This is luger Shiva Keshavan's third time at the Winter Olympics and he hopes to leave a mark
The upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics at Vancouver, Canada would’ve held negligible significance for India but for the presence of 28-year-old Luge exponent Shiva Keshavan. One of only three members of the Indian contingent for the games, Keshavan is among those Indian sports heroes who’ve never been given their due.
Born in a small village in the Himalayas to an Indian father and an Italian mother, Keshavan turned professional when he was just 16, in a sport that can only be described as ripping through the ice with speeds in excess of 140 km/h, face up and feet first, on a sled, racing against a timer. He became the youngest ever Luge Olympian and the first Indian in a Winter Olympics at Nagano in 1998 and was the sole Indian representative at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002. In his last outing at the Olympics in 2006, he finished 25th. He is the only Indian to ever win a medal in international winter sports and is credited as being the fastest Indian on ice with a maximum speed of 148 km/h without an engine by the Limca Book of Records.
The journey to his fourth appearance at the Olympics has been a constant struggle and being the only world-class Indian luger makes matters worse. Funds have been hard to come by and top finishes have eluded him due to his self-made, substandard sled as opposed to other teams’ sleds designed by Porsche. Due to nominal support from the Luge Association and the Indian government, it’s taken Keshavan 12 long years to get his first sponsors in Swiss Air and Limca.
Keshavan has raised India’s hopes of a first ever medal at the Winter Olympics with his recent silver at the Asian Championships where he missed gold by a whisker. Not one to rest on past laurels and armed with a new sled and rigorous training, he is now focussing all his energies on the Vancouver Games commencing on 12 February. In a recent interview, 42nd ranked Keshavan said, “I want to give the world's top some sweat. At least a top-20 finish should be on the cards.”
This Indo-Italian was offered citizenship by Italy but he turned it down as competing for India “gives me a sense of belonging and it's here that I can make a larger difference”. And things are looking up as, finally, the Indian government is considering funding him. Said Keshavan in another interview, “In my sport, milliseconds define the line between being at the podium and at the bottom. It's tough to excel without having the budget to customise top-notch equipment. I can only keep going out there and keep trying harder.”
