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British Olympic track and field legend Steve Ovett held a workshop for employees of Essar Group and 30 underprivileged children of non-profit organisation 'Akansha' ahead of Sunday's Standard Chartered Mumbai International Marathon.
Ovett, the 800 metres gold medallist at the Moscow Olympics whose rivalry with fellow-Britons Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram is still fresh in the memory of sports enthusiasts, shared his expertise on what it takes to be a long distance runner, laying emphasis on the need for building synergies between mind and body.
One of the brand ambassadors for the event, Ovett had a lot of praise for the Mumbai Marathon in which he intends to take part in the seven km "Dream Run" along with former India cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin.
The 49-year-old Ovett said it is good to see so many corporates associated with the marathon, which, he said, is the an event which brings out the soul of the city it is staged in.
Talking about his rivalry with Coe, Ovett, the former men's 1500 metres world record holder and the winner of the 5000 metres in the 1986 Commonwealth Games, said it just happened that the two British athletes ruled the middle distance in the world for ten years.
"It just happens. Look at the Australian cricket team now. But talent is not the monopoly of one country or region. After us came the runners from Kenya, Morocco, Ethiopia [to dominate middle and long distance running]," Ovett said.
"We [Ovett and Coe] possessed two radically different personalities and the media loved to highlight our rivalry. But, nowadays, athletes dominate the world for two years and then fade away as there is intense competition. There is lot of depth now as compared to our days," the Australia-based Ovett said.
Ovett, who now trains children in Australia and the UK, however, said it is not practical for a British child to take to athletics as a career option.
"If I had a child, I won't encourage it to make it a career option. Life is very tough for an athlete. You suffer an injury and you are out of action and considering the earning power -- unlike an employee of a business organization who gets paid even for days he is absent from work," the former ace metric miler said.
"More than racing instinct that any professional athlete is used to, it is the opportunity to mould raw talent that brings out the best in any athlete. The effort Mumbaiites and athletes from 'Akanksha' have been putting in for the marathon is truly commendable," he remarked.
Azharuddin also welcomed the fact that nowadays more and more sportspersons are coming out to be associated with charity work.
"In our times it was not this much. Even the current Indian cricketers do their bit for charity but don't publicize it," the former India cricket captain said.
V Krishnan, Corporate Communications head of Essar Group, said 230 children from 'Akanksha', whose children study in 38 of its centres in Mumbai and Pune and in four other municipal and government-aided schools, will take part in the "Dream Run" and all are above 12 years of age.
PHOTOGRAPH: Arun Patil