P.T Usha's dream for Tintu, Jessy and Shaharbana

P.T Usha, the former athlete who won four gold medals at the Asian games and lost out on winning an Olympic bronze by a hair line, set up the P.T Usha School Of Athletics in Koyilandy, Kerala. She scouts gifted girls from the Southwest region of India and recruits them to train them to be the best runners of India.

There are about a dozen athletes whom Usha is currently training, out of which one of them already won a bronze at the Asian Games (Track & Field 800 m). Her name is Tintu Luka (24 years old), and she participated in the 2012 London Olympics for the 800 meters but fell short in winning a medal. She is still young for the sport of running and she has about 10 more years if she stays healthy.

Tintu Luka at the 2010 Commonwealth games, Delhi

According to consensus there are two more athletes much younger than Tintu in Usha's camp who are performing at a high level for their age. Jessy Joseph who is 18 years old, and Shaharbana Sidhique who is 16 years old are said to be performing really well.

Here are the personal best competition times for the three ladies and I wanted to compare their times with competition times of the best athletes of their age in the U.S.

Tintu Luka:

Tintu Luka	Nachelle Mackie  (2012 NCAA 800m champ)
Age : 24 years	Age: 22 years old (approximately)
Main Event: 800 meters	Main Event: 800 meters
Personal Best-  1:59:17	Personal Best- 2:01:06

If you look at how Tintu compares with the best NCAA (U.S college) 800 m runner for 2012, she is actually doing better in comparison and it is important to admire her for her achievement. Keep in mind that Tintu achieved her personal best at the age of 22 years old, that is the reason why I compared her to a 22 year old. Runners usually hit their prime running age after the age of 25 years old, and it is reasonable to assume that the best running days of Tintu are ahead of her. Improvements in running occur in a very progressive manner, and Usha certainly trains Tintu in a very conservative way by taking her in systematic progressions to beat her prior goals. 

Jessy Joseph:

Jessy Joesph	Hanna Meier (2013 Best high school 800 m runner)
Age: 17 years	Age: 17-18 years old
Main Event: 800 meters	Main Event: 800 meters
Personal Best-  2:09:39	Personal Best: 2:06:35

The best high school 800 m runner from the U.S in 2013 has a Personal Best which is about 3 seconds better than Jessy's Personal Best. It is a pretty big difference compared to the best US runner, but Jessy's personal best falls almost within the top 10 runners' time in the U.S high schools. So it is still a pretty impressive achievement. She is still super young and in the next five years if she works very hard she will certainly catch up to the best of the world. 

                                            Jessy Joseph before racing in Chennai in 2012

Shaharbana Sidhique:

Shaharbana Sidhique	Nia Donner (2013 Best High School 400m runner)
Age: 16 years	Age: 17-18 years
Main Event: 400 meters	Main Event: 400 meters
Personal Best-  57:31	Personal Best- 53:00

The best high school 400 m runner from the U.S in 2013 has a Personal Best which is about 4.5 seconds better than Shaharbana's Personal Best. I couldn't find a runner who was exactly 16 years to compare with, but we still get an idea of how Shaharbana compares with the best runner who is a bit older than her. I am sure over the next two years she will improve her time and we will be able to do a better comparison.

                                         Shaharbana is the person on the far left (no. 348)

The amazing work Usha and her athletes are doing:

These athletes have achieved all their personal bests while they didn't even have a synthetic track to train on. They didn't have the world class facilities nor did they have the best diet growing up, in fact Usha stated in interviews that Tintu's height and weight were that of a malnourished child before she was scouted by Usha. When you look at what they have to train with, where they have come from and what they are achieving it is amazing what they are achieving. They do have Usha by their side, she is a coach who really cares about their well being and takes care of them. Just for the fact that they have a coach like Usha, they do have to consider themselves partly lucky.

An interview of P.T Usha by SAP in 2011:

Part 1: Beware of the loud techno music at the beginning...

Part 2: 

Part 3:

Part 4: