Between the times we got bogged by the annoying formalities of buying a home, we glimpsed the colorful thriller stories from Athens. And today, the climax of ulitmate event of the human race came to a reverberating end. Way to go Greece. For what was bestowed upon her about a decade ago, Greece did one heck of a job. For this tiny meditteranian country of mere 15 million residents and per-capita income of less than $12,000 peranum, this was the expensive undertaking ever attempted by any country. Add to it the security woes across the globe, It takes more than money and population to pull off the safest olympiad of al times.
It was a moment of great satisfaction, quite apparent on his face, as the mayor of Athens handed over the Olympic Flag to mayor of Beijing, where we will be welcomed for yet another greatest olympics in 2008.
I was told that Beijing is preparing to take the Olympiads to its next level. Only 4 years later will we find what that means to rest of us. But dont under estimate Beijing and the small yellow people my friends, you got to have seen the 110m Mens Hurdles finals to truly believe what chinese are capable of. Of course, we knew the chinese were breeding gymnasts, table tennis players and divers, but it was revelation to know they were silently breeding sprinters as well when Liu Xiang run the sprint of his life to win the 110m hurdles. I cannot believe chinese beating american and europeon sprinters, God damn, they are still 5 feet tall just enough to jump and clear the hurdle.
Liu Xiang, is elated to see himself beating the line ahead of everyone else. His facial expression says something to the effect, “you suckers, believe this, we can do anything to beat the world!. Pity the favourite frenchmen next to him fell in the last hurdle struggling to comprehend a chinese guy beat him!
I also saw the finishing laps of the mens marathon. A 45Km Marathon in approimately 2hours is the jewel of the Olympics events and is a true test of man’s physical abilities. Here luckily I also saw perhaps the only black-mark moment of the Olympics when De Lima of brazil was, in the middle of the race around 20Km spot, was grabbed over and knocked down for no reason by a cracked protester. Poor lima was a good lead then but unfortunately becoz of this stupid incident was pushed back to only win the bronze. But he was so humble, a true mark of most Olmpians of course, when he said it was not a big deal as he is happy he won a medal. Believe me, it matters when you get a bronze when you could have got a Gold for a fault thats none of yours. But thats how great atheletes behave. He was a great guy finishing with all smiles instead of being sober or angry! Later I learnt the attacker was a defrocked priest who was notorious in attacking major events like this for no reason! he was not a terrorist though.
US, as before finished the medals tally at the top, with China running close behind. Looks like China is all set to break the host country medal count record in Beijing four years from now. My beloved nation, India finished…it is easy to say this way…7th from the last. Though we should be proud of that shooter for that face saving Silver, it is a moment of shame that we have had our worst Olympics that can only be forgotten soon.
And for us, next week is going to be a nightmare as the Republican Convention opens up in new york city, just across the river from where we live. With protesters already burning effigys, we could see the smoke coming over the city. Security is beefed up to an extent that we see armed boats with cops roaming around our water front every few minutes. Coming in and driving around here is going to be a mess. Just imagine those who will be going into the city and to the convention area around the Madison Square Garden, its an unwanted pain. While we are all proud of New york city, why dont we accept that it is a freakin small city for anything of this size. And its not a joke to host a convention of this size and with it a quarter million protesters, to prove that the city is ready for everything!…The biggest mess on the face of the earth will be when new york city wins the Olympics 2012 !
