Henry Rebello
Henry Rebello is a long-forgotten name in the world of Indian
sport. Ironically in a nation devoid of world-class athletes, we have failed to
remember the first top-quality athlete of independent India. Rebello flashed across
the Indian sky as a comet.
As a strapping 19 year-old triple jumper (called ‘hop, step
and jump’ in earlier eras as the jump literally is) just prior to the London
Olympic Games in 1948, Henry Rebello of India caused a sensation. The callow
youth was consistently crossing 50 plus feet during the previous one year. He
had no competition in India. His 50 plus feet placed him among the top triple-jumpers
of the world.
In a tournament in the United Kingdom just before the London Olympic
in 1948 he was again at his best. The athletic experts predicted a certain
medal for India in the triple jump event. On current form there was little
doubt that an athletics medal was awaiting India. Never since Norman Pritchard
– a former Calcutta Xaverian – in 1900 at the Paris Olympiad did any Indian
athlete create such an expectation.
On the day of the triple jump Henry Rebello easily crossed
the qualifying marks in the morning and was among the best jumpers waiting for
the final event later in the day. He began his warm-up exercises to get ready
for his first of three jumps in the final elimination round.
Just as he was ready and about to begin his run leading to
the jump, he was asked to wait for a medal ceremony that was being held in
close vicinity. Henry Rebello had no option. He had to wait for the ceremony to
be over. He put on his track suit back again. Then suddenly without any notice
the Olympic officials asked him to go for the jump.
Now there was no time for any further warm-up. Young and
inexperienced Henry had no one beside him who could have helped him to deal
with the officials. Without warming-up, an athlete taking a jump is unheard of.
That, too, in the Olympic Games! But that is exactly what happened. Henry
Rebello was forced to go for the first jump without any further preparation.
Teenager Henry Rebello with the typical adventurous spirit of
youthful energy went for the jump with the maximum effort. Airborne, he heard
his hamstring muscle snap and he fell in a heap. He had to be carried out on a
stretcher. His Olympic dream was over. India’s best medal prospect was let down
through sheer inexperience and the cold, blistery London weather.
The interval of the wait had a disastrous effect on the young
man’s physique. In those vital 15 minutes, the warmed-up body lost the effect
of the warm-up exercises. The cold and biting-breezy conditions of London got
through to him. In the warmer Indian clime the effect of the warm-up exercises
would have stayed much longer. Used to Indian environment, the inexperienced youth
did not realize that the body would become stiff in such a short while.
If he was experienced enough or had a proper coach beside
him, he would not have given much effort in the first of the three jumps. He
would have taken the first jump easy because there were two more jumps
available to him. After the first jump he could have warmed up and prepared
himself for the following jumps. This is what experience and guidance are all
about. It was too much to expect from an inexperienced, excited youth in his
teens. For these umpteenth subtle reasons one needs a genuine coach.
Ultimately the gold went at 50 feet six and a half inches;
the bronze at 49 feet three and a half inches. Both these figures our Henry had
crossed so many times. A supremely fit Henry never had the slightest of muscle
strain in his career yet at the decisive moment he was laid low. On such
slender margin depends one’s destiny.
Henry Rebello’s life and career reveal the general
callousness of our sports officials in India. With only a few exceptions,
people who have handled Indian sport have not done justice to the
responsibility bestowed on them. It is precisely these issues that separated
Pankaj Gupta – India’s versatile
cricket and hockey manager from 1936 to 1952 – from the others who managed
Indian teams. Where were the India team’s athletics manager and coach when
Henry Rebello was being pushed out and pushed in at the time of the decisive
jump? Nobody would ever know. Nobody would ask. Nobody would be accountable.
That’s the typical Indian sports scenario.
As a youngster Henry Rebello was a most reluctant sportsman.
He was more into studies, as is the normal trend in India among the educated
middle-class. But his school headmaster in Bangalore was very particular that
every student must take compulsory part in sporting activities. Henry had to
follow the school rules.
Within a year he was actually showing enormous talent as a
triple jumper. Every record was his at school, district and State levels. At 18
he was the national champion. So far ahead of the rest was he that his
competition was against himself.
His amazing consistency resulted in reaching the Olympic
qualifying mark with ease. He had a natural style and flair. Not coached, he
developed his own technique. He was hailed by the critics to be a certain Olympic
medal prospect in view of his consistency and form.
After the disastrous injury, Henry Rebello concentrated more
on his career in the Indian Air Force and gave exemplary service to his
country. After retirement he was the first director at the National Institute
of Sports. He was an all-round sportsman and had shown remarkable dexterity as
an administrator.
While other Olympic non-medalists were repeatedly brought
into public focus through various forums, our first-ever world-class athlete
was totally ostracized. Surprisingly he never got any worthwhile mention in the
Indian media. We hardly ever heard of him when we were young. No one seemed to
have known anything about him. No one cared to remember him. Unfortunately he
was destined to lead a life in obscurity.
I was indeed fortunate to have had a Jesuit priest in our
Calcutta St Xavier’s College, Reverend Cecil Leeming SJ – himself a national-level
athlete during his youth in the 1930s – to tell us of the magnificent exploits
of Henry Rebello.
With his fantastic sports and scholastic background Henry
Rebello should have been an ideal role model for the Indian youth in the post
independence era. Instead he became a non-entity. No awards. No national
honours. Perpetually ignored, his name still resides in some obscure foot-note
of Indian athletics history.
That an athlete of genuine world-class should be neglected
and ignored is just a reflection of the status a world-class sport champion has
in Indian society. Why can we not honour them posthumously at least?
