MUMBAI: Today is the day of all days in the annals of world sports — the day of the opening of the Olympics, the biggest cavalcade that brings the entire mankind together.
Beijing, the proud host has already given indications that this, the 29th in the series since the Games were revived from the ruins of ancient Greece, will be the biggest and the greatest in every respect.
It is as much a matter of pride for Asia that on the previous two occasions that the Olympics were held on this continent, they set new standards, so will it be with Beijing. Though a big contingent left from India for participation, there was an unmistakable twang of sorrow all round.
The hurt came from the harsh reality that a nation that had ruled world hockey for over half a century and won the gold medal eight times, should be completely out of the Olympic hockey competition for the first time since its inception in the Games in 1928. The nation’s gaze will now shift from the astroturf to the shooting ranges, the tennis courts and, with supreme optimism, to the boxing ring.
The rest would just make up the numbers, having expended all their energies to earn the right to be there.
Now that scooping a medal from just anywhere is going to be a minor miracle, we might as well engage ourselves, for some vicarious pleasure, in reflecting on past glories and small mercies.
And that is in India winning only one individual silver medal and three bronze medals. The bronze medals were brought by K. D. Jadhav (wrestling) at Helsinki 1952, Leander Paes (tennis) at Atlanta 1996 and Karnam Malleswari (women’s weightlifting) at Sydney 2000.
The best individual performance to date, however, was the silver won by double-trap shooter Rajyavardhan Rathore at Athens 2004. For near misses, you cannot beat the heart-rending tales of first Milkha Singh (Rome 1960) and then P.T. Usha (Los Angeles 1984).
For both, Milkha Singh and P. T. Usha, it was a case of so near yet so far, but the ultimate glory was no less than the feat of winning a medal.
Having drawn an outside lane in the 400 meters final, a slight error of judgment cost the “Flying Sikh” Milkha a certain bronze medal.
He finished a photo-finish fourth behind Ottis Davis, Karl Kauffman and Mel Spence, recognized the best bunch to ever run the quarter mile at the Olympics.
Although he finished off the podium, Milkha had the distinction of breaking the existing Olympic record, being the only Indian to do so. P. T. Usha had already shown her caliber as the finest female athlete in Asia and so versatile at that that she ventured to take part in the newly-introduced event of 400 meters hurdles for women.
Since this event was not held anywhere, she had no experience of competition and relied on sheer practice and determination. She missed the bronze by a hair’s breadth literally, finishing 1/100th (one hundredth) of a second behind the third-placed athlete.
But India’s highest Olympic glory and greatest success story of all manifested itself in the long uninterrupted golden trail over six Olympics. The fabulous run was stopped by none other than Pakistan, who were to be India’s alter ego thereafter.
The tale of India lording over the game of hockey had started a long time ago. Today, we have ourselves completely dismantled the proud legacy of Dhyan Chand. Leave aside winning a gold, silver or bronze, India are not even there to step on the field.
