Mumbai: It’s been over a month since the Paris Olympics ended and India’s athletes are in various stages of flipping the chapter. Some continue to bask in the extended spotlight of being among the handful with a shiny medal to flaunt, some have taken extended breaks to reset, while some are back up and running into training or tournament mode again.

And then there are the fourth-place finishers, those nearly men and women who were so close to achieving glory and adding to India’s medal tally of six, yet so far from popping the champagne. India had five fourth-place finishes from seven individuals in these Olympics. For six of them (except double medallist Manu Bhaker), the Olympics, in those raw moments and in the immediate aftermath, was a bittersweet pill to swallow.

With the lapse of time and with emotions settling down, has it got any easier?

“We learn to live with it. I’m still trying to live with it. Move on toh karna hi hai — saara time isko leke nahi beth sakte (You have to move on — can’t sit on it forever),” Arjun Babuta, fourth in men’s 10m air rifle, said. “Paris Olympics has become old for people. At some point, it will become old for me too.”

Babuta had opened India’s fourth-place account in Chateauroux, where Manu in the women’s 25m pistol and the mixed skeet team of Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Maheshwari Chauhan also joined. So did shuttler Lakshya Sen and the mixed archery pair of Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat in Paris.

“The extent of disappointment that I felt on that particular day, I don’t have that any longer,” Dhiraj said. “Pain abhi bhi hai andar (Pain of missing out is still inside). But you have to move on. Treat it as God’s plan.”

Other than Manu who had already felt the joy of winning two medals, for the rest — most of whom were Olympic first-timers — the near-miss defined their Games. Lakshya could hardly speak after blowing his singles bronze medal match; Babuta teared up and termed fourth place as the worst position to be in; Dhiraj and Ankita were shattered at falling one step short of ending Indian archery’s drought.

Now, stuck somewhere between the heartbreak of the past and hope for the future, they are beginning to see the brighter side of it. Disheartened then, Babuta looks back at that finish in his first Olympics with pride, especially after missing out on the Asian Games and World Championships in 2023.

“Looking back, I learnt that I have a lot of potential, and plenty of courage. I am proud of that fourth-place finish. I have also realized how big is that little difference between third and fourth,” he said, laughing. “I don’t think I could’ve done anything better there, either in my training or periodisation or anything else. Even my coaches don’t know yet where I could’ve improved further. I was the fourth best in the world on that day. So, proud of it.”

Dhiraj, who also competed in individual and team events in his Games debut, is back at his training base in Pune after a break in the company of his family. He presses the rewind button on that fourth-place finish in mixed with a “little regret” but also optimism.

“I feel it was a good show. Of course, like everyone else, we too were disappointed at finishing fourth. My immediate thoughts after the event were, kaash thoda luck hota, toh ho jata (if only we had a little luck, we could’ve got there)’. Maybe next time, we will have that luck.

“But the fact that we went where no one could till now in Indian archery is also motivation for me to go better. And the good thing is, one step further is the Olympic medal,” Dhiraj said.

The nearly-there tale also doubles up as a motivation tool for others. Manu’s 25m pistol finish, to go with the couple of bronze medals in the 10m air pistol individual and mixed team, could be a blessing in disguise looking ahead to the 2028 Los Angeles Games, reckoned her coach Jaspal Rana.

“This fourth-place finish will keep her alive,” Rana had said.

That’s for the future. For now, the present continues to be attached to that fourth-place finish. Memories of which keep flashing by. Even though Babuta doesn’t mentally go there, he is often reminded by others about that shot of 9.5 in his final elimination series that brought him crashing down from being up there in the medal hunt.

“Then, it all comes rushing back to your mind — all those images, those moments, my thoughts then,” he said. “At times, it feels overwhelming. But over time, we tend to take out the negative and emotional aspects of such things and carry forward the positives. Going ahead, I might be able to view that performance from a much better frame of mind.”

Going ahead, they may all eventually. But will the heartbreak ever go?

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Dhiraj said. “But such pains in my journey have only pushed me more. So, I hope it stays with me.”

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