But we are still not done with shooting’s complexities at the Olympics. As the Indian shooters will know only too well, Olympic records and world records are not to be uttered in the same breath. Olympic records, points out Sunny Thomas, manager for the Indian shooting squad, are inevitably less than world records. The tension, he says in the course of a long morning’s practice session, is just so high at the Olympics.

So it could be that while Bhagwat has been ranked first in the world once in the 10m air rifle, she has not yet been able to convert that experience into an Olympic medal. This time may be different, she says. “This is my third Olympics.”

Along with archery, shooting is a game of extreme concentration and calls for the capacity for focused stillness. It’s the kind of concentration, says Bhagwat, that cannot be maintained in “day-to-day” life. Yoga helps. So does physical fitness, though that, she argues, is not a main requirement for a competition that can draw in serious bids by fiftysomethings. In the end, “personality talks”. Then there are the accessories. For instance, the jacket to make for easier movement. There are rules for stiffness and thickness, within which shooters like her must customise to provide for adequate support and balance.

But most of all what counts on the day is the ability to control one’s nerves. Even a pulse, Bhagwat points out, could ruin things. For a fraction of a second, she says, one has to be absolutely still.

... contd.