Let's Talk Olympics!

Well it’s been way too long since my last blog post! Work and a whole lot of other things in between meant I did not have enough time. So let’s try and re-launch this blog again after a setback. You know, a bit like Andy Murray trying to re-launch his career with a gold medal after a few setbacks. That’s right; we are talking about the Games of the 30^th Olympiad!  

Being that I am only 22, I have only ever watched three Olympic Games fully - Athens, Beijing and now, London. And these London games by far have been the most exciting and enthralling of the lot. What a truly grand spectacle of sport they have been! I never knew the day would come when I would say I just spent one hour of my life watching something called Dressage and genuinely enjoyed it! Read that sentence again to allow it sink in. Dressage!? DRESSAGE?! And that to me is the beauty of the Olympics. Watching sports you otherwise would never get a chance to watch and then thoroughly enjoying it for the same reason you enjoy “normal” sports – regular people showcasing their breathtaking talent and skills, watching all their passion and hard work play out in front of you and a million others, and stretching themselves to perform at “superhuman” levels. 

                                                   I present to you Dressage!

I have never before been bothered about how coordinated two men jumping from a 10m platform were (Synchronized diving), or how well a lady waved a foot in the face of another (Taekwondo). Or how hard a lady punched another in the ribs (Boxing), or how fast someone can canoe downstream through raging rapids (Canoe Slalom). Or for that matter I never really cared about fencing, table tennis, judo, sailing and probably a couple more sports. But now after watching these brilliant Olympics? Well… (Thinking)…OK I still will not actively seek out these sports, but if it is on TV, I guarantee I will not flip channels as rapidly as I used to! 

I expected to be thrilled by Bolt, Blake, Phelps, Jessica Ennis (she is gorgeous!), Bradley Wiggins, Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, Federer and Murray, the athletics in general, swimming, track cycling and the US basketball team. I trusted and knew that these athletes would delight by their utter genius. (Yes I just included Saina Nehwal in the same sentence with Bolt and Federer along with the words “utter genius”. That is the partisan Indian in me, sorry!) But I never expected to find that the moments I will remember would be so varied and wondrous! That would be my personal legacy of London2012, the way in which my eyes and mind were opened up to so many other remarkable sports and their supremely talented athletes.

The Olympics had its downside, no doubt about it. Swimming has way too many events and medals to keep track of, synchronized swimming with the cheap glittery outfits was weird, and team sports like hockey and football were a bit of a letdown. But it feels a bit churlish to be focusing on this. What I will really take away from these two weeks is how inspiring it all was. The Olympics was a parade of people trying their utmost, straining their sinews, testing their minds, and in the case of two Arabic women, the symbolic gesture of simply being there and crossing a finishing line, even if it was after the next race had commenced. It was inspiring.

I will never forget the night of the 200m men’s final. With the final on Friday early hours India time (a working day), I was tired and made the mistake of thinking I would just record it and watch it the next day. But then I thought about watching Bolt streak down the track past all his rivals, in his own inimitable cocky style, as if he were in a race against himself and the clock, and realized there was no way I am missing the opportunity to watch one of the greatest athletes ever. Just the mere thought of what greatness might happen was the adrenalin I needed to bounce back out of bed and sit glued in front of my TV. No surprise, Bolt waltzed through the finish line. I was inspired.

                                                          The Greatest!

And even if all of us cannot even begin to imagine swinging on a bar like Epke Zonderland, or pedaling a bike like the awesome Bradley Wiggins or Laura Trott, or float across the land at top speed like the graceful Allyson Felix, we can cherish the fact that others can, and relish the moments in which we give witness to it. And we were all witness to some awe inspiring moments.

I will miss the games of the 30^th Olympiad. The countdown to the 31^st has already begun!

The Magic Of Sports

For my very first blog post, I think it is appropriate I write about my love for sports. I love sports! Sometimes I wish I did not. Sometimes I wish a team did not matter to me so much, or I did not care about how they performed. But unfortunately, I just do. And you are going to be left reading my ramblings every week like a rejected lover.

Seeing as I am a psychology major, bear with me while I briefly go on a nerdy trip. In psychology, there is a theory that states that humans tend to remember traumatic and emotional events more vividly than other events. For instance, those of us who are old enough will remember exactly where we were and how we heard about the tragic events of 9/11 or the attacks on Mumbai on 26/11. Similarly, even though it was nine years ago, I still remember exactly when and where I was when I heard about my grandfather’s death. How is any of this relevant to sports? Well, to me sports, especially games involving my favorite teams, are just as emotional and stressful of a ride. I can remember exactly where I was the day Arsenal won the league and cup double in 2002, as well as when their “Invincibles” team won the 2004 league title without losing a single game. Painfully, I also vividly remember the 2006 champions league final loss to Barcelona, although I really wish I did not! I remember a time when during game day, the result of the Arsenal game could determine my entire day. This proved to be troublesome especially when I moved to the United States, because games over there were in the morning! A bad Arsenal result meant I was moody, irritable, angry and lacked productivity. That is how much Arsenal and sports mean to me. Thankfully, I have matured from that time!

My enjoyment of sports is not limited to my favorite teams. I have yet to come across a sport I have not enjoyed in some capacity. And I think this is because I equate sports to art. The reason we love and appreciate live acts such as theater and music, or the feats of the performers of Cirque Du Soleil, or the art of Van Gogh and Claude Monet, is because their work is so spectacular that we could never imagine doing it ourselves. We marvel at their creativity and ability, and the willingness to constantly produce better. We are left staring in awe wondering ""HOW"? (Or more like, HOW THE HELL DID THEY DO THAT) Sport is similar. The athletic and physical feats performed by so many athletes is beyond comprehension. They seem super human to us, like Brett Lee bowling at 160 km/h, or Michael Phelps winning 8 gold medals in one Olympics, or Blake Griffin dunking over a car. And they do it all on the biggest of stages, with so much pressure and so many people watching. It is incomprehensible that Sachin Tendulkar can play so well in front of a billion people and yet appear to be so normal for twenty years! How does Michael Schumacher drive in circles for 70 laps, at such high speeds in the furnace that is a Formula 1 car, and never at once look jaded? 

This is why I love sports, to see people so committed and dedicated to their profession, so gifted with talent, beat all the odds and succeed, and then bask in their glory. And this is why it was so special when Sachin finally won a world cup after six tries, or Dirk Nowitzki finally won a title after thirteen seasons or, more recently, Tiger Woods beat all the odds to win the Memorial. You could tell how much it meant to them, how much they cared, and how hard they worked. If you are a true sports fan, you were happy for them, irrespective of your loyalties. 

Sport also throws up those special moments when an athlete leaves you wanting more. And I say special because their short comings makes you appreciate greatness more. Asafa Powell, one of the best 100m runners in the world, never did better than fifth place in the Olympics. While others thrived under the spotlight, he shrunk. We love Usain Bolt because he did it on the biggest of stages. Watching the recent champions league final between Chelsea and Munich, it was painfully obvious that Arjen Robben lacked mental strength. After missing a penalty in overtime, the last thing he wanted to do was take another during the shootout. Arch your mind back to the 2010 World Cup, and Asamoah Gyan, after missing a penalty in the last minutes of extra time against Uruguay in the quarter finals, stepped up and drilled a penalty in the shootout. One crumbled under the pressure, the other thrived. Think of any sport, and you will find an elite athlete who just cannot get it done. Tennis and Andy Murray. Golf and Colin Montgomerie. Basketball and Karl Malone. (Lebron James? To be continued....)

That is the magic of sports, watching regular humans perform super human feats.