But during the Fifth National Games held earlier this month, Shakya was just a shadow of her former self, fighting a fever, chronic backache and guarding her ears that can no longer tolerate moisture. [break]
Barely fit, all Shakya could do was watch her teammate Karishma Karki walk away with twelve gold medals, pushing her own achievement to the pages of history.
“I have realized that worldly fame is ephemeral,” said the 24-year-old who reigned for a decade as the national record holder for winning the most gold medals in a single tournament. “But my family will always value me. Family is more important than anything.”
Shakya is all praises for Karki. But she is mad at her own health. “What hurts me is that I couldn´t participate,” said Shakya. “God knows what the results would have been like had I been able to at least participate!”
Shakya was a contestant in six swimming events of which she was confident of winning at least four. But her health failed her. She only managed to participate in the last swimming event, the 50-meter freestyle. Though worn out by days of fever, she finished third.
For an athlete who has won over 90 gold medals in her decade-old career, apart from a gold medal in the 1999 South Asian Federation (SAF) Games held in Kathmandu and two bronze medals in the Asia-Pacific games held in Delhi the same year, Shakya´s waning career has been hard to accept.
The omens first appeared two years ago.
Closely-guarded health condition
Shakya developed chronic backache and her ears grew sensitive to moisture in 2007, a fact she has downplayed with her coach, friends and family.“My doctor told me that I shouldn´t expose my ears to moisture or else risk losing my hearing,” she said.
But what else would a girl who has spent half her life being a professional swimmer do apart from swimming?
“I decided that it was worth the risk. I thought I would manage. I kept swimming, protecting my ear,” she said.
But in the excitement surrounding the inauguration day of the Fifth National Games, Shakya entered the pool and failed to protect her ears from water. She developed fever that night and transformed from being a participant to merely a spectator. She watched almost all swimming events from the sidelines, shivering with a temperature.
Shakya, who set a national record at 14 years of age, watched the nation turn its attention to her teammate, while she wondered whether her physical condition would allow her to participate in any future tournaments at all.
Sticking to what she can do best
Shakya isn´t done with swimming yet. The BBS second-year student from the Public Youth College in Kathmandu will stick to her swimming career, be it as a professional swimmer or as a coach.
Her love for swimming is too deep-rooted.
Born to a middle-class family in Nagal, Kathmandu in 1982. She was initiated into swimming by her elder sister Reshma Shakya, who was also a national swimmer.
“It started as a way to have fun, but later turned into a passion,” said Shakya, who now lives with her parents in Nayabazaar.
That passion made her a star when she was just fourteen. “When I set the record, I was too young to understand its meaning,” Shakya said.
Shakya is glad that her record stood tall for ten years, for whatever reasons, and understands that it is unreasonable to expect records to hold forever.
“Records are meant to be broken,” she said.
Shakya is grateful for what swimming has given her.
Shakya, the senior-most member in the current National Team, has participated in three SAF Games held in Pakistan, Kathmandu and Srilanka, two Asian Games held in South Korea and Bangkok, three Asia-Pacific Games held in South Korea, Delhi and Pakistan, apart from World Swimming Championship held in Spain and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. But she dropped out of the qualifying round for the Beijing Olympics held last year owning to health issues.
Shakya is also the assistant-coach of the National Swimming Team and draws a monthly salary of Rs 9,490.
“I want to bid goodbye to professional swimming after one more event,” said Shakya, who idolizes Russian swimmer Alexander Popov and Ukrainian swinner Yana Klochkova.
She wants to participate in the SAF Games scheduled to take place in January-February 2010 in Dhaka, her ears permitting. “Thereafter, I want to coach the National Team. Swimming is what I do best.”
(Photos by Bijay Rai.)
bikash@myrepublica.com
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