There was a lot of hype around the Beijing Olympics, and still is as I write this piece with a strange feeling. A feeling I am not able to put in words.
On 8th August 2008 at 5:38 PM (IST) arrived one of the most awaited moment in the history. It was the opening ceremony of Olympics 2008. I tried my level best to reach home as early as possible to be able to see the spectacle live on TV. As it is with traffic in Delhi I managed to reach home by 7:00 PM. But still the show was of such awesome grandeur that I didn't get a chance to think of what I had missed. The huge Globe, the mechanically perfect synchronization, the flying white dove ….. one after the other the marvels continued.
Then the third phase of the ceremony began. The participating countries started to enter the beautiful Bird's Nest – National Stadium. One could easily notice the happiness on the face of each participant entering the field. Each one had an aspiration, a dream to make a mark in the Olympics. To win a medal at the Olympics. To make the country proud. To give the future generations something to look upto and work towards achieving or bettering the feat.
The Indian team entered the stadium with the same verve. But suddenly something struck me. It struck me hard. I realized that one the fastest growing economies of the world, a country that many believe will be a future world power, had a contingent that was smaller that many countries whose names may not be known by many. Worse, in the contingent there were very few if any strong medal contenders.
It made me think. Why is it that India does not seem to be growing beyond cricket (not that they are doing very well in cricket either)? Why are we not able to compete at a true international competition? Are there any systems in place? Do we care?
I did some research and found out that despite not qualifying for any big team (hockey, foot ball – 11 member team each) sports this was one of the largest contingent that India has ever had. Moreover, the number of sports that this contingent covered were far more that any previous Indian contingent at Olympics. So, I consoled my mind that may be there are organizations who are looking into it and slowly but surely India is making progress.
Today, as I write this piece, it not a consolation that fills my mind. It's a feeling of elation, a feeling I may not have experienced even when I cleared some of the toughest competitions in the country. India has won its first ever individual sports Gold in Olympics and first after 1980. Today the country has a role model. The country has someone to look upto. The country has a reason to believe that it is possible. The country knows that it's a work of a genius and there are systems in place to help the genius reach the right place.
I believe its just a start and 10 Olympics down the line India would enter an Olympic stadium with one of the largest contingents with strong medal contenders, and then an Indian like me will not have to console his mind with mere hope.
CHEERS !!!
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