London 2012 Revisited

Sports is unscripted drama.

Drama filled with joy, excitement, inspiration, suspense and at times pain and sorrow. It’s all about endurance, skill, ability and above all those intrinsic human qualities of hope and spirit. And it’s the Olympics more than any other event that brings out all these aforementioned human attributes to prominence. The year 2012 was an Olympic year and that’s what every sports fan waits for with baited breath. We love the Olympics not just because we are able to see all our favourite sports-persons and athletes perform under one roof but also because these games throw up some extraordinary stories of human struggle, sacrifice and achievement. And London 2012 provided us with some of the most heartening images that we will ever see.

Here’s a look at some of the best stories to come out of London 2012 (in no particular order):

A “Double Triple” that rests the debate:

Bolt doing the Mobot after the 4x100mts Relay win

“Venit, vidit, vicit” – that’s quite a popular phrase, isn’t it? Well, in case of Usain St. Leo Bolt, we may just have to tweak that phrase a bit. He came, he “spoke” and he conquered. Usian Bolt made it known to the world that he was going to London to become a legend, to become the greatest athlete on earth. And that is just what he achieved. Bolt came into the Olympics in not the greatest of form. He had lost the World Championship title to compatriot Yohan Blake and was behind Blake in the Jamaican trials. But in sports, as in life, it’s always about the never-say-die spirit, one which Bolt amply personified. In a matter of 7 days, Usain Bolt doubled his Olympic medals tally from 3 to 6, did the ‘double triple’ and made it known to the whole world that he was the greatest of them all.

On 9^th August 2012, Bolt became the first man in history to successfully defend both the 100 m and the 200 m Olympic sprint titles. But that isn’t the end of the story. Bolt came back two days later to finish the chapter. The Jamaican team won the 4×100 m relay with a world record time of 36.84 seconds, in the process achieving what no man had ever dreamed of – the “Double Triple”. And he celebrated it by doing the Mobot. What’s that? Well, that’s the next story.

From Somalia with Love:

The Somalian who made Britain proud

People hear of Somalia and think about pirates and civil-war. Well, not now, certainly not after Mohamed ‘Mo’ Farah’s ‘Double Gold’ magic at London. Sport has this uncanny habit of throwing up stories that can melt the heart and bring tears to the eyes of every human. Mo Farah and his double gold is perhaps the story of London 2012. Farah was born in Mogadishu, one of the most volatile regions on earth. When he came to England at the age of 8 to live with his father, he could barely speak a word in English. Today, he is the face of British athletics.

Farah wasn’t the favourite to do the ‘Double’ but statistics hardly matter when you are out in the middle. When Farah won the 10,000 m Gold on 4th August 2012, he became the first man from Great Britain to win Gold in long-distance running in Olympics. A week later, on 11th August, he made it two by winning the 5,000 m gold as well. And the roar that followed it rocked not just the stadium but the whole of London. A Somalian was now Britain’s favourite son. And as for Farah, he won the right to be named alongside greats like Emile Zatopek, Lasse Viren and Kenenisa Bekele. Farah’s story is one of discipline and sacrifice, it’s a story of human abilities and human spirit. It is what defines sports.

Who is Bradley Wiggins?

Wiggins equals Sir Chris Hoy’s haul of 7 medals for Great Britain with Gold road time-trail format

Bradley Wiggins or soon to be Sir Bradley Wiggins isn’t a name that we Indians are familiar with. And how can we be; not many of us are interested in track cycling. But Wiggins must have done more than just win a few track cycling events to be named the “BBC Sports Personality of the Year” ahead of the likes of Andy Murray and Mo Farah. Well, he did. For starters he became the first British to win the “Tour de France” in its 109 years of existence. He won this year’s Tour de Romandie, Paris–Nice, Critérium du Dauphiné.

And then to top it all, he went on to win the Olympic gold in the road time trial format which made him the most decorated British Olympian ever alongside Sir Chris Hoy, with 7 medals in total. The image of cycling over the past few years has taken a hit due to some high-profile doping scandals. But Wiggins defines everything that is right in the sport, which stretches the limit of human endurance every time. What makes Wiggins’ achievement even more special is the fact that he is the first athlete to win both the Tour De France and an Olympic Gold in the same year.

