When Shiny Wilson swaggered into an imposing Barcelona stadium during the opening ceremony of the 1992 Olympics, the capacity crowd couldn’t believe their eyes.

Not many would have expected a woman in a sari leading the contingent and holding the tri-colour. Shiny was not just a woman, she was also a mother of a one-year-old girl then. It took almost a century to find a woman flag-bearer in India’s Olympic history which dates back to 1900.

“As far as I remember, there were only a few women flag-bearers in 1992. And one of them coming from India was a big surprise for the crowd. A lot of foreign athletes congratulated me and clicked photographs with me,” recalled Shiny.

The mere mention of the Barcelona Games triggers the memory of the Dream Team — the American basketball team that created fan hysteria for their authoritative show in the Spanish city. But Shiny was soaking in her own stardom.

“I was named captain of the Indian contingent which had the likes of tennis star Ramesh Krishnan, archery ace Limba Ram and hockey skipper Pargat Singh. Usha had to miss the Games because of an injury and Bahadur Prasad was the only other athlete taking part in the 5000m,” said Shiny, who broke the 800m national record in the heat, clocking 2m:19s. But it was not enough to reach the semifinals.

It’s the ultimate dream of any athlete to represent the country at the Olympics and for Shiny the opportunity came early. She was just 18 when she made her Games debut at Los Angeles in 1984 and went on to appear in three more editions consecutively.

“It was my performance at a national meet that fetched a ticket to LA. I came out with a 2m:49s performance in the 800 metres that turned out to be an Asian record,” said Shiny, who now works with the Food Corporation of India as general manager.

Shiny began the long journey to the US with her 4x400m relay teammates Usha, M.D. Valsamma and Vandana Rao. “I was so restless and couldn’t wait to see the Games Village, because everybody was raving about the facilities available there. It was, indeed, mindboggling and bumping into Carl Lewis was a memorable moment,” said Shiny.

Since the day Shiny qualified for the Olympics, national coach Joginder Singh somehow had the feeling that his trainee would better her timing. “He kept telling me that I could easily improve it in the Games and it really boosted my confidence,” Shiny said.

Shiny didn’t disappoint her coach. In the heat, she clocked 2m:46s and when Shiny crossed the line little did she know that she was the first Indian woman to make it to the semifinals. “All I remember was a bunch of Kerala journalists running towards me to reveal the unique feat. It was surreal,” said Shiny, who failed to progress further.

Shiny was part of another historic achievement at Los Angeles. The Indian 4x400m relay team surprised pundits by reaching the final.

“We finished fourth in our heat, but our timing of 3m:33.85s helped us qualify, edging out Puerto Rico, Antigua-Barbados and Ghana. In the final, we could only finish last, but our improved timing of 3m:32.49s became an Asian record,” Shiny said.

The American journey has given Shiny a lot of sweet memories to cherish, but she is still not able to digest the fact that her friend Usha missed the 400m hurdles bronze by one-hundredth of a second.

“Actually we were expecting Usha to win at least silver after she won the semifinal heat, beating American Judi Brown (eventual silver medallist). When athletes crossed the finish line, actually the Indian contingent started celebrating thinking Usha had finished third. But the photo-finish said otherwise. She was inconsolable. Had Usha won bronze, it would have changed the profile of athletics in the country,” said Shiny. Nawal El Moutawakel won the inaugural 400m hurdles event and the Moroccan thus became the first Muslim woman champion at the Olympics.