Well,The Olympics began in ancient Greece as a contest between individuals , not between countries, though this fact seems to have been mostly forgotten. Somewhere in the modern era, the idea of countries competing in the Olympics came into being and the athletes found themselves playing the part of surrogate soldiers. In times of political tension, winning at the Olympics became a symbol of national pride and the medals table became the scoreboard. The pressures of winning for one’s country have led to all manner of abuses. When the Olympics were restricted to amateurs, the Russia circumvented the rules by packing their teams with armymen and ’students’ some of them 30 years old.Later, the East German swimmers took to steroids in a big way with their ‘ win at all costs’ approach. In diving and gymnastics events, the judges often voted according to their Cold War affiliations rather than what they saw in the pool or on the mat. To be sure, some steroid users did what they did for individual gold but several of the transgressors did so because of their countries’ ambitions and with the active connivance of their national sports organizations.
A true sports fan doesn’t care which country sits atop the medals table. Let China and the United States both claim ‘victory’. A real sports lover will revel in the performances of individuals regardless of the country to which he belongs. He will appreciate the grit and determination of Michael Phelps, the utter domination of Usain Bolt, the discipline and artistry of the divers and gymnasts( all of them) and he will also spare a thought for those who struggled against insurmountable odds merely in order to compete.
The Beijing Olympic Games, which just ended Sunday, seem to have spawned a controversy regarding which country ‘won ‘ . China was comfotably ahead in gold medals ( 51 to 36) while the United States had more total medals ( 110 to 101). This has never happened before ; until now , the country winning the most medals also had the most gold medals. The situation is similar to the U.S Presidential election where it is possible for one candidate to win the popular vote while the other wins on the basis of electoral votes.
Thus, China can claim ‘victory’ at Beijing on the basis of most gold medals. That is the way the medals table has been set up in the past. They can also claim that gold is the only medal that matters, the silver and bronze are only consolation prizes for the ‘losers’. American sports fans will say ‘ Not so fast! If siver and bronze have no meaning, why award them at all? They do have meaning and the nation that wins more total medals is #1.”
Both positions have some merit and , on the other hand, neither has any merit.
To any true sports fan, the idea of the Olympic Medals table and of a country, any country, ‘winning’ the Olympics is pure anathema.
Well, the 2008 Summer Olympics come to a close today. It’s been a unique journey.First of all, the day the games began, Russia and Georgia had spiraled fast into a state of war, shocking the entire world.Next, we had the bad weather in Beijing, and the murder of an American tourist by a Chinese citizen. The violence didn’t stop there, as we’ve seen yesterday the Cuban taekwondo contender kicking a judge in the head!As for the winners, it’s been the time of their lives for Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, breaking several astounding records and demonstrating the ingenuity of the human spirit and body. On the Israeli front, Shahar Tzuberi made us all proud with his bronze medal in windsurfing, and rhythmic gymnast Irina Risenzon raised our hopes by making it to the final round.
Nevertheless, the big winners are no doubt the Chinese. They have gained many gold medals, but no less importantly, they’re enjoying the warm embrace of the West despite their failure to improve their human rights record or their environmental attitude. Yesterday they even had the audacity to block the iTunes service within the whole of China, because several guest Olympic athletes downloaded Tibetan protest music via Apple’s internet store. And they do it even before the closing ceremony.The next summer show will take place in London 4 years from now, but I’m sure plenty water will flow under the bridge by then.
It was my turn last week to set the Violet’s pantry challenge and it was quite a job to know what to choose so I went with my trusted old favourites, the ones that I make again and again. One of them was this chicken recipe, that I ripped out of the Listener a few years ago. It is by Lois Daish, who used to be the food columnist for the Listener. I used to look forward to her column every week and I really enjoy her style of cooking. This recipe has taken quite a bit of fiddling with to get right, I found the original recipe produced too much liquid and have since taken to pouring the liquid off about 3/4 of the way through cooking to get the potatoes and chicken crispier. The dish is finished with gremolata- parsley, garlic and lemon zest- it is this little flourish that makes this dish really delicious. This is a homely favourite that my kids really enjoy, and is the kind of meal that is able to be contracted or expanded depending on how many are eating, as it is a very quick and easy dish to prepare and cook. I served this with steamed broccoli and carrots.
Emilio, son of 1972 Munich Games gold medallist Emilio Correa Vaillant, was precise with his blows. He did not resort to wild arm swinging or uppercuts but relied mostly on straight punches, which paid him rich dividends.Clearly the faster of the two, Emilio led 3-0 early in the second round and though a desperate Vijender managed to reduce the gap to 4-3 by the end of the round, the Cuban proved his superiority again in the lop-sided third round that virtually sealed the fate of the bout.Once he went 3-0 ahead, a comeback was always difficult. I tried my best and reduced the gap in the second round but could not really pull it off,” a dejected Vijender said after the bout.
“I’m very upset and want to say sorry to all for I could not win the bout. But I promise to come back in 2012 Olympics and beat this guy and win gold,” Vijender added.“I had prepared well for his right punches but his left proved equally strong and I often had no answer to that,” Vijender said of his opponent, whose tactical superiority was evident as he hit the Indian before backpedaling fast.Vijender could not score any point in the first and third rounds and even in the final phase, he got two penalty points after the Cuban had pushed him.The Haryana lad was still happy to have won India’s first boxing medal and said, “I believe, boxing will see better days in India. We made good progress in the sport and it showed here.”
Coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu was not too unhappy either.
“I’m happy that at least we finished with an Olympic medal, it was a breakthrough for us. For the first time, three Indian boxers reached the quarterfinals. We have shown what we are capable of and the whole world is now watching us,” Sandhu added.
Vijender could not be the alchemist and turn his bronze into gold but on Friday’s semifinal defeat could not deny him the honour of being India’s first Olympic medal winning boxer.Cuban Emilio Correa Bayeaux simply outsmarted the Indian 8-5 to win the 75kg category semifinal in a comprehensive manner and the outcome meant Vijender had to be content with the bronze, which he was already assured of.
The Cuban negated Vijender’s height and reach advantages by playing from a distance. He simply did not allow Vijender land a single blow in the first, third and fourth rounds.Even two penalty points in the final round could not make any difference for the Cuban had tilted the game in his favour a long away.Surprisingly, barring the second round, Vijender held himself back throughout the bout and mostly sprayed his punches.
Olympic is a movement started a long time before. It is one of the important event that brings together all the nations in the world. It promotes all forms of sports as a single event.
The official Olympic Motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, a Latin phrase meaning “Swifter, Higher, Stronger”. Every 4 years this event will be conducted. It is one of the important event in the world that runs for more than 400 years. It will be conducted on every leap year.And now the Olympics has been held more than 100 times.
Olympics rocks.