Pole vaulter Siva Subramaniam's inspirational journey to a new National Record

Pole vaulter Siva Subramaniam was crushed when his coach Don Wilcox, who shaped the career of one of India’s most talented athletes, passed away due to Covid-19 in 2021. The journey that both had dreamed of together, in Chennai, was cut brutally cut short, and Siva - who had the national record in his name in 2018 - felt like giving up.

Don, a former pole vaulter, was providing free coaching to a group of underprivileged children in Chennai. Siva came up through the ranks to train under him and made a big splash in the domestic circuit in 2015. However, Wilcox's sudden demise left him lost and shaken.

It was then that Wilcox’s son Gerald thought of carrying forward the work of his father and came to the rescue of Siva as his coach. Gerald is a pole vaulter too but he is hearing and speech impaired and a silver medallist at the Deaflympics (2005 and 2009).

With Gerald by his side, the 26-year-old Siva found new reserves to restart his career and found the zest to compete after almost two years. Every competition he now enters is a tribute to the coach who had the vision to raise him into a champion pole vaulter.

On Monday, Siva vaulted back to where he had left off – breaking his own national record after four years. He improved it to 5.31m in a fascinating one-man show at the IIT University Ground, by repeatedly raising the bar and challenging himself to surpass new heights.

By the end of the day, Siva was full of smiles and expressed his deep gratitude for the father-son coach duo. Like his father, Gerald didn’t charge a rupee from Siva for training him.

“I can’t express what I am feeling today. It has been a tough time for me. When my coach passed away in 2021, I was lost. I was dejected. I was occupied with negative thoughts. I just could not focus on training. He was my backbone. Had it not been for him, I would not have been standing here,” says an emotional Siva.

“It has taken me four years to come back again and break my national record. This time with Gerald on my side, I am determined to touch new heights.

“It is not easy in the pole vault. A pole also comes for more than a lakh. I had no sponsors, no one to fund me. My coach trained me for free, and now his son also doesn’t take a penny.”

Siva, in fact, said his target is 5.50m but that would take time.

“The weather was very hot and my body was tired. But I will take his national record as a new beginning for me. I still miss my old coach," said Siva. "I want to take the Indian pole vault to new heights. Our standard is low and I will change the history of pole vault in India. My next target would be Asian Games next year.”

Siva still follows the workouts charted out by Wilcox with Gerald overlooking the training process.

“Nobody understood my body better than him (Wilcox). It’s all written in my diary – the workouts. It was only from 2022 January that I started training properly.”

Shaili wins silver

Also, on a comeback trail was promising long jumper Shaili Singh, who won silver at the world junior championships in Nairobi last year. A back injury had derailed her season and she was taking part in only her second event this year. Shaili won silver (6.28m) behind Nayana James of Kerala who won gold with a jump of 6.33m. Shruti Lakshmi of Kerala took silver ( 6.24m).

“Shaili got injured in the world championships and felt pain after coming back. It was a stress fracture and she had to take complete rest for a few months. She also missed the world juniors,” said coach Robert George.

“She is a real fighter. She is still progressing. We will send her for a Diwali break and start again to prepare for a hectic season.”

The sweltering conditions made it difficult for the athletes to give their best. In the morning, Sanjivini Jadav collapsed at the finish line after coming first in the women's 10000m. She had to be put on the drip. Unfortunately, she was later penalised for lane infringement and the gold was awarded to Seema of Haryana 34:20.82.

“I don’t consider myself a gold medallist,” said Seema. “For me, Sanjivini is the one. We are friends and we push each other on the lane. I checked on her immediately and spoke to her. She is doing better.”

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