Against All Odds
I wrote this piece on Wednesday, 13th. A lot might change since then, but it was this video which inspired me to write this piece –
Women's 4 X 400 Relay Final - CWG
You could watch it n times over, and each time it would give you goosebumps. It is that brilliant.
For a moment, forget the daylight robbery that the CWG organizers are going to get away with, once the Games are over. Forget the shameful pictures of the Games’ village beamed across the globe, the damning reports that accompanied them. Forget the pomp and the glitz at either end of the CWG, conveniently masking the structural deficiencies beneath. Forget the fact that at best this was an average event, nothing spectacular. Forget the cynicism, based on which the so-called middle class elites find it oh-so-easy to draw their opinions – on both the state of affairs and the quality of our athletes to compete on a global arena. Forget the fact that after all the heart and soul these athletes put in, we might yet end up finishing out of the top two – in an event which cannot quite lay claim to representing the sporting powerhouses, however global it may be.
Remember the unheralded men and women – unknown, derided, and generally sneered upon before the games began, who’ve made us proud at a global stage. Remember the unprivileged backgrounds that most of them emerged from. Athletes whose remuneration would struggle to match that of a cricketer idling on the perimeter of the ground, signing autographs, turning up for an Indian city with which he otherwise has absolutely no connection. Athletes whose only reward – and I cannot think of anything else – is that of toiling hard for your country, and hoping for at best an acknowledgement from an otherwise hopelessly apathetic sports administration.
Remember the grapplers and the shooters, the pugilists and the archers, the shuttlers and the (hockey) stick wielders, the runners and the walkers, the swimmers and the slingers – who owned these last two weeks.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for making us proud, despite the cynicism we bestowed on you. It is only because of your achievements, against most odds, that we might even begin to dream of being a small part of the league of sporting pantheons.
But none more so than the ladies who ran their heart out in the 4 X 400 m. In the battle to earn the top spot in come-back-from-the-dead victories, dear Mohali 2010, I think you just met your match.
Women's 4 X 400 Relay Final - CWG
You could watch it n times over, and each time it would give you goosebumps. It is that brilliant.
For a moment, forget the daylight robbery that the CWG organizers are going to get away with, once the Games are over. Forget the shameful pictures of the Games’ village beamed across the globe, the damning reports that accompanied them. Forget the pomp and the glitz at either end of the CWG, conveniently masking the structural deficiencies beneath. Forget the fact that at best this was an average event, nothing spectacular. Forget the cynicism, based on which the so-called middle class elites find it oh-so-easy to draw their opinions – on both the state of affairs and the quality of our athletes to compete on a global arena. Forget the fact that after all the heart and soul these athletes put in, we might yet end up finishing out of the top two – in an event which cannot quite lay claim to representing the sporting powerhouses, however global it may be.
Remember the unheralded men and women – unknown, derided, and generally sneered upon before the games began, who’ve made us proud at a global stage. Remember the unprivileged backgrounds that most of them emerged from. Athletes whose remuneration would struggle to match that of a cricketer idling on the perimeter of the ground, signing autographs, turning up for an Indian city with which he otherwise has absolutely no connection. Athletes whose only reward – and I cannot think of anything else – is that of toiling hard for your country, and hoping for at best an acknowledgement from an otherwise hopelessly apathetic sports administration.
Remember the grapplers and the shooters, the pugilists and the archers, the shuttlers and the (hockey) stick wielders, the runners and the walkers, the swimmers and the slingers – who owned these last two weeks.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for making us proud, despite the cynicism we bestowed on you. It is only because of your achievements, against most odds, that we might even begin to dream of being a small part of the league of sporting pantheons.
But none more so than the ladies who ran their heart out in the 4 X 400 m. In the battle to earn the top spot in come-back-from-the-dead victories, dear Mohali 2010, I think you just met your match.
posted by Anshuman at 1:15 PM
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