Love for my sport keeps me grounded: Manu Bhaker
It’s not exactly how MANU BHAKER wanted to enjoy her Olympic success — two bronze medals. After a hectic schedule, she was looking forward to ‘some time off’ where she would put her feet up and just relax. Instead, she has been on a whirlwind tour of media houses, photo shoots, corporate events, podcasts studios etc. But, like she handles all the tricky situations at the shooting range, she is acing this phase of her life too. ET catches up with Bhaker to talk about her life after the Olympic success, her memories of pressure moments just before she won the medals and more. Excerpts
What has changed around you since winning the Olympic medals?
I have been attending a lot of events since then. Which is okay because I enjoy everything. It was pre-decided that I would take a long break after the Olympics. But because of these events, I have been travelling a lot. I had thought I would get some time off and I would sleep, have rest, and stay at home. But I haven’t got time to do all that. I am not complaining (laughs). I am enjoying this phase also.
These were your second Olympic Games. Did you feel any different this time?
The difference was that in the last Olympics [in Tokyo], we were staying in the athletes’ village and there were so many athletes. When I saw the basketball players, I was amazed that someone could be so huge. When I saw people from athletics, I was amazed that someone could be so fit. Those kinds of feelings. I was really young [19] and the environment at the village made me a bit nervous. Then
