![\"\u2018This](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-130328406,imgsize-113242,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/130328406.jpg\" "\\"Lokesh")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThere is a dialogue from the popular Kannada film \u2018K.G.F: Chapter 2\u2019 that Lokesh Sathyanathan remembers vividly. It is the moment when the protagonist, in essence, tells his mother, \u201cThis is what you dreamed. This is what I am going to conquer.\u201d\u201cI always relate to that scene,\u201d Lokesh tells Timesofindia.com from Texas. \u201cThe way he carries the love and the emotion for what his mother did for him. That one word he wanted to hear from her – when I think about it, it gives me goosebumps.\u201dOn a tight NCAA night in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Lokesh Sathyanathan jumped 8.21m. That leap bettered his own indoor national record of 8.01m and, more importantly, he became only the fourth Indian ever to win an NCAA Division I title. Also, the distance pushed him to third on the all\u2011time Indian long jump list behind established names Jeswin Aldrin and Murali Sreeshankar<\/a>. However, behind that win stood years of injury, loss, and a belief shaped by his mother\u2019s words and his father\u2019s strength.<\/p>\n Lokesh, a Health Science undergraduate at Tarleton State University, moved to the USA in 2022 in pursuit of a dream that had already weathered its fair share of roadblocks.Before the US\u2011bound flights and college tracks, there was a serious accident in Bengaluru that left him with major facial injuries. Then came a freak injury in a gym in Louisville: a teammate dropped weights on his left leg, fracturing the big toe on his take\u2011off foot. He had to undergo two surgeries, the second one requiring him to travel back to India. <\/p>\n Watch<\/span><\/p>\n Jay Shah\u2019s 2036 Olympic blueprint for India: ‘8 Medals won\u2019t cut it’<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt was not a great year in Louisville,\u201d remembers Lokesh. \u201cI had to go through two surgeries because of that unfortunate incident. That\u2019s when Reliance Foundation stepped in, supporting me through the rehabilitation and my return to the US.\u201dWhen he came back, he transferred to Tarleton State University to train under Bobby Carter, the head coach who specialises in jumps. \u201cHe is the most humble and kind person I\u2019ve met,\u201d Lokesh says. \u201cHe genuinely cares. I feel he\u2019s one of my closest friends.\u201dCarter\u2019s coaching, the Reliance\u2011supported high\u2011performance environment, and the steady belief of his family stitched together the next chapter of his journey.<\/p>\n But, even before the surgeries and the setbacks, there had been a deeper scar. His mother\u2019s passing had left him not just without a parent, but without the anchor he had always spoken dreams to. \u201cI always used to say to my mom, once I\u2019m here, I\u2019ll take you out there,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ll show you the life, the American life, everything. I\u2019ll take you around.\u201dWhen he jumped 8.21m in Fayetteville, Lokesh looked up. \u201cI knew she would have had happy tears,\u201d he says. \u201cI was looking up to the sky, but it wasn\u2019t just the sky. It was thanking God and my mom. I know they are in the same place, guiding me.\u201dLokesh remembers his mother\u2019s last words as a firm expectation. \u201cShe never asked me for anything big,\u201d says Lokesh. \u201cAll she wanted was for me to be great out there. When I remember her face, her smile, and the last thing she said, it just makes me feel, \u2018Let\u2019s go.\u2019 If that\u2019s what my mom wanted, and that\u2019s what my dad wants, then that\u2019s what I\u2019m going for.\u201dBut for Lokesh, as much as the grief is part of his story, he has turned it into a yardstick by which he measures his own discipline.<\/p>\n Lokesh\u2019s father once wanted to be a footballer, but had no support, no structure, no system. He later became a taxi driver for 10 – 15 years, driving late into the night, coming home, and then taking his son to training the next morning.Even now, at 51, he plays regular 90\u2011minute matches. The physical toll that would break most men is, for him, routine. \u201cThat man had nothing,\u201d Lokesh says in awe. \u201cHe didn\u2019t get what he wanted. But the love and passion he has for sport, he still goes out there and plays.\u201dSix months before the NCAA title, his father lost his own mother, Paranjyothi. Weeks later, he was still telling Lokesh, \u201cDon\u2019t worry about anything. I\u2019m here. Just believe and keep going.\u201d\u201cIt sounds simple,\u201d Lokesh says. \u201cBut when you have lost your wife, and then your own mother, and you\u2019re still telling your son to keep going, that\u2019s not simple. That\u2019s a strength. If he can do that, I have no excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n Lokesh also has had to fight his own battles. \u201cI have mental health issues, anxieties,\u201d he admits plainly. \u201cAfter the accident in Bengaluru, after the surgeries, I wondered if I was still good enough to be on the NCAA circuit.\u201dHis mother\u2019s words, in that phase, came repeatedly as a reminder. \u201cShe always pushed me to dream big,\u201d he says. \u201cEven when I was down, she would say, \u2018You have the talent. You just have to believe.\u2019\u201dThat belief, once internalised, became his own. He now works regularly with a sports psychologist in the US, treating his mental conditioning with the same seriousness as his physical training. \u201cWe athletes are 100% prepared physically,\u201d he says. \u201cBut the results come from the mental game. That\u2019s what I\u2019m improving.\u201dHe compares his own path to Neeraj Chopra<\/a>. \u201cNo one reaches that level without struggles,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s normal. It depends on how you carry yourself through those phases.\u201d<\/p>\n On paper, Lokesh\u2019s 8.21m jump is a record. In the Indian context, it was a statement; the night he won, he did not extend the celebration. \u201cThe next day, I woke up, and it was like, okay, I did it,\u201d says Lokesh when asked about the feeling after the win. \u201cI know I won the title. But now it\u2019s next. The next day, I started my training and flush and everything. The feeling was great. It was amazing. I was grateful and thankful to God. But I never let it stop the process.\u201dAs for his father, watching from India at 5.30 AM, he had tear\u2011filled eyes. \u201cHe gave me a flying kiss,\u201d Lokesh says. \u201cMy aunt was crying in the background. I didn\u2019t stop them. I knew those were happy tears.\u201dWhen asked what jumping means to him beyond sport, he was direct. \u201cJumping is my identity. I was born Lokesh Sathyanathan. Today, I am known as Lokesh Sathyanathan, an international long jumper. That is my purpose. I am working for God\u2019s purpose and for his will.\u201d<\/p>\n Poll<\/p>\n How important do you think mental health is in sports performance?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There is no bluster in the way he says it; it is more of a man who has learned, through loss and injury. On the scoreboard, it might read 8.21m, but for Lokesh Sathyanathan, it reads something else: \u201cThis is what my mother wanted.\u201d<\/div>\nThe Road to Fayetteville<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
The Promise He Keeps to His Mother<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
His Father\u2019s Support<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
The Mental Game After Loss and Injury<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Discipline After the Celebration<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n