Olympic Gold.....India's Quest!

Finally..we've(Indians) have managed to win an individual Olympic Gold Medal..in the games' 112 year history. Its amazing how this is the bloody first time we've ever achieved this feat. Here i am, in my earlier post, talking about Michael Phelps 8 Gold haul at one Olympic Games, and on the other side, we as a nation are basking in the glory of one, yea one Olympic Gold medal. Please do not get me wrong here. Am not, even for a moment, discounting the feat achieved by Abhinav Bindra. Hats off to him, he has done all of us proud.

My issue here is not with the fact that winning an Olympic Gold is not a mean feat, believe me it surely is. My question here is that where the hell is the infrastructure for aspiring sportspersons in our country? Why can't we encourage sport? Whats the deal with that? It really is F***ing frustrating that the country's administrators never wanna do any good for the country. Isn't that their job?.
Look at Great Britain (I never imagined i would be citing their example).They've been pumping a lot of money since the past 3-4 years, and the results are showing. They're sitting pretty at the number 3 slot in the overall medal tally. Ok, you might argue that Britain has always had better olympic pedigree than India. Agreed, but they've never been this successful. A few days back, i heard one of the correspondents on ESPN's sportcenter saying that all of Britain's success has come sitting down, in events like cycling and rowing. But ateast they've not been sitting on their backsides, like our administrators have been. They've delivered results.
The Chinese too, have come leaps and bounds in past 12-15 years. Their government has encouraged sport. They pick up athletes when they are young, and pay for their training/development. No wonder they've had athletes in every event and every discipline at the Beijing Games. In India, its pretty much the opposite. Abhinav Bindra success story is pretty much self made. He could train coz he could afford it. He has his own indoor shooting range. He did most of his training in germany as the government regulations in India did not allow him to import even 5 % of the ammunition required for an athlete to train and compete at an international level. How stupid is that? What i've realised is that administrators in our country try to make everything really uncomfortable for you and mind you, this not limited to just sport. (Harwant Kaur, an ace discus thrower, who qualified for the Beijing Games, has threatened to migrate to Australia as she has had no support from the administration).

Let's face it, we are a mediocre sporting nation and there is no way we can even dream of pitting ourselves against the mighty Chinese. They've delivered, not only in organising probably the best Olympic games, but also have topped the medal charts (looks highly unlikely anyone pipping them with 3 days left).

In two years' time, New Delhi will play host to the next edition of the Commonwealth Games. Will India be able to play a good host? It will be a major embarassment if these games turn out to be a failure. Not only organising them will be a major issue with the countless operational problems prevalent in our country, but are we expecting to finish the games with 2-3 medals? Put in some money people, protect our athletes....give them the support they need.

The only saving grace...the path to redemption can be...putting money where your mouth is...

Amen!!

Olympic Gold

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!!