Born about a month after the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, former American middle-distance runner Shannon Rowbury is eagerly awaiting her women’s 1500m bronze medal at LA28. She richly deserved a podium finish 14 years ago, but was robbed of the honour due to the drug-induced performances of some competitors. Thanks to the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) ceaseless war against doping, the tainted athletes, who finished ahead of her, have been disqualified, and Rowbury stands to formally receive her medal more than a decade-and-a-half after winning it.

As part of an Athletics Federation of India (AFI) initiative, Rowbury, now a commentator who also actively participates in anti-doping drives, was in India to train the country’s athletics commentators and work during the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meet at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar last month. She shared her compelling story, full of mixed emotions. Excerpts:

How was your first visit to India?

I was so excited for my first trip to India to be for such a meaningful event — to be part of the Indian meet, to do the in-stadium commentary, and to work with aspiring Indian broadcasters. It has been a really magical first visit. Hopefully not my last.

Could you tell us how you shifted from athletics to broadcasting?

I started while I was still competing. I stopped competing in 2021, but I had started broadcasting in 2017 for smaller meets, mostly distance events where I had experience. I could provide analysis and colour commentary, with insight into what might be going through the athlete’s head and the tactics. Over the years my roles have grown. I get tingles when I smell the track and hear the sounds. It has helped me stay connected to the sport.

There is always a gap between the broadcaster/media and the athletes. Do you think misunderstanding creates a gap?

My experience as an athlete helps me be a better broadcaster, not just because I understand what it’s like to be in those races, but because I have compassion. Our athletes work for 365 days, but they only get maybe 15 or 20 opportunities to race. It’s hard to maintain a high level year after year. When I cover a race, I try to share the effort and the meaning within the season, and to understand that these are humans who seem like superheroes.

How do you look back at your career?

I’m most proud of my longevity. I spent a decade ranked in the top ten in the world, which is not an easy feat. Unfortunately, during much of my career, many athletes who were ultimately caught for doping were competing. The story of my Olympic medal is still ongoing. I will receive it physically at the LA Olympics in 2028. It was heartbreaking to compete in a time that wasn’t as clean or fair as it should have been, but it gives me passion to fight for fair sport and excitement to cheer for athletes in races that feel level.

Could you elaborate on your wait for the medal?

In London 2012, I finished sixth but in the 12-13 years since, five women from my race have been disqualified, including the gold and silver medallists [Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut] from Turkey and a Russian athlete [Tatyana Tomashova], who was ahead of me and was disqualified just last year. That officially moved me into bronze. The IOC’s policy now is to offer medal ceremonies, so I will have a ceremony in LA. It’s nothing like London, but I’m grateful to have the opportunity to celebrate in front of friends and family. I’m grateful to a system that committed itself to clean sport.

It will be 16 years by the time I get it. When I found out, my entire body started shaking. I started sobbing. I had carried so much frustration about the unfairness. But I am an optimistic person…I got justice and I will receive my medal in front of my two children. They’ll see their mother being recognised for winning with integrity, winning the right way. Hopefully that will reinforce lessons, not only for them but for others, that truth can triumph. If I could change the past, I would make that race fair. Since I cannot, I channel those hard moments into advocacy, change and hopefully inspiration. I have a choice to live with gratitude or anger, and I choose gratitude.

At the Olympics, my highest finish after London was fourth in Rio, so it was very challenging to know London had a lot of cheats. I had a medal at the World Championships, but an Olympic medal is on another level.

How has the middle-distance field changed in the last few years?

There has been a lot of innovation around shoe technology, kind of fuelling the way athletes train, the lifting and recovery they do. Those developments have created a new wave of world records and personal bests. In the United States we call it trackflation — times across the board are so much quicker. It’s exciting because it creates new stories and exciting moments when a record is broken and an athlete improves. It’s a good sign…because it means our sport is growing.

You spoke about doping. India is among the countries with the most doping-related violations. How should the AFI approach this?

Part of it for me was how I was raised — it wasn’t just about winning, it was about sportsmanship and how you win. It’s important to create an ecosystem that incentivises performance but prioritises fairness, and enforces penalties for those who cheat. Once there is a clear directive that cheats will lose eligibility, that will disincentivise it.

India has high-achieving athletes and international figures. There’s so much more that can be done to develop younger talent and build strong foundations so they have a career not just as professional athletes but also as coaches, broadcasters or in other roles beyond their athletics career.

Since you have been affected by doping, do you do anything on education?

I work with the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to share my story. I’ve attended conferences. It has been about explaining the human side of doping. At events about education around drug testing, I meet people working to improve testing technology and give them a sense of who they are doing it for. There’s a large group committed to clean sport, and I get to thank them in person and help them understand how impactful their work is.

LA is two years away, and the World Championships is next year. How do you look forward to the middle-distance events?

The depth, especially in the 1500m on both men’s and women’s sides, is astonishing. It makes for great racing when more than half the field in an Olympic or World final could potentially be on the podium. I love a close, exciting race, because it makes for drama.

Published – September 05, 2026 06:00 am IST

Even as cut-throat competition gives elite athletics meets an elevated status, tales of camaraderie pleasantly break the monotony by adding a human element to them.

Enduring visuals of Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi sharing the men’s high jump gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Belgian steeplechaser Tim Van de Velde sacrificing his own position to help Colombia’s Carlos San Martin finish the race at the 2025 World Athletics Championships, and Robson De Oliveira and Aaron Beggs carrying an exhausted Ajay Haridasse over the line at this year’s Boston Marathon evoked impromptu appreciation from spectators in recent times.

