In the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa finished fourth in the 110m hurdles race. He didn't win a medal, but did enough for his country to find a mention in the Olympic Games map. Here, he discusses the chances of the Indian athletics' contingent at this year's Athens Olympics, explaining how Anju Bobby George and the women's 4x400m relays are the only events worth waiting for ...

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As usual, people following the Indian progress at the summer Olympics won't have too many hopes pinned on the track and field disciplines. They can't be blamed, as the best we have to show after all these years are a few fourth-place finishes. But come Athens, I will be following two events - the women's long jump and more importantly, the women's 4x400m relay - very closely. Simply because I think there might be something positive coming out of there.

Enough has been written, said and read about Anju Bobby George. Suffice it to say that she is a bright hope and that she has done the right thing by choosing the period leading up to Athens for taking part in international tournaments. She has won a couple of medals too, which augurs well for her. But at the same time, I would say that she is a bit behind the cut-off mark for medals. She hit a wind-assisted 6.82 recently, but she has to cross 6.94 to have any chance of a medal. Of course, unless the top-ranked athletes
don't do well for some reason. But she is doing well and we should follow her closely.

But it's the women's 4x400m relay team that I am counting on to deliver. They have done remarkably well in the last couple of seasons and are currently running at 52 seconds (per lap, meaning 3min 28sec), which is very good. In fact, among all our athletes who are going to participate in Athens, they are the ones who have shown the most improvement. Remember them. They might surprise you. I think that their chances of winning a medal is much more than Anju's. Because they have been improving constantly.

At the same time, however, I think that Anju's routine right now is the best of the lot. I think all our athletes should have been out competing in international tournaments at this stage rather than sitting in India, practising and training in Patiala or wherever. I remember that I was participating in tournaments every week in my time and I was winning medals in most of the tournaments I ran in. Ditto with Milkha (Singh). Yes, he finished fourth, but what he did was only possible because he was participating in tournaments day in and day out. I went to Germany, Switzerland, Holland, France...everywhere. All in a couple of months prior to the Olympics. That's what prepares you for the competition in the Olympics. You know what your competition is going to be like. You know what you have to do to improve. If they sit here, nothing will happen.

What I don't understand is whether they are scared of competing or whether they are not in a position to do so. Athletes must take pleasure in participating in tournaments. Nothing else can make them better. At this stage, less than two months short of Athens, we can only polish the material we have. We can't train athletes to become better anymore. You have to assume that they are at the peak of their powers. Polish them. Polish them by sending them for tournaments. There is a meet every Saturday somewhere. Why not make use of them?

Among the others, I don't see much hope for our shot-putters or runners. None of them. Men or women. Neelam Jaswant Singh did raise some hopes last year when she reached the final at the World Championships. But as a shot-putter, I think there isn't much she can do now to improve further. In fact, she didn't get close to the podium there and I don't think she has improved much since. Therefore, I don't see her as a great threat to the better athletes either.

Our problem is that we want to produce more and more Olympians. It's always been there. We want to produce more and more Olympians, but we are not so interested in medals. Unless that changes, not much can happen. But like I said, concentrate on the women's 4x400 relay team, and also the women's 4x100m relay team, and Anju. And we might have a better Olympics this time than before.

(As told to Krishna Gupta)