Total Dominance: don’t touch the Gold, it’s ours, say the Chinese:

A tiny part of the Chinese contingent

Napoleon once famously said, “Let China sleep, for when the Dragon awakes, she will shake the world”. Shaken the world she certainly has, but more so when it comes to badminton and table-tennis. The Chinese domination in these sports has been there for all to see. But what they have achieved in the last two Olympics is nothing short of incredible. When their Men’s table-tennis team defeated Korea and won the gold on 8th August, 2012, China completed the sweep of all the available gold medals in the disciplines of badminton and table-tennis in London 2012. Many sports and events have been dominated by teams and individuals over the years but the way the Chinese annihilated their opponents in London was a sight worth watching.

China won 6 of the available 12 medals in table-tennis (all 4 golds included) and 8 out of the available 15 in badminton (all 5 golds included). But for me what summed up China’s attitude towards sports was Lin Dan’s victory over the then World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia. The match lasted nearly 80 minutes before Lin Dan, who is arguably the greatest badminton player ever, won the match 15-21, 21-10, 21-19. It was not an easy game and the great Chinese had to dig deep but he never gave up even after going down a set. And that was the Chinese attitude all throughout; never give up.

Murray! Murray! Murray! The Scot who made Britain proud:

Andy Murray after defeating Roger Federer to win the Olympics gold in Men’s singles tennis and in the process becoming the first Briton since Josiah Ritchie in 1908 to achieve the feat.

2012 has been an extraordinary year for sports fan from across the world and more so for the British sports fan. There have been many memories and images that will remain etched in our mind for years to come, but perhaps none more than the image of Andy Murray sitting half-bent on Flushing Meadows, with his palms covering his face and tears trickling down his cheeks. It wasn’t the feeling of pain or of elation or excitement; for Andy Murray, it was just the relief, plain relief. The Brit had finally won a Grand Slam. And not just that, he in fact became the first British player to win a Grand slam since Fred Perry in 1936. A very long wait, isn’t it? But it was a month before this triumph that Murray had ended another long wait.

A 104 years long wait for an Olympic gold in men’s singles tennis. On 5th August, 2012, when Andy Murray defeated the great Roger Federer in straight sets, he became the first British man since Josiah Ritchie in 1908 to win a men’s singles tennis gold. Talent and potential can often be over-rated but in sports these are the first qualities necessary to succeed and Murray has eons of them. Tennis has been extraordinarily competitive in the past decade and Murray now becomes the fourth wheel of an iconic quartet joining the likes of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic who will be remembered for decades and perhaps centuries to come.

The boy from Baltimore becomes the most decorated Olympian ever:

Phelps alongside Brendan Hansen, Matthew Grevers and Nathan Adrian after winning the 4x100mts medley relay Gold.

Records, they say, are meant to be broken. Some in a matter of months, some take years, some take decades and some even a century. But then, there are some that are never meant to be broken; they stand the test of time. And when Michael Phelps leapt in joy with his American swim partners after winning the 4×100 m medley relay in London earlier this year, everyone knew that this was going to be one of those records. Sport will always throw unexpected stories, it will surprise you every moment of your living life. But the story of Phelps rising to immortality, becoming the greatest swimmer ever, was perhaps an expected one, one that everyone secretly believed since Sidney 2000 when a 15-year old skinny American from Baltimore took to the pools to compete with the likes of the great Ian Thorpe.

Phelps had an extraordinary run in Beijing four years ago when he surpassed Mark Spitz’s long standing record of 7 gold medals in a single Olympics, but Phelps himself knew that the story was still incomplete. When he arrived in London, the only question in everyone’s mind was: can Michael Phelps become the most decorated Olympian ever? And by the end of the Games, the emphatic answer of ‘yes’ was not just echoing in London but all across the world. With 18 Olympic golds and 22 medals in total, Phelps isn’t just the most decorated Olympian ever but perhaps the greatest of them as well.

Sports isn’t just entertainment, but a lot more than that. In the article “In Tendulkar Country”, American writer Wright Thomson says, “you must understand India to understand Sachin, but you must understand Sachin to understand India”. Well, I would like to extend that analogy and say, “you must understand sports to understand humans and the limit of human abilities. But you must also understand humans to experience the joy of sports”.