a slight smile. “Feels like the Olympics now,” he says and leaves for a training session. For Bindra, training is not about studying the strategies of his rival shooters; it is about challenging himself to improve each time he is at the range. “If you can shoot perfectly when no one is around, if you can challenge yourself to the limit and succeed, there is nothing that can hold you back,” he explains. Bindra’s preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics startled most psychologists. He once bought yak’s milk from China, believing it could enhance concentration; it did not. He spent 20 days experimenting with a single pair of shooting shoes before concluding that the sole on one needed to be 1mm thicker. He seeks perfection. He attains perfection. To prepare himself mentally for the London Games, he went skydiving a couple of weeks ago from approximately 20,000 feet. He slept amidst red ants a year ago, just to see how long he could hold on. “He is getting mad again,” says his coach Heinz Reinkemeier. ‘Mad’ refers to Bindra’s obsessive nature. Reinkemeier was to join Bindra in London but could not as he is chief coach of the Dutch shooting team. “Abhi is getting into the groove again. After winning gold in Beijing, he perhaps lost his way a bit. But the focus is back now. He is back doing the weird things,” he says. It is not surprising when you consider the tiny margin for error. One bad shot and four years of preparation will amount to nothing. “When you are shooting, you are too focused on your job,” says Bindra. “At the end of the day, you have to see that your best is better than that of others.” Is he satisfied with his preparation for the Olympics? “Well, one is always striving to do better,” he says. “I was world champion and Olympic champion, but I always try to better my own performance. I don’t like to think about what’s going to happen. Maybe that’s how others prepare. When I go to sleep, I need to be happy with the effort I have put in. I am sleeping peacefully. I am happy.”