His stride is smooth but speech twitchy. Assam’s Amlan Borgohain, however, has come far enough now to not let his stammer bother him much. At the National Games 2022, the 24-year-old powered his way to gold in the 100m and 200m. (More Sports News)
Sporting success aside, reading the Bhagvad Gita has helped the sprinter, who alternates between being jovial and profound.
“I’ve started enjoying reading, and people say the Gita has all the answers,” he told Outlook as he stretched on the lawns of IIT Gandhinagar, soon after winning the 100m gold. “I want to run a sub-10 seconds time one day. So I thought I might find the answer there [in the Gita], as to how I can do that. It’s quite helpful. I’m calmer now.”
Did he find the sub-10 answer in the Gita?
“I don’t know about that, but I’m learning new things from it, discovering myself, that’s helping me a lot. Feeling calm helps me a lot.”
Borgohain trains in Bhubaneshwar, while his family is based in Hyderabad. He has the word ‘Maa’ tattooed on his left-arm, a declaration of how much his ailing mother Geetanjali means to him.
“I got the tattoo in Bhubaneshwar, where I train. I was sitting around one day and I thought ‘let’s get a tattoo’,” he said. “Of course, I told her about it only after I had gotten it.”
Borgohain also reveres his elder brother Pradyuman, who quit his job to look after their mother, and who encouraged Amlan in his athletics career.
“My mother must have watched my events on TV at home. It would have been a proud moment for her, my father, my brother, who played a very important role in my career. People have no idea how much he has sacrificed to put me on the podium.”
Outside his family, Amlan mentions his coaches and support staff among the people who have contributed in his rise. Siddhant Thingalaya, the 110 metres hurdles national record holder, also boosted his confidence.
“He has seen the world, and he always kept telling me, ‘Amlan, you’re the best’,” said Borgohain.
Gita aside, there was one more reason behind Borgohain being able to push aside distractions and concentrate on his task. There was a false start in the 100m final, but he remained unfazed, thanks to practicing all these days in premises where construction work was on.
“In Bhubaneshwar [at the ground where he trains], there is construction work in progress due to FIFA (Under-17 Women’s World Cup, from October 11-30), so there is a lot of noise and everything. Now, distractions don’t bother me.”
He said he does not put a ceiling on how fast he can go.
“I don’t put a limit on myself, I’ll go where god takes me,” he said. “I just do my work, execute my race. If it comes, it comes. At least I have tried, at least I have set a standard for Indian 100m, 200m. People will want to look at that standard and go further.”
Sport, and record timings, he said, were like a stage show. “Sometimes people can perform, sometimes people can’t perform.”
Borgohain was happy to win medals not just for himself but for his state.
“People of the North East can now say, ‘we can also be good sprinters. Amlan did it, so I can too’,” he said.
When told that the North East was doing well in various disciplines, he said, “Football, boxing, weightlifting, athletics, yes we are producing winners, no? We are smart enough.”
As for bullying, he said, “People always bully you for something or the other. Earlier I would think about it, but now I don’t care, because I know who I am. Believe in yourself. Trust the process. That’s my motto.”
