Sports Desk

The 13-member Bangladesh contingent, including only five athletes, ended their campaign in the ongoing Paris Olympic 2024 with two events – men’s 100m sprint and women’s 50m freestyle – on Saturday.

Sprinter Imranur Rahman, who took part in the men’s 100m, ranked 6th out of 8 sprinters with a timing of 10.73 sec in the Heat 6 of the preliminary round at the Stade de France.

Swimmer Mst Sonia Khatun also ranked 6th out of 8 swimmers with a timing of 30.52 sec in the Heat 3 of the women’s 50m freestyle (qualifiers) at the Paris La Defense Arena.

Imranur was 0.62 sec slower than his personal best of 10.11 sec, which he had set in the day-long Newham and Essex Beagles Outdoor Series, recognised by World Athletics, held in London last September.

Even, the sprinter was 0.32 sec slower than his personal best of 10.41 sec which he made in the World Athletics Championship 2023 held in Budapest last August.

Sonia was also 0.41 sec slower than her previous best of 30.11 sec which was made in the 19th Asian Games 2023 held in China last September-October and 0.03 sec slower than her World Aquatics Championships 2023 timing of 30.49 sec which was made in July in Japan.

Bangladesh’s shooter Rabiul Islam and archer Sagor Islam also showed frustrating performance in their respective events of the ongoing Olympics – men’s 10m air rifle and recurve singles.

Rabiul, who ranked 13th in the Asia Olympic Qualification Rifle-Pistol in Indonesia in January this year, ranked 43rd out of 49 participants in the Olympics. The 25-year-old Bangladeshi shooter scored 628 in the qualifiers, but he scored 624.2 in the Olympics.

Sagor, who was the country’s third athlete to qualify for the Olympics on merit after golfer Siddikur Rahman and archer Ruman Sana, had been knocked out of the ongoing Olympic as he lost to Italian archer Mauro Nespoli by 0-6 in the first round match (round of 32) of the men’s singles’ elimination stage.

Only swimmer Samiul Islam Rafi brought some relief for Bangladesh as he was 0.02 sec faster than his previous best of 53.12 sec which was made in the Age Group 2024 held in Thailand in April.

The 19-year-old Bangladeshi swimmer, however, took 53.10 sec to rank 69th out of 79 swimmers in the Heat 2 of the ongoing Olympic.

The Daily Sun individually interviewed the participating all five Olympians before their departure.

Among them, only Sagor had a target of winning a medal while Rabiul wanted to reach top 8 and two swimmers – Rafi, Sonia just wanted to best their respective previous records (timings).

Sprinter Imranur had no such goal; he just wanted to focus on his preparation and personal goals rather than the competition.

The record shows, after independence, Bangladesh have been participating in the Olympics since 1984, they didn’t take part in the Olympics 1972, 1976 and 1980.

In addition, the nation competed in the Olympics from 1900 to 1936 as part of British India and from 1948-1968 as part of Pakistan.

Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) sent a total of 54 athletes in the 11 editions of the Olympics (including the ongoing Games so far).

Only three out of 54 Olympians were able to secure Olympics spots on merit (direct entry) while the rest of Olympians achieved wildcards.

Neither BOA nor these participating Olympians ever told of winning a medal. It seems that both BOA and the participating Olympians took part in the Games just to maintain a formality.

When asked several times – whether Bangladesh could earn a medal in the multi-sport global competition, the BOA and organizers pointed to the future, though that future is yet to come.

While the athletes replied that it (to earn a medal) was not possible at this moment, but if the BOA, federations take a long plan (at least a four-year plan) and make big budgets for better training facilities, equipment and nutrition.

“I am far behind in the timing to reach the semifinals or final of the Olympics, actually all of our swimmers (Bangladeshi swimmers) are far behind it… We need to launch a long program of 7-8 years,” Rafi told the Daily Sun before going to Paris.

Bangladesh’s South Asian neighbors India have earned 38 medals including 10 gold, 9 silver, 19 bronze. They have bagged 3 bronze in the shooting events of the ongoing Game so far.

Even, another South Asian country Pakistan also earned 10 medals in the Olympics including 3 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze.

The BOA and the federations have no goal to earn a medal in the Olympics, but they are interested in sending the contingents in every edition of the Games.

The possible reason could be that the officials and sports organizers made the Games as their vacation tour abroad.

Leastwise, the recent 13-member contingent of Bangladesh, comprising five athletes and eight officials, can force the country's sports to think like that way.