BHAKTAPUR, SEPTEMBER 7

The first season of the School To Olympic programme ended with the last edition hosted by the Sainik Awasiya Mahavidhyalaya here today.

Olympians Jit Bahadur KC, Bishnu Bahadur Singh, Deepak Bista, Rajendra Bhandari and Saraswati Chaudhary along with national football team goalkeeper Bikesh Kuthu and General Secretary of Nepal Olympic Committee Nilendra Raj Shrestha interacted with students and players of the school.

Long distance runner KC - the first Nepali player to win an international medal, a bronze in the Asian Athletics Championship in the Philippines in 1973 - shared his experience of joining the Nepali Army as an athlete and competing in different international tournaments including the Munich Olympic Games in 1972. 'I started my career from this ground and was selected for Nepali Army after I came first in the 5-mile race,' said KC.

'It took me six days of walk to reach here alone. The time and situation has changed. You are very lucky to have so many facilities and opportunities. You need to maintain discipline at all the time if you want to become a successful athlete,' he said.

KC said he was unfortunate not to get medal in Olympic Games in Munich. 'We all had prepared well for the Olympics and I had hit the mark of 2:23 in training, which was Asia's best at that time. Unfortunately, there was a terrorist attack on Israeli athletes inside the Olympic Village, killing 11 of them, three days before the event. We all were terrified and I could not even complete the marathon,' he said. 'We were hopeful of a medal in Munich but the unfortunate incident cost us the opportunity,' he remembered.

Taekwondo ace Bista, who is also the President of Nepal Olympians Association, described his South Asian Games journey. 'We all need to under the fact that nothing comes for free. I have put in a lot of hard work in winning these four gold medals in SA Games,' he said. 'You have to come out of your comfort zone to get success. I never bunked training throughout my career and I kept myself motivating in difficult times,' said the second Nepali athlete to qualify for the Olympic Games.

'You need to set a goal for yourself and put in your best efforts each time you enter the arena,' he said. 'I was just a player of a remote village in Far-western Region until I won the first gold medal in SAFF Games in 1999. The limelight and honour I received from all over the country after winning the medal helped me in trying even harder. I won second gold medal in 2003 with a fractured leg that also threatened my career. But my dedication and love towards the sport helped me recover and I was able to win four gold medals in four consecutive SA Games,' he added.

Another Olympian Bhandari, who returned from a two-year ban to win gold medal in the SA Games, said he would not have been an athlete had he not joined the Nepali Army. 'I belonged to Army family and my father did not let me study in this school. But I was destined to be an athlete. After finishing my secondary education in my village in Tanahun, where we had to walk miles to go to school, I came here to join the Nepali Army. I unknowingly beat all the trainees including best ones in running. I got a chance to train and became an athlete,' he said.

'Due to my hard work and dedication, I got three promotions within a month for my achievements.' Head of Management at SAM, Col Narayan Bahadur Thapa thanked the Olympians for providing the students with opportunity. 'It was a fruitful session for our students. They got the opportunity to meet and interact with legendary athletes. Your valuable words will certainly motivate them to reach their goal,' Thapa said.

The SAM students and players welcomed guests with cultural dances and taekwondo demonstrations. The NOA organised a total of nine programmes under the School To Olympic campaign - Surkhet, Jumla, Dhangadhi, Bhimdatta, Itahari, Siddharthanagar, Nepal APF School, Nepal Police School and Sainik Awasiya Mahavidhyalaya.

A version of this article appears in the print on September 08, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.