Indian Olympians In Their Pursuit Of Gold

In the Olympics, Gold medal is something which is glorified and celebrated from its intrinsic value as only the top performers of their relevant sports get to hold it. Every Olympian sees gold in their fantasy while getting trained for a particular sport. In case they miss it, they need to wait for years to reattempt and compete for the top position with the young entrants of the world. That must be exhaustive and tiring task. Four years only sounds small interval. However, only those who are mentally strong can wait, train and compete again. It's certainly not a child's play.

Never before has the Indians took so much interest in sports such as Javelin throw. The cricket loving nation was mapping the distance of Javelin thrown by Neeraj Chopra with great enthusiasm. Because for the nation lacking Olympics gold medal, Neeraj was the last hope of securing it.

23-year-old Neeraj Chopra was born in an agricultural family in Panipat, Haryana. The Javelin thrower, in his childhood, was quite obese and was repeatedly teased by local kids. That's why Chopra's father enrolled him in a gymnasium. Later, he also visited the nearby Panipat Sports Authority of India centre, where javelin thrower Jaiveer Choudhary recognized his early talent as Chopra was able to achieve a 40-metre throw without training. Choudhary encouraged him to pursue this sport and became his first coach. From there, he started his golden journey.

13 years ago in 2008, Abhinav Bindra ended India's long quest for a solo gold medal in the 10m air rifle event at the Beijing Olympics. Bindra, born in 1982 in Dehradun in a Punjabi family, began his journey by taking inspiration from the shooters he saw on television. He was determined to train with the best possible facilities, which were then not available in India, he had to train for prolonged periods in Germany. He didn't win any medal in his debut. He was only 15 when he entered 2000 Olympics in Sydney as youngest Indian to qualify for Olympics. Even at the 2004 Olympics Athens, he qualified for the final as a serious medal contender, but ended up firing worse shots and had to come back without any medal. The pressure was real. But in the next Olympics at Beijing, he took a shot at history.

Abhinav, who was feeling lonely in the exclusive gold club for last 13 years, has now got another member to join his club. He congratulated Neeraj in his letter, expressed his joy and welcomed him in the club.

Is it the beginning of India's golden sports legacy? Not sure. The Tokyo Olympics was the best ever when we make a comparison with our past performances. We should definitely celebrate our sportsperson but shouldn't be satisfied and become complacent. We need our sports fraternity to excel in their game which would be automatically reflected in the medal tally.

There have been only two individual gold medalists so far who represented India in the Olympics. Of course, the silver medal winners also pursue for gold but stumble just before reaching there. They do achieve appreciation and rewards, however, history forgets them in the long run. That's why gold remains to be gold — Pure and irreplaceable.

Comments

Why Religion Should Not Be Downplayed

When you were a child and your parents told you stories about god, you listened to that with great curiosity and excitement, but as you grow older and started seeing everything with the rational eye of science, you realise that it was a lie, and so every religious event and ritual appears to you as an act of stupidity. Still, you keep worshipping the men or women whom you were told to worship as Gods. Why? Have you considered what is the significance of religion? Religion teaches us that God has created this universe and he is running it in his own way. The Sun, The Moon, Stars, Planets, Living creatures — bacteria, viruses, plants, animals, humans are all the creation of God. We are just doing things ordained by him. It may appear that we are influencing things, but the reality is we, ourselves, are influenced by some heavenly forces. Indians, especially Hindus, are obsessed with rituals and other religious activities like holding fast and going to temple. Some of ...

The Odd Even Result

In the first 15 days of January, Delhites have gone through, a much-hyped, odd even formula . They were overwhelmed by the desire to secure the future of next generation as they were told about. That may be the reason why they have obeyed the rule without moving toward Jantar Mantar in protest. The idea was not innovative but taken from Beijing which also depleted its air quality to the extremes. But it seems that the scheme was imported only for his political campaign of a man called Kejriwal. Perhaps it is the only major work done by Kejriwal's government apart from blaming the centre and his neighbour for obstructing in the Delhi government's endeavour. And that is why they are so touchy about this scheme. With the completion of the odd even trial , Delhi government, without wasting time, claimed that it has successfully reduced the air pollution level in Delhi. But, there is no credible data to back this claim. The Hindu The idea to exempt women drivers and two-...

