World Wars threatened existence of mankind – there have been plagues and pandemics – but none ever imagined that such a situation would prevail.Covid-19 has stalled everything and has stopped the World from rotating ! – the way people were moving in the World has been changed and challenged, if not stopped !
Still the stoppage is different, working to their advantage – for some – take the example of Laura Wilkinson, a 42-year-old mother working hard to making return to competitive diving after under-going spinal fusion surgery – to her, a year delay in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is not a bad thing - it's a gift. For those wondering why a mother of four is throwing herself off a 10-metre tower, you have to look back two decades when Wilkinson's name might have been familiar. It was a new millennium and Wilkinson, despite being hobbled by a broken foot, had just spectacularly won gold on the 10-metre platform at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Her triumph ended Chinese domination of the event stretching back to the 1984 Los Angeles Games. No American woman diver has won Olympic gold in any diving discipline since.
Comebacks have long
been a staple of the sporting genre but Wilkinson's return has all the elements
of a unique feel-good story. Her journey not only evokes memories of Tiger
Woods' comeback following career-saving back surgery, but also exhibits the
same kind of determination Serena Williams has shown in returning to
competition after giving birth. To top it off, Wilkinson will also be facing an
element of danger that neither Woods or Williams have to contend with when they
are swinging a club or a racket respectively. Living
with the risk that one small miss-step while crashing into the water at 38 mph
might leave you a paraplegic adds another layer of drama to what is already a
compelling return. Throw in a coronavirus pandemic that has turned the sporting
world upside down and delayed the 2020 Tokyo Games for a year, Wilkinson,
should she earn one of two spots on the US squad, will be 43 when she steps
onto the Olympic tower again. Her goal is not just to climb back to the top of
an Olympic 10-metre platform but to stand on top of the podium by becoming the
oldest woman diver to win gold.
Olympics is very
interesting and challenging ! ~ with 57
athletes, India headed to the 2008 Beijing Olympics with its biggest contingent
at the time and came back with its most successful medal haul till then, with a
first-ever individual gold medal courtesy of shooter Abhinav Bindra icing the
treat. Aside from the gold, India also bagged two bronze medals, thus improving
on India’s two prior performances at the 1900 Paris Olympics where Norman
Pritchard won two silver medals, and the 1952 Helsinki Olympics that saw the
India hockey men’s team and Dadasaheb Jadhav win a gold and bronze medal
respectively. Beijing 2008 whetted India’s appetite for what was to come in the
following edition when India would double its record with six medals.
In every
Olympics or perhaps in every Athletic event, the most attractive one is 100m
dash.The brain is the unseen muscle behind all
great athletes. In the 100-metre sprint it has to work on autopilot. The moment the starting pistol is fired, the
brain sends a signal to the muscles and everything goes into automatic mode. A
runner’s body remains low, muscles contract to create the force necessary to
push against the starting blocks. Then it’s time to accelerate. At least
halfway into the race, athletes hit maximum velocity. Now the foot strikes the
ground with a force equal to more than three times body weight. It’s a huge
impact. The braking phase and the push-off phase must be equal to maintain
maximum velocity.
The
greatest race in the Olympics is the simplest. It is over in less than 10
seconds ! Eight runners, eight straight lines. A bang, an explosion of muscle
and, less than ten seconds later, a winner. And all they do is run. No bikes,
boats, vaults or horses – just one foot in front of the other. Yet, in those
three dozen blinks of an eye, sprinters in the 100m perform physical feats so
advanced that scientists are still trying to understand them.
With the world
coming to a standstill due to the coronavirus outbreak, leaders and eminent
personalities across the globe have called for social distancing and staying
indoors and the legendary Usain Bolt has given his own spin to the directive by
posting a picture of him winning an Olympic sprint way ahead of his
competitors. Taking to Twitter, he posted the picture from the finishing line
and wrote: "Social Distancing” !
Sportspersons
across the globe have called for people to stay indoors as we fight the
pandemic that has taken lives all over the world. In fact, PM Narendra Modiji recently spoke to sports personalities in
India and asked them to keep spreading awareness as the country fights the
outbreak. "As our Honourable Prime Minister, Shri @NarendraModi ji just
announced, the whole country is going into a lockdown starting midnight today
for the next 21 days. My request will remain the same, PLEASE STAY AT HOME.
#SocialDistancing is the only cure for Covid 19," Kohli had tweeted after
the announcement of the lockdown till April 14. It has now been extended till
May 3. BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had also urged all to stay at home and
said that citizens across the world should listen to what their government
says. "Let''s fight this together .. we will get over this. Be sensible
and do not try things. Listen to what the state government says," he had
said in a video tweet.
Eight-time Olympic
gold medal sprinter Usain Bolt is encouraging people to social distance by
showing off how he’s been practicing the cautionary act since the 2008 Beijing
Olympics.The fastest man on the planet
became a track phenom at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Bolt dominated the 100m
dash, setting the then world record with a 9.69 second sprint. At the tail-end
of the race, Bolt – who was easily a few steps ahead of his competitors – broke
form and put his arms out to the side in a truly iconic moment. Even the
showboating didn’t stop the famous sprinter from setting a world record.
Bolt reminded us
all of that iconic moment in his latest tweet on Sunday. The fastest sprinter
of all-time sent out a “social distancing” meme for Easter Sunday. The Jamaican world record holder
lightheartedly included a photo of him crossing the finish line way ahead of
his opponents at, what looks to be, the government-recommended six-foot
distance people should keep from each other during these unprecedented times.
Interesting !
With regards – S. Sampathkumar 15.4.2020.
