The Pinnacle of Sport...As any sportsperson would dream...The Olympic Gold remains 'THE' mountain to climb. Representing your nation at the biggest stage, stepping onto that podium, with the national anthem playing at the back, can be enough for even the strongest to show that 'bit' of emotion. Olympic champions are always remembered as the greatest the game has ever seen. No wonder, the Olympic games bring out the best in the athletes. Names like Nadia Comeneci, first person to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics at the 1976 Montreal olympics, Carl Lewis, Paavo Nurmi, Mark Spitz and the latest sensation Michael Phelps. These are legends in their own rights.
Its incredible that Michael Phelps has won 8 gold medals at this year's Beijing Olympics. Its unprecedented, its phenomenal. Considering he's just 23, his best years are still to come. Am sure critcs must be advocating the fact that he's won them all in the pool, but can THEY do it then.
What about the final of the 100 metres sprint? I've never seen someone run like that. Usain Bolt won that race by around 4 meters and he was celebrating for the last 10; Yet he still managed to set a new world record, saving his best performance for that very race.
I don't know if the name Shun Fujimoto will ring any bells. He represented Japan at the 1976 summer Olympics in Gymnastics. He broke his knee in the individual floor exercise, but still went to compete in the team event. His performances helped Japan win the Team event, beating the Soviet Union. Whats more incredible is the fact that he had to dismount from a height of 8 feet and land on his feet, which he did with a broken knee. That routine made his injury even worse, his ligaments got ruptured and he disclocated his knee cap. But he did help his nation win the 'Olympic Gold'. There are countless number of these stories, of courage, of raising the bar, of emotion.
Jesse Owens, a black American athlete won 4 gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics at a time when racial discrimination and Adolf Hitler were at their peak. Hitler was adamant on proving the 'Aryan' superiority to the world. To prove his point, he ordered the Olympic officials to keep disqualifying Owens in his quest for the Long Jump Gold. But Owens, after a friendly advise from a rival German Athlete, jumped almost a foot before the jumping board and still managed to win the Olympic Gold.
Olympics are the Mount Everest of Sport (maybe even higher), every sportsperson dream.
Am very passionate about sport, hence i feel very strongly about the Olympic Gold. I think you can only respect and admire the achievements of Olympians; their passion remains unmatched, the courage remains unbaffled.
All Rise Please!!
4 comments:
Well, critics are supposed to analyze & make well thought out remarks, not demonstrate the stuff they write about or have an opinion on. At least the dictionary meaning is "a person who judges, evaluates, or analyzes". A good critic is one who can back his critique with examples and logic.
As regards Phelps being the greatest Olympian, I couldn't disagree more. IMHO, he's probably the best swimmer ever, but certainly not the greatest olympian.
Just my two cents...
http://mayankarya.blogspot.com/2008/08/is-michael-phelps-really-greatest.html
Mayank, i totally agree with the fact that critics are meant to analyse and etc...i don't think there would be too many who can be critical of Phelps' achievements. I know its a little too soon to consider him as the greatest olympian ever, but i think he's getting there.
Its not his fault that all his medals have come in the pool; c'mon thats what he's good at. It goes for any athlete for that matter, they win coz they're better than the rest of the field.
This is quite a debatable topic, i do somewhat agree with you that its still early to classify Phelps' as the greatest olympian ever, but his achievements are unmatched!!
But good food for thought from you....
Samrat, I totally agree with you here : No doubt his achievements are unmatched and the fact that he's getting there, the pinnacle of sports id est.
Also I think he's getting flak for the fact he's been touted as the greatest Olympian of all time stems from the sheer disbelief about his prowess and achievements; and probably some sort of envy on the part of "critics"!
:)
Nice post by the way!
p.s. - This comment should be attributed to me. I didn't know when I hit the "publish comment" button, Rashmi was logged into google!!
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