The London 2012 Olympic Games are just about to conclude. More than 15 days of pure action with over 10,000 athletes competing in many different sporting events. As usual, the big sporting nations have amassed medals. The list of their medal winners alone extends to several pages in the official website. After a losing the top spot to China in 2008, USA has reclaimed the top spot in the medals table with 105 medals (including 45 Gold medals). China comes next with 87 medals (including 38 Gold). The Host UK has won a record haul of 29 Gold medals to come third in the table.
Compared to these numbers, the Indian feat of 6 medals (2 Silver and 4 Bronze) fades into insignificance in the Olympic arena. But back home, the 1.2 Billion strong people of the country are quite excited and jubilant. Despite failing to win any Gold medal, this is the largest number of medals we have ever won, in a single event. This achievement is believed by many to signal a big change in the sporting field in India. The medals have shattered that psychological barriers that prevented our athletes from thinking big. While a few years ago, even qualifying for the Olympics was considered an achievement, we have now started talking about multiple medals.
Hopefully, this will catch the attention of the big corporates who should start opening up their purses to these games. Hopefully, this will bring a gradual change in our outlook towards sports and give way to a grassroots movement of nurturing sports in all schools and colleges. We need more sports facilities, world class events, special attention to promising athletes from a very young age etc.
I'm hoping that we would go one level higher in the next edition of Olympics in 2016 to be held in Rio-De-Janeiro. Hopefully, we'll cross the 10 medals mark and also win multiple gold medals. I'm eager to hear our national anthem in the medal ceremonies there.
Congrats to all our athletes who have done us proud. Your achievements will and should not go unnoticed. I'm sure all of you, have inspired a generation of youngsters to dream big and achieve the highest accolades
1 comments:
S Vijay,this is indeed a big achievement by a country that does not have the infrastructure when compared to the top nations in the medals tally.But sure the next editions will see more participation by our youngsters and bring more laurels
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