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The Olympic Games - Beijing 2008


China is the host of the 29th Olympiad and they have welcomed the world with open arms leaving politics to the politicians and lawmakers and the games to the athletes. The opening ceremony on 08/08/08 at the Bird's Nest stadium was simply the grandest spectacle I have ever seen for any event. One World One Dream is this olympics' motto and by the looks of it, China is doing all it can to bring the world together. China finished second to the USA in 2004 in Greece and they have revenge on their minds as they want to win the overall medal tally and desperately the gold medal tally, at all costs. Estimated amount spent by China to get Olympic-ready, $43 billion. Boy-o-boy, they are proving to the world what they are made up of. Just as The Rock from WWE would say, "Just bring it".

India's Abhinav Bindra made a billion of us beam with pride and happiness by winning the gold in the 10m rifle event. India's first gold medal since the 1980 Moscow olympics when the Hockey team won gold. India sadly did not even qualify for the hockey event this time around. India, of course, has won Bronze medals in the form of Leander Paes and Karnam Malleswari in the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Olympics in Tennis and Weight Lifting respectively, while Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore did India proud by winning the Silver in Athens in Shooting in 2004.

Abhinav Bindra's gold medal couldn't have come at a better time. India lost the test series to Sri Lanka 2-1 putting rest to all claims that the Indian team is the only one that can beat Australia. We will see that in October when the Aussies visit us for a test series. I just hope that the Olympic glory is just the right motivation for parents to bring up their children in sports other than cricket. But the cricket-obsessed media and the people have a long way to go in embracing other sports. A start nevertheless.

I remember Madhu Sapre when she was in the top 3 for the Miss Universe title way back in the 90s, she was asked what would she do if she was the Prime Minister of India. She replied she would build a world-class sports stadium and give a lot of importance to sports. A nation of close to a billion people laughed at her then and unfortunately, she didn't win the crown. But, the next generation is here and sports matter to them.

Let's all cheer for Team INDIA at the Olympics and hope a few more medals to the tally will bring back an Olympic size revolution and kick-start a new awakening in one of the world's fastest growing economies. Happy Independence Day. Independent India completes 61 on the 15th.

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