- Finding out about our Olympic athletes once every 4 years and forgetting about them immediately afterwards?
- Not having seen any national championships even on television
- Having only seen tennis and cricket in the stadium
- No idea about the academies available for the sportspeople
- Being more aware of the NBA players, the Bolts of the world, Victoria Beckham, and Jolie's children than our athletes?
- Not being aware of the actual issues faced by them and even if aware, not doing anything about fixing the problems.
But wait, I can be congratulated for Vijender Kumar's victory. Since the other 2 boxers lost, I made sure I went back to the same lucky location to watch his bout and it worked :) My family has already poked holes in this theory, so all I will tell Mr. Gill, is I am not worthy of congrats for doing nothing.
That brings me to You (the fellow Indian readers of this blog): If you have played a part, do post it in the comments and accept my congrats :)
Lastly it brings me to the sports minister and other officials. I am sure they must have played some part, though it is not clear what policy they have modified to make this turn around or their plan ahead. And if they are so willing to share the glory of the athletes, I am sure they must be equally willing to share the blame and take the main responsibility for say, the less than stellar performance of the track and field athletes or for sending a small contingent? Ah, but the blue moon will be more likely.
12 comments:
I congratulate you for congratulating yourself.:)
ottayan,
atleast for coming up with the vaguest possible reason - I should be congratulated :)
we all should be congratulated coz we have been patiently bearing cricket news coming on back pages since olympics begun...
sp: the cricketers must be thanking Bindra and co, because their poor performance in SL is going under the radar :)
RS is said it as black humor... :)
got it :)
we're becoming a nation of goons - only the wrestlers, boxers and shooters are winning medals. time now for the gentlemen to fire.
sumit - I have been trying to find a pattern as well:
China: sports that require tons of practice like gymnastics, diving (of course now they are like the US - good in lots of events)
Ethiopia: endurance sports esp. running
Jamaicans: sprints
India: I thought we could say sports requiring skill - but goons is scary :)
RS,
Categorizing countries according to their strength in Olympics is simplistic and will end up being a caricature.
Also remember we have won more Olympic gold in hockey.
Wonder what that says about us? :)
ottayan:
not meant seriously and you are right it is too simple :)
however there must be something that makes the Africans good at long distance running - is it that the first person that did well inspired others to take it up, is it that the unit is the best managed of the other options available to those countries? is it because there is no other option and they are used to the hard work?
not sure what hockey says about us - it was in different era :)
The success of the Africans in long distance running is attributed to their physique. Essentially, their body is such that their muscles can store more oxygen. ( I am writing from memory - I may be wrong.)
Our success or lack of it in hockey is basically due to the fact that we failed to stop the Europeans from changing the ground rules. Simply put they brought in astro-turf which suits their robust physique.
I leave you to draw your own conclusions to what this means? :)
ottayan,
Where is our niche then? On hockey, isn't that simply the way of the world? Keeping up with changes and advancements is a must?
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