Chennai: T. Mariyappan is shy to the point of being diffident. Although two weeks have gone since the high jumper won a Paralympic gold in Rio de Janeiro, he still doesn’t know the extent of his popularity. Mariyappan has been dazzled by the attention he has been garnering after coming back to India on Thursday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi bowled Mariyappan over by recognising him instantly during a meeting in New Delhi on Thursday. “He called me by my name and greeted me with a vanakkam. The Prime Minister spoke to me with a lot of affection. When he told me that I was Tamil Nadu’s diamond I was thrilled,” the Paralympic champion said.
For someone who doesn’t believe he is big enough to sign autographs, the frenzy surrounding his arrival must have been a bewildering experience. Words refused to come out of his mouth during the reception accorded to him at the airport here on Friday night. Mariyappan was so low-key that it appeared he would much rather take aim to soar above a horizontal bar placed at a height of 1.90 metres.
A natural on the ground, he is anything but in front of the camera. It’s not something that should bother sport buffs because Mariyappan was able to do his primary job better than anyone else in the world on September 9. “I was nervous before my event in Rio because the stage was so big. Local fans made me more jittery by chanting the name of a Brazilian competitor. By the end, though, they were belting out my name. I will not stop with the Rio gold. I want to go all the way in the next two Olympics. My main target now is to clear 2 metres,” he said.
Satyanarayana, Mariyappan’s mentor and coach, said the Rio champion would clear two meters sooner than later. “He doesn’t have the height for a high jumper (he is only 1.63m tall) but has the fighting spirit to achieve his goals. Natural spring action and the support he gets from his deformed right leg help him clear heights that look daunting for all of us. Mariyappan is only 21 years old and he has his best years ahead of him,” he added.
J. Ranjith Kumar, Tamil Nadu Paralympic Association secretary, said Mariyappan has pulled off a PR coup for disabled athletes all over the country. “I received 400 phone calls after his Rio gold. We couldn’t have got more attention even if he had lavished money on a marketing campaign. Mariyappan is an outstanding athlete who can set an arena alight with his brilliance. He is the crowd puller in national meets. No one can enchant fans like him. As someone who has followed his career right from the start, I can’t describe my joy in words. He is our superstar,” he said.
While everyone wants to have a piece of Mariyappan after his arrival in Tamil Nadu, the champion is craving to meet his idol, Rajinikanth. “I’m a big fan of Rajini. I was ecstatic when I watched Kabali first day first show in Bengaluru with my coach. Incidentally, it was the first movie I watched in a theatre. I would love to meet him. I know I will be spellbound and not able to open my mouth in front of Rajini,” he said.
Ironically, Rajini’s younger daughter Soundarya is keen to meet Mariyappan to sign up the athlete for a biopic on him. “Her secretary has spoken to me about the project. My coach will decide whether I should go ahead because I don’t know anything about movies and business,” Mariyappan said.
According to Satyanarayana, everything has to be right from casting to script to professional agreement for him to give the green signal for the biopic. “Mariyappan is so well known today that he has to take every step carefully,” he added.
A private school owner who met Mariyappan to secure his consent for a felicitation function in the city said the champion is an inspiration for all youth. “I feel he can motivate my students with his sheer presence. Tamil Nadu hasn’t embraced anyone with as much affection as it has Mariyappan in recent times. Our late president Abdul Kalam was the last man to receive such universal acclaim in the state,” he said.
After winning the gold in Rio, Mariyappan said the first thought that crossed his mind was a sense of pride about being an Indian. It was only fitting that he was bestowed with the honour of carrying the country’s flag during the closing ceremony. “I turned emotional when I spoke to my mother after the gold because she has suffered untold miseries to raise me and my three siblings after my father had deserted her. She couldn’t talk; she kept sobbing. Building a house for her is my first priority,” he added.
Mariyappan is planning to request Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa to set up a hospital in his village near Salem when he meets her to receive a cheque for Rs 2 crore. “People in our village have to travel 10 kilometres for a hospital.
We must have one in the vicinity soon. I also want to develop a ground in my village to help school children play a variety of sports. I’m ready to sponsor their equipment,” he said.
