Moses’ 1st commandment: thou shalt remain humble

The occasion was the launch of the Indian chapter of a prestigious international sports academy but the centre of everyone’s attention ...

The occasion was the launch of the Indian chapter of a prestigious international sports academy but the centre of everyone’s attention was Edwin Moses, regarded as the best hurdler ever. The American athlete, who won Olympic gold in 1976 and 1984 and held the 400m hurdle record for more than nine years, is currently playing the role of elder statesman in the sporting fraternity.

And his opening remark, to a host of Indian sporting icons, showed why he’s held in such esteem: ‘‘We have to leave our egos at home because the number of world championship and Olympic medals doesn’t count; what matters

is the respect that the society gives each one of us.’’

Later, Moses spent an hour in a interactive session with some of the current Indian athletes and Asian champion Beenamol and greats like Milkha Singh, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, PT Usha. The hurdler’s trademark humility was evident again when he said, ‘‘There is no secret for success. I was unknown when I won the Olympic gold in 1976. When I started off, I was not a superathlete, my school didn’t even have a track and I was probably among the few who did not belong to any club when I won the gold. It was my passion for the sport and the hard training that I did which brought me success.’’

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The first half of the evening session was spent with Moses talking about his rise; then the Indian stars took over. Milkha Singh asked Moses to explain the system in the US. Former Indian football captain PK Banerjee wanted to know how Moses had maintained his form through four Olympics. The answer: ‘‘All that was required was to keep my focus for two and a half minutes during training and improve each year. During training I ensured that my timings improved with each round though I was getting tired. It made me train harder than others but that was the only way to stay ahead.’’

Well-known hurdler of the 60s Gurbachan Singh Randhawa asked: ‘‘These days, I hear so much about muscle pull from Indian sprinters and hurdlers; have you ever faced a muscle pull in your career?’’

Moses informed the gathering that as a student of physics he had picked up lot of lessons for his training from molecules and his aviation knowledge helped him to train under different weather conditions.

Though none of the current athletes raised any questions, it was evident that they had understood the legend and his concept well. Said Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to climb Everest: ‘‘If he (Moses) can be this humble after his success, I think we need to learn more.’’