Tight contests, tight bonds

However, such instances are not restricted to international athletics alone. Top-level competitions in India have also seen fine examples of keen contests and close companionship. The recently held Federation meet at Birsa Munda Stadium, Morabadi, Ranchi, featured high-level performances as well as excellent displays of comradeship among athletes.

The close duel between female long jumpers Ancy Sojan and Shaili Singh, the intense rivalry between national record holder Gurindervir Singh and Animesh Kujur in the men’s 100m, and the battle of one-upmanship between training partners and eventual joint national record holders Dev Meena and Kuldeep Kumar in the men’s pole vault do not necessarily mean they are bitter opponents off the field. Rather, they offer exceptional case studies of bonding between athletes.

For Ancy, who wholeheartedly cheered for her closest competitor Shaili in the background prior to the latter’s attempts, rivalry is not equivalent to enmity.

“I don’t consider my competitors as enemies. I just see them as friends. I always cheer for them. Because they are focused, they also try hard. So I wanted to motivate Shaili and help her do her best. That’s why I cheer for her. It is a good thing to cheer for your rivals,” says Ancy, who won the event.

Gurindervir is delighted that his mouthwatering showdowns on the track with Kujur, which are built on a strong foundation of brotherhood, bring eyeballs to athletics.

“I have been waiting for this for a long time. Our sport, sprinting, and athletics should get visibility. Every person enjoys watching a rivalry. When Animesh runs well, I feel that I have to run better. I have to do more hard training. When I run well, Animesh feels that he has to train even harder. We get motivation from each other,” says Gurindervir, who became the first Indian to go below 10.10 seconds when he won gold.

“We are good friends. We are room-mates. We are brothers. We are competitors. When we train, we are training partners. When we go out, we are friends.”

Gurindervir’s coach James Hillier feels such healthy competition — the national record changed hands twice in the semifinals before Gurindervir’s historic 10.09s run in the final — augurs well for sprinting in the country.

“It’s a great rivalry, and in a way it probably helped Gurindervir that Animesh broke the record [10.17] in the semifinals [clocking 10.15 within minutes of Gurindervir breaking Kujur’s previous record of 10.18]. It took a bit of the limelight off him and the pressure was sort of back on Animesh. It’s really bringing Indian sprinting down [in terms of time],” says Hillier.

Coming from the same stable, Madhya Pradesh Athletics Academy (MPAA), pole vaulters Meena and Kuldeep are brothers in arms. They train together under coach Ghanshyam Yadav, carry their poles and travel together while challenging each other to the best of their ability. Ultimately, the success one achieves makes the other happy, as they believe their teamwork will help them attain excellence. Coincidentally, the two were tied at 5.45m and shared the new national record at Ranchi.

“We will continue to fight with each other so that we can raise the level,” says Meena.

Kuldeep, who joined the MPAA a year ago, was welcomed by the already established Meena, as he saw that pushing the mark alone was a difficult task for him.

Victory through harmony

“We will do better in the future. It is a very technical sport. We are working on it. We are learning more and more with each passing day. If we learn and improve, it will be very good for both of us. We fight during our training. We fight during competitions. We support each other. We go ahead of each other. We are good friends. We should work to bring laurels for the country,” says Kuldeep.

While complementing each other, they have no hesitation in appreciating each other’s strengths.

“Dev’s technique is good. I think his competition mindset is good. I won’t say mine is bad either. I give him a good fight,” says Kuldeep.

“Kuldeep has a powerful body. I have got speed,” notes Meena.

Their coach Ghanshyam Yadav loves his two obedient trainees. “They are training together and competing with each other. Their communication with me is very good. If you say something to them, they will listen to you. They are training together and using the same pole,” says Yadav.

Acknowledging the media’s role in highlighting the plight of his wards while travelling with poles on a train in January and making their lives a little easier, Yadav dreams of guiding Meena and Kuldeep to greater glory and transforming pole vault into a well-known sport in India.

“We are trying to take the pole vault to a new height. Like Neeraj Chopra, who highlighted javelin by shining at the Olympics, we also want to take pole vault to that level,” says Yadav.

If the Federation meet was full of high-class performances and great camaraderie, it also had an aberration in the form of an undesirable feud between 40-year-old Olympian Sandeep Kumar and 18-year-old promising athlete Nitin Gupta in the men’s 10,000m racewalk.

After Gupta won the race comfortably, beating second-placed Sandeep, the two Army athletes, who train under different coaches, exchanged pleasantries and posed for photographs.

However, in a behind-the-scenes tussle for success, Sandeep filed a complaint against Gupta for receiving assistance from fellow competitors during the race. In the end, Gupta was disqualified for breaching World Athletics technical rules and Sandeep was crowned champion.

While different coaches present at the venue had varied opinions about the episode, it exposed intra-departmental competitiveness which not only created an unfriendly environment but also ended up being a disheartening experience for an emerging talent.

Of course, one can draw parallels to such incidents of bitter rivalry in international athletics over the decades, including Sebastian Coe versus Steve Ovett at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and Mary Decker versus Zola Budd at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Grace under pressure

No matter how much athletes push themselves to the limit and put their composure through stern tests, instances of companionship, a genuine emotion prevailing in humanity, will always outnumber examples of bitter competitiveness not only in track and field but also in sport at large.

As the 2026 calendar gears up for more intensity, with events such as the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games promising top-class action, one can only hope to see an atmosphere of fellowship in a world divided by conflicts.