Dawn Fraser, Australian swimmer, 3-time winner of Olympic Games:
" The Olympics remain the most compelling search for excellence that exists in sport, and maybe in life itself. "
As the curtains rise for the Beijing Olympics, the attention of the whole world will be on the 10,500 athletes from all over the globe, who will be competing for 302 gold medals in 28 different disciplines. Just like Dawn Fraser, the whole sports community of the world thinks that the Olympics are the ultimate test of a sport person's ability to search for that excellence and that drive hidden inside him. As the games begin with the competitions today, USA and China are expected to fight for the top honors at the games. Will China be able to displace USA as the sporting powerhouse of the world, come august 26th and we'll know. For the time being, lets sit back and enjoy this spectacle that's unfolding.
So where does India stand? As always the question is, are we going go win any medal at the Olympics? I know most of us are now habitual of seeing our athletes coming empty handed and only hope for next games every time. But when all the world is dreaming of winning an Olympic medal, why are we, the Indians have all the nightmares regarding the Olympic medal drought?
Are the athletes to be blamed or the authorities ??
Our country predominantly is not as good in sports as compared to even many smaller countries like say, Cuba or a Portugal etc.. The system in our country encourages children to drop sports and take up education more seriously even if the child is better at the sports. Our infrastructure is in shambles.A country like Portugal has 1800+ football grounds, Netherlands has 2000+ hockey fields. We, the hockey superpower of the past is not even in Olympics this time around !
The governing bodies of different sports are in ruins. Athletes are ignorant about different drugs that lead to doping scandals very often in Indian sports. Shooters, who are our pride, cant' even train in their own country because their are no standard shooting ranges in India for them to practice ! The state of Indian sports is not very good, esp when we consider that Delhi is going to host Commonwealth Games in 2010 and it aspires to host 2020 Olympics.
And then our 1 billion plus population expects these athletes to match with the best and those who have access to all the best facilities in the world. That's just asking too much of them. We unduly pressurize them. This time around, we have 56 athletes and as i write this 2 shooters and 1 judoka is already out of compt.
But all is not lost. These athletes represent our country. They are our pride and we should stand by them even if they fail to win any medals. Heroes have emerged for India at the Olympics. R.Rathore, Leander Paes, Malleshwari, Milkha Singh, Limba Ram, PT Usha, Dhyan Chand and our hockey team which has 8 gold medals out of total 17 ever won by Indians !
Many dont even know, our football team qualified for the World Cup 1952o but could not participate because they did not want to abide by rule of wearing shoes to play the game ! And they also finished 4th at the 1956 Olympics.
Or we can also say India is unlucky. Yes, the sports like billiards, snooker and Chess, even cricket, where we are the world champions and unbeatable are not part of Olympics, which is sad.
So we should know our athletes have it in them. Our authorities must wake up from their slumber and get going.We still have time for next Olympics or 2016 Olympics
As for these games, lets hope that our dream does not gets transformed in to a nightmare and we are able to win hearts if not medals at these games. May God be with our athletes and so does our countrymen.
The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.
Pierre de Coubertin
" The Olympics remain the most compelling search for excellence that exists in sport, and maybe in life itself. "
As the curtains rise for the Beijing Olympics, the attention of the whole world will be on the 10,500 athletes from all over the globe, who will be competing for 302 gold medals in 28 different disciplines. Just like Dawn Fraser, the whole sports community of the world thinks that the Olympics are the ultimate test of a sport person's ability to search for that excellence and that drive hidden inside him. As the games begin with the competitions today, USA and China are expected to fight for the top honors at the games. Will China be able to displace USA as the sporting powerhouse of the world, come august 26th and we'll know. For the time being, lets sit back and enjoy this spectacle that's unfolding.
So where does India stand? As always the question is, are we going go win any medal at the Olympics? I know most of us are now habitual of seeing our athletes coming empty handed and only hope for next games every time. But when all the world is dreaming of winning an Olympic medal, why are we, the Indians have all the nightmares regarding the Olympic medal drought?
Are the athletes to be blamed or the authorities ??
Our country predominantly is not as good in sports as compared to even many smaller countries like say, Cuba or a Portugal etc.. The system in our country encourages children to drop sports and take up education more seriously even if the child is better at the sports. Our infrastructure is in shambles.A country like Portugal has 1800+ football grounds, Netherlands has 2000+ hockey fields. We, the hockey superpower of the past is not even in Olympics this time around !
The governing bodies of different sports are in ruins. Athletes are ignorant about different drugs that lead to doping scandals very often in Indian sports. Shooters, who are our pride, cant' even train in their own country because their are no standard shooting ranges in India for them to practice ! The state of Indian sports is not very good, esp when we consider that Delhi is going to host Commonwealth Games in 2010 and it aspires to host 2020 Olympics.
And then our 1 billion plus population expects these athletes to match with the best and those who have access to all the best facilities in the world. That's just asking too much of them. We unduly pressurize them. This time around, we have 56 athletes and as i write this 2 shooters and 1 judoka is already out of compt.
But all is not lost. These athletes represent our country. They are our pride and we should stand by them even if they fail to win any medals. Heroes have emerged for India at the Olympics. R.Rathore, Leander Paes, Malleshwari, Milkha Singh, Limba Ram, PT Usha, Dhyan Chand and our hockey team which has 8 gold medals out of total 17 ever won by Indians !
Many dont even know, our football team qualified for the World Cup 1952o but could not participate because they did not want to abide by rule of wearing shoes to play the game ! And they also finished 4th at the 1956 Olympics.
Or we can also say India is unlucky. Yes, the sports like billiards, snooker and Chess, even cricket, where we are the world champions and unbeatable are not part of Olympics, which is sad.
So we should know our athletes have it in them. Our authorities must wake up from their slumber and get going.We still have time for next Olympics or 2016 Olympics
As for these games, lets hope that our dream does not gets transformed in to a nightmare and we are able to win hearts if not medals at these games. May God be with our athletes and so does our countrymen.
The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.
Pierre de Coubertin
1 comment:
good one, dude.
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