Henry Rebello
Henry Rebello is a long-forgotten name in the world of Indian
sport. Ironically in a nation devoid of world-class athletes, we have failed to
remember the first top-quality athlete of independent India. Rebello flashed across
the Indian sky as a comet.
As a strapping 19 year-old triple jumper (called ‘hop, step
and jump’ in earlier eras as the jump literally is) just prior to the London
Olympic Games in 1948, Henry Rebello of India caused a sensation. The callow
youth was consistently crossing 50 plus feet during the previous one year. He
had no competition in India. His 50 plus feet placed him among the top triple-jumpers
of the world.
In a tournament in the United Kingdom just before the London Olympic
in 1948 he was again at his best. The athletic experts predicted a certain
medal for India in the triple jump event. On current form there was little
doubt that an athletics medal was awaiting India. Never since Norman Pritchard
– a former Calcutta Xaverian – in 1900 at the Paris Olympiad did any Indian
athlete create such an expectation.
On the day of the triple jump Henry Rebello easily crossed
the qualifying marks in the morning and was among the best jumpers waiting for
the final event later in the day. He began his warm-up exercises to get ready
for his first of three jumps in the final elimination round.
Just as he was ready and about to begin his run leading to
the jump, he was asked to wait for a medal ceremony that was being held in
close vicinity. Henry Rebello had no option. He had to wait for the ceremony to
be over. He put on his track suit back again. Then suddenly without any notice
the Olympic officials asked him to go for the jump.
Now there was no time for any further warm-up. Young and
inexperienced Henry had no one beside him who could have helped him to deal
with the officials. Without warming-up, an athlete taking a jump is unheard of.
That, too, in the Olympic Games! But that is exactly what happened. Henry
Rebello was forced to go for the first jump without any further preparation.
Teenager Henry Rebello with the typical adventurous spirit of
youthful energy went for the jump with the maximum effort. Airborne, he heard
his hamstring muscle snap and he fell in a heap. He had to be carried out on a
stretcher. His Olympic dream was over. India’s best medal prospect was let down
through sheer inexperience and the cold, blistery London weather.
The interval of the wait had a disastrous effect on the young
man’s physique. In those vital 15 minutes, the warmed-up body lost the effect
of the warm-up exercises. The cold and biting-breezy conditions of London got
through to him. In the warmer Indian clime the effect of the warm-up exercises
would have stayed much longer. Used to Indian environment, the inexperienced youth
did not realize that the body would become stiff in such a short while.
If he was experienced enough or had a proper coach beside
him, he would not have given much effort in the first of the three jumps. He
would have taken the first jump easy because there were two more jumps
available to him. After the first jump he could have warmed up and prepared
himself for the following jumps. This is what experience and guidance are all
about. It was too much to expect from an inexperienced, excited youth in his
teens. For these umpteenth subtle reasons one needs a genuine coach.
Ultimately the gold went at 50 feet six and a half inches;
the bronze at 49 feet three and a half inches. Both these figures our Henry had
crossed so many times. A supremely fit Henry never had the slightest of muscle
strain in his career yet at the decisive moment he was laid low. On such
slender margin depends one’s destiny.
Henry Rebello’s life and career reveal the general
callousness of our sports officials in India. With only a few exceptions,
people who have handled Indian sport have not done justice to the
responsibility bestowed on them. It is precisely these issues that separated
Pankaj Gupta – India’s versatile
cricket and hockey manager from 1936 to 1952 – from the others who managed
Indian teams. Where were the India team’s athletics manager and coach when
Henry Rebello was being pushed out and pushed in at the time of the decisive
jump? Nobody would ever know. Nobody would ask. Nobody would be accountable.
That’s the typical Indian sports scenario.
As a youngster Henry Rebello was a most reluctant sportsman.
He was more into studies, as is the normal trend in India among the educated
middle-class. But his school headmaster in Bangalore was very particular that
every student must take compulsory part in sporting activities. Henry had to
follow the school rules.
Within a year he was actually showing enormous talent as a
triple jumper. Every record was his at school, district and State levels. At 18
he was the national champion. So far ahead of the rest was he that his
competition was against himself.
His amazing consistency resulted in reaching the Olympic
qualifying mark with ease. He had a natural style and flair. Not coached, he
developed his own technique. He was hailed by the critics to be a certain Olympic
medal prospect in view of his consistency and form.
After the disastrous injury, Henry Rebello concentrated more
on his career in the Indian Air Force and gave exemplary service to his
country. After retirement he was the first director at the National Institute
of Sports. He was an all-round sportsman and had shown remarkable dexterity as
an administrator.
While other Olympic non-medalists were repeatedly brought
into public focus through various forums, our first-ever world-class athlete
was totally ostracized. Surprisingly he never got any worthwhile mention in the
Indian media. We hardly ever heard of him when we were young. No one seemed to
have known anything about him. No one cared to remember him. Unfortunately he
was destined to lead a life in obscurity.
I was indeed fortunate to have had a Jesuit priest in our
Calcutta St Xavier’s College, Reverend Cecil Leeming SJ – himself a national-level
athlete during his youth in the 1930s – to tell us of the magnificent exploits
of Henry Rebello.
With his fantastic sports and scholastic background Henry
Rebello should have been an ideal role model for the Indian youth in the post
independence era. Instead he became a non-entity. No awards. No national
honours. Perpetually ignored, his name still resides in some obscure foot-note
of Indian athletics history.
That an athlete of genuine world-class should be neglected
and ignored is just a reflection of the status a world-class sport champion has
in Indian society. Why can we not honour them posthumously at least?
