I’m glad to be able to share my Olympics with you, after all my entire experience as an athlete began many years ago while I was studying in Sanawar. I have had to encounter and overcome many challenges along the way, but in overcoming them, I was never alone and often it was fellow Sanawarians who have been with me like a family giving me strength.

The last Luge season (2008-09) was quite a successful one for me. I was coming back after 2 years of absence from the International scene due to lack of funds to compete, and thanks to two sponsors I was back. I won the first ever international medal for India in winter sports; a bronze at the 2008 Asian Championship.

Keeping last season in mind, it was only natural for this to be an intense season full of expectations. My sponsors Swiss International Airlines and the Limca book of records, stood by me again, and above all, our Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry, for the first time in my career as a sportsman, decided to take an active role and participated my providing for a coach and a grant for equipment and travel.

I started my ice training training full time from mid September and until the end of my Olympic race in Vancouver this February, I was training at least six hours a day aand at least 5 days a week. Te world cup circuit began in Late November and I aimed to improve on my 43rd world ranking. I took part in 4 World Cups before the new year and finished 33rd, 28th, 25th and 23rd. It was quite a satisfying and busy season not without incident. Crashes and injury is as much a part of an athletes life as training, not to forget the joy of competing in so many countries aroung the world. With my performance steadily improving and some new equipment coming in before the new year break, I was determined to go for gold at the yearly appointment at the Asian Championships in Japan. It was a very close race, and although the gold was taken by my experienced Japanese friend Oguchi, competing at his home track, I came in a close second despite some errors on my part and not being used to the new sled.

On returning to India for the New Year break, I took time to get a medical check up on my back which was bothering me and had started to cause some serious pain. Unluckily for me, the few falls I had during the season and some strain from the G force, I developed a stress fracture on my spine and was advised to take complete rest. It was a tough decision on whether to end the season there or compete in the Olympic games despite the injury. My spirit would not allow me to forfeit such an important competition and so I took as much rest as I could during the month of January and headed to Vancouver to compete in the fastest track of the world.

All my doubts and worries vanished when I landed at the airport of Vancouver. The Olympic spirit in the air was strong and the incredible energy created by the Olympic games motivated me. Above the general atmosphere in Canada I was surprised to see the incredible support and involvement of the Indo-Canadian community at the Olympic Games, and of course specially towards me and the other two Indian Athletes Jamyang (alpine ski) and Tashi (cross country) . It is difficult to describe the feeling of fulfilment seeing the people of my country turning out to support us so enthusiastically and whole-heartedly in a land so far away from home. It truly is an honour and a matter of great pride for me to represent India. To know that my work and years of training are appreciated is the true payback for me as I’d imagine for any other non-professional athlete.

The Olympic Games at Vancouver 2010 were my fourth appearance representing India, have definitely been the most intense and in many ways reminded my when I first competed in 1998 at Nagano, while I was just 16.

The track was extremely challenging. On the first day of ice after over a month of bed-rest my reflexes were definitely not ready for over 140 kmph speeds. I promptly crashed on my first run. The crash did cause some injury but what was worse was the mental questions it raised; Can I do it? Do I have it in me to come back after such an injury? Should I continue? I guess it was that good old Sanawarian spirit that kicked in once again and the Never Give In mantra pushed me to the other side. I had the maximum permitted six runs to master the track and get my confidence back. I made my decision to go for it all guns blazing. It paid off. The final of the six runs was a personal best for me. I broke the Asian Speed Record clocking 149kmph but rather than celebrate what happened after my run marked the greatest tragedy in modern day Luge. The athlete, sliding after me, Nodar Kumaritashvili crashed at the very last curve and flew out of the track causing a fatal accident.

Everything changed after that incident. We athletes who spend most of the year together training in various parts of the world consider ourselves friends first and competitors after. The race was changed and held from the ladies start in sign of mourning and dong justice to the psychological hurt of the other athletes. However it was more of a formality than a race since the track presented no technical challenge. Ultimately the race was won by those who had a more powerful start while others such as the ex Olympic champion were at a disadvantage. I too did not have my usual start power after the injury and was relying more n technique. However there are things more important than winning or losing. I will get ample chance to improve on my 29th place finish as I have many more years of sliding to go in my prime. What I did discover was a great sense of solidarity amongst the entire athlete family, not just in Luge, but all the athletes at the games were together during this moment. Although the games carried on and everybody competed to the best of their ability, we did honour to our friend by bringing him in our hearts and showing the world that the greatest of difficulties can be overcome.

There would be a lot more to add to my Olympic Experience. For one I discovered a beautiful country with good people – Canada was definitely a model host country with a lot to teach the world. I discovered that the love of my countrymen does not fade with distance but gets even stronger. I relived the Olympic Spirit, the ethics of fairness, brotherhood and cooperation that the world so badly needs, and what is very important to me, I made some wonderful friends that will remain for a long long time.

Every experience shows a lot of lessons, speaking strictly for a sporting point of view, there is a lot to be changed in our current system if we want to succeed internationally. I will make the effort to speak to the sports ministry about many of the obvious hurdles in the way of being a successful sporting nation. I would be grateful of he support of Sanawarians in this as well.

At the same time the OS society and many individual OS are helping with my Indian Winter Sports Development Foundation which is already actively preparing a bright young team for future Olympic games. I am often asked the question why do I dedicate so much time to this cause when I am not gaining anything material out of it? Well, difficult to explain to everybody but do you remember the words “Somebody’s got to stop the rot, and why not you? It’s a way we have in Sanawar”…

Shiva Keshavan

Siwalik House ‘99