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

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...

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-...

Forgiveness - Your Way Towards Peace

Forgiveness is a divine power, something that ordinary humans are not entitled to have. And, those who have this quality are more than 'a human'. One, who is free from materialistic desire and, most importantly, the ego, is blessed with such divine power. Whether it is of physical or mental strength, weak cannot forgive others. Forgiveness is always an attribute of strong people. It is a trait of a mature person having deep inner control over his mind. This strength cannot be bought, it has to be earned. But, how would you earn that? I think spirituality may be the answer. There are multiple benefits of forgiveness. It directly influences our thinking process. It sets you free from the negativity building around and boosts positive personality. It saves energy which can be redirected to do productive things. It is also the key to longevity and good health. But, how will you forgive someone who is not even sorry for their action? How will you respond to evil with kindn...

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 ...

Protecting Daughters from Gender Discrimination and Dowry System

What is dowry? Casually, some of us find this as a traditional custom of bribing the groom and their family by bride's parents to get rid of their daughter. Or some of us may consider this as buying of groom by bride's parents through a bidding process. We as a part of Indian society are infamous for dowry and its related offences. When a daughter is born, most of the Indian families don't find that joy a son could have given them. Some of them get depressed after finding out the gender of newborn baby. Having a daughter is a burden to them, mostly, because of the social phenomena like dowry. We make noise and protest against corruption. But we never go through its roots and make substantive changes to uproot it. What is the reason for the corrupt officials to take such risks? The dowry is not the "only" but a good and considerable reason to hoard money through corrupt practices. No media has more reach to our society than Bollywood movies. In the plethora of...

Gangubai - The Oldest but Youngest Sarpanch of Pune

Gangubai Nivrutte Bhambure gets up at 5 am to do household chores. She is a 94-year-young sarpanch of Bhamburwadi village and holds the distinction of becoming oldest sarpanch in Pune district. Gangubai believes in hard work. She says it's time to work for the people, her people, otherwise it's of no use of her becoming a sarpanch . She says she will not disappoint them who trusted and endowed her with the chair of the sarpanch . The first task would be to help farmers from seven villages who own 1000 hectares of land, but due to lack of water, they can't grow anything on it. According to Gangubai's grandsons, there is a canal less than 2km from these farms but they don't get a drop of water. The government had failed the people. Gangubai is keen to take PM's help in this matter and she is very optimistic that PM will respond to her request. She says that PM Narendra Modi is like her son and he will definitely help her and the farmers. Her other priorit...

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...

The Sunshine Within You

Search This Blog