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| Photo: (left) German athelete at Sochi 2014, (right) Indian luger Shiva Kheshvan at the Winter Olympics, Vancouver 2010 |
“Inferior, Tardior,
Infirmior” or “Lower, Slower, Weaker”. Well, this should aptly be
the Indian Olympic Committee’s Moto. As the XXII Olympic Winter Games begin
at Sochi, Russia; 21 countries from the Asia-Pacific region including Pakistan
are among the 88 nations participating in this year's Winter Olympics. Sadly,
there would be no Indian Tricolor at Sochi 2014.
The IOC (Indian Olympic Association) was suspended for
electing officials who faced corruption charges - a violation of the Olympic
charter in December 2012. The International Olympic Committee suspended on the
basis of corruption, government interference, and not following guidelines of
the IOC following the arrest of Suresh Kalmadi; the then President of the Committee.
Since then, the Committee hasn’t been able to hold its elections until which it
cannot participate as a Nation in any of the International Olympic events. Although
13 months have passed the fate of the committee is yet uncertain with the
elections scheduled two days after the opening ceremony, which would not
provide enough time for the suspension to be lifted.
Consider the apathy of the three Indian athletes who had to
walk under the International Olympic Committee banner, rather than the Indian
flag, as independent athletes, behind all the other nations. But respite of this
walk of shame, this hasn’t dampened the spirits of these athletes. Shiva
Keshvan, the “iceman” of India who has been India’s prominent winter olympian since
the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan where he was the youngest ever luge
olympian (men's category) at the age of 16 and also the sole Indian
representative. This will be his 5th appearance at the prestigious event.
He has already set Asia's new track record of 49.590 seconds at the
2012 Asia Cup in Nagano, Japan is hopeful for a podium finish. The other two
athletes from India at Sochi 2014 are Himanshu Thakur for Alpine skiing [Men's
Giant Slalom] and Nadeem Iqbal for Cross-country skiing [Men's 15 km classical].
India in the past has never won any medals at the Winter Olympics
but the Summer Olympics has been dominated by Men's Field Hockey team, winning
eleven medals in twelve Olympics between 1928 and 1980. The run included six
successive gold medals from 1928–1956. Let’s hope India does well at the games
and all the matters of the IOC are solved before the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic
Games and future athletes bring back the past glory of Indian sports.
Eye-popping facts about Indians at Olympic Games:
# India’s hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand captained India's
8-1 victory over Germany in the 1936 Olympic final in Berlin. The one goal
conceded was the only one in their entire Olympic tournament. [Hitler happened
to be so impressed with his skills that he offered him German Nationality and
the post of Colonel in his army, to which he is said to have declined with a
smile].
# Neville Stephen J. D'Souza, Indian footballer stiker, was
the first Asian player to score a hat-trick at Olympic Games also making India
the first Asian team to reach the Olympic semi-finals at the 1956 Summer
Olympics in Melbourne. [Although India lost the semi finals and the 3rd
place match to finish 4th]
# Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav was independent India's first
individual Olympic medalist when he won the freestyle wrestling bronze medal at
the 1952 Helsinki Games. It was the only Individual Olympic medal between 1900
to 1996, a period of 96 years! [He is the only sportsperson among all India’s
Olympic medalists not to have been conferred with any of the Padma Awards]
Sources: wikipedia.org, olympics.org and other websites.
© Gaurav Ghosh (2014). Please do not reproduce without prior permission.
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