Wednesday 15 August 2012

Olympics- A saga of sweat, blood, tears and victory

London Olympics was a pretty special one for me. Considering it's the first one i watched from start to end.

The opening ceremony was a true dedication to British life and culture, from the portrayal of old London during the Industrial Revolution to the journey of British music and culture portrayed by teenagers. And of course the entry of Her Majesty the Queen of England entering the second most famous personality from England other than Shakespeare , Bond , James Bond.

The final journey of the Olympic flame where finally it was lit to form an enormous cauldron by the future athletes of the world was truly special.

Then started the Olympics.

After an impressive medal haul (to our standards) last Olympics there was huge expectations from this time's contingent.

Oh the bane of every Indian athlete and sportspersons. Expectations.

It definitely did not start great by the archers and shooters disappointing . Even the top ones had a disappointing run in the Olympics.

But this was also the Olympics of the dark horses. Vijay Kumar and Gagan Narang came out of the shadow of their fellow athletes and performed brilliantly  Giving us a silver and bronze respectively.

In boxing unfortunately the men disappointed but the silver lining came in the shape of a woman by the name of MC Mary Kom who won the first bronze for India in women's boxing.

Saina Nehwal truly had the gods on her side when she won the bronze in badminton , proving to be a true inspiration to aspiring badminton players around the country.

But along with the victories , came the flip side of the coin who got lonely . Controversies.

The badminton players who were disqualified for 'not playing to their best efforts" to the athletes who failed the doping tests , to the appeal which overturned a victory for the Indian boxer , controversies came thick  and fast in the London Olympics.

When it comes to GBR, the stars of the day were Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis , Andy Murray most importantly who become overnight heroes to so many in their countries.

Usain Bolt proved he was the best winning the 100 and 200m race back to back and to add the cherry on the cake the 4 x 100 relay. whoo hoo!!

Michael Phelps just added another number of medals to his already considerable tally making it up to 26. Huh, what's ours again??

Hockey. Oh god the hockey. Nightmare of apocalyptic proportions. It was like watching ManU and Mna City last year where the Red Devils lost 6-1. Painful . Stroke worthy painful.

  Shed a tear . Moving on.

The wrestlers however the highlight of the evening before the closing ceremony with the bronze and the silver from Yogeshwar Dutt and Sushil Kumar respectively not only become highlights but also immediate icons for the country.

They shed blood, tears and sweat as they struggled to reach the pinnacle of sporting events. The coveted Olympic gold medal. Unfortunately it wasn't our year. But the medal tally truly is impressive.

Hopefully one day in summer 2016 we add one??...