A few minutes after the conclusion of the women’s Pole Vault competition at the Khelo India University Games on Saturday, Pavithra Venkatesh went up to a photographer shooting the event and asked for some pictures. It was different from the standard request young athletes have. Pavithra sought the pictures for analysis.
“That’s the only way I’ll get better,” she said. “If my coach and I can look at the pictures we’ll be able to see what I have done wrong.” The 20-year-old from Periyar University had just broken the KIUG record and the AIU record in the event — away from the limelight and without much fuss.
“I was sure I would get the National Record, standing at 4.15m, since I was clearing 4.20m in training,” she said, having cleared 4.00m in the All-India Inter-University Championships in Bhubaneshwar in February to claim the AIU record from Mariya Jaison. Two months on, she’s raised the bar to 4.01m but was disappointed she could not clear 4.16m.
Instead of attempting 4.10m, she confidently asked for the bar to be raised above the National record held by VS Surekha in 2014. Watched and egged on by Surekha, who was a technical official at the event, Pavithra failed to clear the height on each of her three attempts. “Mentally I was prepared for it, but I struggled with a new heavier pole.”
Pavithra took up athletics as a 9-year-old, competing in the 400m, 800m and long jump. Three years later, when her school, Sarada Vidyalaya Girls’ Higher Secondary School coach K Elamparithi, introduced Pole Vault in their athletics programme, Pavithra signed up. “It looked interesting… you could jump so high.. and, coach thought I’d be good at it,” she said.
She has history at the Khelo India Games, winning gold in the U21 at the Khelo India Youth Games 2020 in Guwahati. A Khelo India scholar, Pavithra still trains under Elamparithi in Salem. The coach insists her ability to learn quickly, adapt and pick up technique better than others stands her in good stead despite her small build and petite frame.
“She’s young, has only been doing this for 5-6 years and has already broken a few records. She will get better,” Elamparithi said. The bar, quite literally, is being raised constantly.
