India's olympics campaign ended today with a bronze, and for the 1st Time in History India has won 3 Medals in the Olympics with 1 Individual goal (1st time as well). Wohoooooooooooooo, again, better late than never!.
Over a casual conversation on GChat with one of my friends, I jokingly said that I Promise to make all efforts to make sure my Son/Daughter can win 1 Medal (gold :P) in either swimming / tennis for the country.
But on hindsight, this might not be a bad idea. I mean, a lot of our parents thought that "..i wish my son would grow up to be a doctor / engineer / successful businessman"... " ..i wish my son would grow up to be a cricketer / bollywood star!"... but none of them would ever think of a medal in Olympics!. Its a fact that in the Indian society everything starts with the opinion of parents and what they want you to become, and we spent the rest of our lives fulfilling their dreams. But think about it, being an olympian and being known All over the world and the country is not a bad idea!. It results also in the subsequent rewards, recognitions and better opportunities as well!
Food for thought
Cheers
Olympian Indian :P
Friday, August 22, 2008
India Medals Dream @ Olympics - My Pledge :
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
How does China win so many gold medals?
An Article from CBS which gives examples of how Chinese Young Talent is nurtured from a very young age. Debatable if this is by choice or by force for this young athletes, but what is appreciable is that China is thinking way ahead of atleast India on winning more Gold Medals in olympics and hence developing its talent and infrastructure for greater things in the next decade.
http://www.cbsnews.com/
Nine-year-old Zhang Huiman is on the lonely road to Olympic gold, running 20 miles a day preparing for the games of 2020.
"My heroes," she says through a translator, "are runners who won gold medals."
Welcome to a nation so obsessed with Olympic gold that it is training 200,000 handpicked kids in state-run sports boarding schools, CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen reports.
Weightlifter Ye Ping came there four years ago.
"I miss my mom and dad," she says through a translator. "But the Olympics is the goal of every athlete."
It's the same system the Soviets used to train gold medalists like Maria Filatova in their Cold-War sports duel with the United States.
Now a coach in upstate New York, she remembers officials motivated to find the children with the most potential.
People were promoted, she told CBS News if their athletes won gold.
Copying the Soviets, the Chinese went all out - to out-gold the United States.
The Olympic Games plan: sports with less profile but more medals.
Meanwhile, China has three in judo, five in shooting and eight in weightlifting.
To the Chinese, weightlifting counters those golds won by Michael Phelps.
"I think it's important that people realize that the Olympic Games can be gamed," said Matt Forney, a former Beijing bureau chief for Time Magazine who recently wrote an op-ed article on the topic.
Winning isn't just about bringing home a gold medal - it's also about winning a golden future. For many Chinese athletes, thanks to a grateful nation, they can be set for life.
They get a $150,000 bonus - 30 times the average Chinese annual salary.
But the real message is Communism beats Democracy.
"It's their way of showing, see 'our' system - the Chinese Communist Party - put our country on top of the gold medals chart," said Olympic historian David Wallechinsky.
They're already practicing for future Olympics - to again win the most gold - and again win Olympic bragging rights over America.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Chinese Police asking for Religion!
Hey Guys
After posting the last port this morning, this incident just happened with me today!...
My Good Friend and Ex Flatmate just got a call from the Police:
Police- " What is the religion of the Indian Guy Staying at the house?, is he a Muslim??"
Nick (my friend) - " No he is Indian, a Hindu"
P - "What is Hindu? So he is not muslim right?"
N - " No its not muslim, its a religion in India"
P - " Ok Ok, thats perfect, and does he keep a Beard ?? "
N - " No, i have seen him clean shaven most of the times"
P - " Oh then perfect!. No Problems!!"
This is a real story.
Also, during the palace party, I invited a lot of my Indian friends to the party, and the neighbours complained to the Police that a lot of Middle Eastern People are walking in the area with boxes (which had beer), at the middle of the night
So, I need to not keep a beard, dont say anything abt religion and maybe paint myself white to survive :)
Nikunj!
