SAINA O SAINA!

SUNNY THOMAS

Hail Mary, full of strength! Famed are you among women. And famed is your Olympic bronze. Inspire us now and at all times. Amen! A short prayer for every Indian who watched the Summer Olympic 2012. Indeed Mary deserves the highest gallantry award for fighting for India against equally determined women but taller and stronger than her.

Gagan Narang won India’s first (bronze) medal for shooting (men’s 10 metres air rifles) and Vijay Kumar, the only silver the country has got, in shooting (men’s 25 m. rapid fire pistol). Saina Nehwal bagged bronze in badminton (women’s singles) and Mary Kom, bronze in wrestling (women’s flyweight). On the eve of Mary’s fight for silver, India’s most famous commentator, Boria Majumdar, commented that since she has not lost twice to the same opponent, Mary was all set to win silver, and even gold. In politics and sports, anything is possible. Millions of Indians shared the joy and the heartbreak that Mary went through.

But it was Saina, 22, who captured the nation’s imagination, like Boris Becker at 18 winning the Wimbledon Cup. She was the Young Sensation that Sachin Tendulkar was, playing against Pakistan at 18. Now she joins the rank of Kapil Dev, Sachin, Dravid and Dhoni, who have made the nation proud. And she shares pride of place in the nation’s Hall of Fame with the immortals like Father of the Nation, the First Prime Minister, the Iron Man of India, the Constitution Fathers, Prime Minister Durga Gandhi and others.  

Hats off to Vijay Kumar and Gagan Narang, who made Olympic history by their winning streaks. India sent 83 sports persons to compete in 13 events. What happened to Mahesh Bhupati and Rohan Bonnapa, who made headlines for the wrong reasons? What happened to the rest of the India Olympic entourage?  The government spent $48.1 million and $11 million came from private funding. Which means, over $14 million per medal ! indeed Bronze is Gold for India, considering the price at which our players fetched them.  

Look at the medal tally of some other nations:

United States      39      25     26     90

China                 37      24     19     80 

Great Britain       25      13     14     52 

Russia               12       21     23     56 

Korea                12         7      6     25 

Germany            10       16     11     37

To command the respect of the comity of nations, India must produce ace sports persons. America and China are global powers because they are more disciplined, more innovative and more goal-oriented. Generalizations could run into troubled waters but the obvious need not be overemphasized. As a nation, China is far ahead of us, in primary education, sports education, and in health care. Saying that it is the Blacks who win most of the medals has no merit as an argument because Blacks are Americans too!

Britain, of course, once ruled the world, and as a world power it has yielded place to other nations; yet it maintains a semblance of its past glory. The decline of Russia after the break up of the Soviet Union is understandable; but Korea’s leap ahead of Germany wins world admiration.

What are Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics? A quick glance at Olympic Games years will give us the answer:

Summer Olympics: 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 

Winter Olympics: 2002, 2006, 20010     

 

Faster, higher, stronger is the Olympic motto (Citius, Altius, Fortius). And you must be a schoolboy or a schoolgirl to remember that Olympic Games began in 776 B.C. The Olympic flag has five rings interconnected, to represent the five Continents, and one of the five colours – blue, yellow, black, green and red – is in every national flag. The flag was designed by Pierre de Coubertin in 1914.

Barbarians can never appreciate Olympics; they know only how to shoot and kill people who have done them no harm. In fact, Olympics and terrorism are the two faces of civilization – the noble and the hideous!