India Learning To Live With Air Pollution

After Diwali came the inevitable cloud of smog in Delhi. The fact that smog is going to arrive any moment was known to every single person living in Delhi, just the intensity of this smog was a bit surprising. And why not? The toxicity of air was 14-16 times more than the safe limit. The PM 2.5 level skyrocketed making people vulnerable to various respiratory problems. Usually when the smog checks in, a translucent greyish layer of air cover the city. But this winter, this layer was quite thick, almost opaque. As this year's smog came right after Diwali, a number of people directly blamed Diwali's crackers for it. On the other hand, some remain critical of the farmers of Punjab and Haryana who burned their paddy releasing poisonous gases in the air that reached Delhi through the wind. While both burning crackers or crops fairly invite criticism not because they polluted the air but because these actions could have been avoided or minimized. Diwali is celebrated everywhe...

Bihar Liquor Ban - The Political Perspective

Whether you call it Nitish Kumar's masterstroke for gaining publicity and support of people or a responsible chief minister batting for people's interests, on the face of it, it is great that Bihar is free from alcohol abuse. The Bihar excise (amendment) act, 2016 – a very old 1915 act has been converted into a very stringent law – is haunting the alcohol gang of Bihar. This law banned manufacturing, selling or consumption of liquors (strong or mild) and even prescribes the death penalty for the manufacturer, suppliers and sellers of hooch in case of death as a result of consumption of spurious liquors. Although Biharis can drink outside state boundary, they'll be punished if they create nuisance after returning home. The government had actually proposed to ban only 'desi' liquors. The sale of non-country or ‘Indian Made Foreign Liquor’ (IMFL) was allowed, although, with some caveats. However, within five days, the government extended the ban to IMFL as w...

JNU - A Vision of Modern Democratic India

Through the ongoing controversy what we need to understand is that ours is a young nation still in the making which has all the ingredients to become truly a great nation, but it needs time. Give this nation that time, that gestation period and it will show the world the true meaning of greatness, one which is home to a complete spectrum of diverse culture but still thrives together with immeasurable amount of tolerance which has never been experienced anywhere else (this holds for the common citizens of India but unfortunately not for the practitioners of divisive vote-bank politics which they don’t find anti-national). Every powerful nation that exists today has gone through some sort of civil war which led to enormous violence and bloodshed. We too have our share of challenges; be it the Kashmir issue, Nagaland or Naxalism; but we have the opportunity to show the world that we can do it in a better way without any bloodshed. It is that unity in diversity that is the soul of ...

Nuclear Friction - Are We Moving Towards Nuclear Doomsday?

It was a moment of joy for the North Koreans when they heard the news that North Korea has successfully tested H-bomb on January 6th and thus “guaranteed the eternal future of the nation”. But it was also a shocking and despairing moment for others. Followed by the claim, came the condemnation from most other countries of the world including US, Japan, South Korea, and even China (supposed friend of N. Korea). But it was not unexpected that the North Koreans will do a further nuke test after the three previous ones in 2006, 2009 and 2013. But nobody on this earth, or even in space, thought that they would be able to do an H-bomb test. It was a second nuclear test only in four years during the rule of Kim Jong Un, the young head of the mafia family that controls North Korea is a sobering reminder of the progress that three generations of Kims have made in expanding their nuclear capability—despite outside efforts to curb it. Few think that North Korea has yet managed t...

Anatomy Of Suicidal Propensity And Life's Purpose

I don't know whether committing suicide is a courageous or cowardly act. And I think, taking a specific side here would be unfair. During evolution, our thinking power enabled us to survive. But, it has also provided us an option to end a messed up life. Suicide is a very serious psychological and philosophical problem that modern humans are facing today. Legally, it is a crime. Religion, too, never permitted this act. And, as a society, we don't want people to do it. To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep— But, when life becomes miserable, why would one let one's mind to suffer, when there is an option of suicide to attain peace? Why is everyone against suicide? Probably because, suicide is the violation of human survival interest. We are an adapting species and always believe tha...

The Sunshine Within You

Search This Blog