A Shot At History : My Obsessive Journey To Olympic Gold

He is a perfectionist, who once soled his shoes with rubber from Ferrari tyres because he thought it would help.

He would wake up at 3 am. to practice at his range at home if an idea suddenly struck him.

It is from such an incredible obsession that greatness arrives. But Abhinav Bindra's journey to become the first Indian to win an individual Olympic gold, and the first Indian to win a World Championship gold, is far more than that.

It is a triumph born of a tragedy. Having driven himself to become a great shooter, he was poised to win gold at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

But defeated by a freak occurrence, he changed as a shooter: from a boy who loved shooting, he became an athlete bent on redemption, becoming a scientist who would try anything, including mapping his own brain, to win in Beijing.