Chennai: “I ran with torn shoes,” said athlete Gomathi Marimuthu, who went on to win the 800m race at Asian Athletics Championships in Doha. Even before she could say another word, social media went berserk blaming authorities, Sports Ministry and the Union government of asking her to run the race with torn shoes.
Much to their surprise and shock, Gomathi completed her sentence saying, “It was my lucky shoes. Hence, I chose to wear the torn ones. It doesn’t mean I don’t have pairs of new ones.”
The ‘Queen of Doha’ was clear in her words. But a section of twitteratti and Tamil poralis had no patience to listen to her entire conversation. They threw brickbats at the government and the irony was a few celebrities, especially from Chennai, lined up with a pair of sports shoes as gift for Gomathi.
Interestingly, they conveniently forgot that Gomathi has been employed with the Income-Tax department for a few years and she has come up the hard way in her life. Also, she was given good training and the sports officials ensured all was well for everyone representing the country in such prestigious events.
Says Inder Kumar, a social media tracker, “It is common here. The social media’s influence is very strong. But a majority of users never check for facts. They are swayed by emotions. In the case of Gomathi, they read about her struggle to achieve big in athletics and when she began a sentence saying that she ran the race in Doha with torn shoes, they picked it up and made it big. Many angry posts targetted the Sports Ministry.”
It was not just members of the public but also celebrities who queued up in front of her house. A popular music composer-actor rushed to present the athlete with a pair of shoes, stating that he was there to support the champion runner. Eventually, when she said it was her lucky shoes and, hence, she chose to wear the torn ones, made them take a ‘U’ turn.
Gomathi’s father Marimuthu was a farm labourer, working in the field. He passed away three years back. “Every day, my father used to wake up at 4 am and forced me also to go running. During my schooldays, I used to take part in almost all games, but was fascinated by athletics. Then I started practising seriously after graduating, under my coach Gandhi,” remembered the middle-distance runner.
Gomathi lost her father and coach in the same year. “My mother, Rasathi, had to step out of the home and work in the same field where my father used to. But she was not able to do all the jobs in the field,” she said.
Since the model code of conduct is in force in Tamilnadu, owing to the by-election to four Assembly constituencies, State Minister D Jayakumar said Gomathi will be rewarded for her achievement after 23 May, when the votes will be counted and results will be declared.