Explore popular quotes and sayings by an Indian athlete Abhinav Bindra.
Last updated on November 23, 2024.
Lieutenant Colonel Abhinav Apjit Bindra is an Indian Olympic gold medallist, retired sport shooter, and businessman. He is the first and one of only 2 Indians to win an Individual Olympic Gold Medal. He is the first Indian to have held concurrently the world and Olympic titles for the men's 10-meter air rifle event, having earned those honors at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships. Bindra has also won seven medals at the Commonwealth Games and three medals at the Asian Games.
I have a goal in front of me and that is to achieve a gold medal at the Olympics in air rifle shooting.
Nothing dramatic can be expected from the Sports Code, because the Olympic Charter has to be respected.
Shooting of course has certain challenges, especially in terms of safety aspects to be sorted and venues are far away from the scene of action.
It took a lot out of me to win. But more than anything, when you are goalless, you are listless in your life.
Growing up, I was not athletic.
10,000 athletes go and compete at an Olympic Games, only 300 go back with a gold medal, the number is very, very less.
Sport is one part of life. There are so many things to life but I've done nothing. I've really done nothing else but focused on shooting.
A pressure situation is not a happy feeling.
What the people in the country need is meeting of minds between similar philosophy for betterment and well being of people.
Shooting is a sport which has got us medals at the highest level in the last five to six years right from 2004. It's a testimony to the talents that we have.
It was many years ago when I started shooting and I took it up as a complete hobby and a pastime.
It isn't easy to suffer failure, go through all the pain and the hardship.
All you need to do is train, train and train. Keep working hard, harder and harder. That's the only thing you need to do.
I am always available to share my experiences. I am happy to talk to people in Indian sports administration, maybe teach them a few things, and eventually help out an athlete. That would make me happiest.
Once we take care of wellbeing of an athlete then performance will automatically come.
I think we should follow the Olympic charter and the guidelines as the whole world is following it.
I don't think too far ahead of myself.
My having won a gold medal in Beijing is not going to be an extra advantage. It does not have any bearing on how I perform in London in a year's time.
It happens too frequently that after a couple of poor performances, athletes are dumped. That's unfair as Olympic glory is a long path.
I became a process-oriented athlete; one who believed in giving it his best shot and not bothering about the outcome.
I've never been to a disco in my life.
I only wish the sport of shooting was more reachable and there were training centers all over the country where youngsters could go and try shooting.
I don't think I was a naturally born talent, surely I had some natural attributes, which perhaps helped me in my sport, but generally speaking I wasn't competitive in nature.
The work that I have been doing revolved around prevention of injuries, proper rehabilitation, it revolved around well being and holistic approach.
Up until Beijing where I had my greatest victory, I had trained for 16 years of life with a singular goal and singular obsession that I wanted to win gold medal at the Olympics.
Performing at the highest level in sports requires adaptability.
I'm a Kareena Kapoor fan.
We want a clean and effective Olympic body where it can help us and Indian sports to grow and we athletes can represent our country and our flag once again.
A lot needs to be done for Indian sport and with our potential we are nowhere near where we can be.
Sportspersons at the grassroots must get world class exposure in terms of coaches, facilities, physical trainers and mental trainers so that a strong foundation is laid at the base. That's the key to success.
After I won in Beijing I chatted with a lot of Indian athletes and they were interested and keen to know what I did. They all thought that I had some sort of secret for success, but I just wanted them to understand and realize that the biggest secret is: there is no secret.
It is important to find a way to take sports forward. However, it is important to have certain stipulations in place like restriction in terms of age, tenure etc.
To stand up to worldwide competition, we need a very strong set-up at home that produces athletes right from the beginner's level and has the sustained back-up for the same athlete to finally go and win an Olympic medal.
It's ironic my biggest mental crisis in life came when I actually succeeded. A lot of people talked about dealing with failure, but for me, dealing with success was probably the hardest time in my life.
Nobody will give a single rupee if you cannot match value in a professional way. For that, you need paid professionals.
Incorporating science, technology, engineering, analytics and medicine to athletes' training and development not just at elite level but basing it right at the grassroots level is important.
Pressure is a positive thing and it makes no difference on your performance if it is not there.
Rio is going to be my fifth Olympic games - it's been a long journey but a rewarding one, I would say.
Absolutely, I think that during a course of my career, I had a long career in sport, I had many ups and downs.
I've not been the most athletic person.
When you go to a shooting competition, you don't know what medal you're going to finish with.
Sports federations must try to be professional in trying to market their sport.
I believe that it is important, wherever possible, to lend a voice to help those in trying times.
It is a big achievement to win a medal at the World Cup. Winning a medal is like doing well at Wimbledon, in tennis. It is one of the biggest shooting competitions in the world.
Right from my childhood I have been attracted by guns.
It's not wise to just blindly copy what others are doing.
The beauty of having goals in life is that it drives you and when that is lost you lose a lot of meaning in life.
In my case it was a sustained effort. I was fortunate to have the backing of my parents to start off with and towards the Beijing Olympics the Mittal Champions Trust came into the picture and they helped me a lot.
But post my victory in Beijing, I actually wanted to quit sport and move on to something else in life.
When I went to Beijing, my goal was to do the best with every shot. The outcome was not important, the process was.
I left my sport when I knew I had nothing more to give.
I never had a good physical base.
I'm quite a loser. I've done nothing in my life for the past 12 years. I'd just eat, sleep, run and do nothing except shooting.
Even if you do all the right things, it may not ensure that the sponsors line up to support your sport.
Shooting is an amateur sport, but everybody does it professionally.
The ability to endure and accept hardships became my mantra.
When I started at 15, I never thought about winning nine Commonwealth Games medals.
I cannot shoot for 40-50 hours a week.
When I was in school, before age 10 I hated any kind of sport.
An athlete is not a robot, not a machine. Wellbeing of athletes is absolute necessary.