The Greatest Show on Earth

5.5. million Tourists, 25000 Journalists, 10000 Athletes, 28 Sports, and 302 Events the 29th version of the Modern Olympic has begun. Good Afternoon The ultimate mission for every Sportsperson, the most mesmerizing event for the audience all over the World, The “Greatest Show on Earth” has started rocking in the land of Dragon with its’ most spectacular and gigantic form. In the night of all 8’s 8-8-8 at 8 p.m, with the burning of Olympic Torch at the center of the Nation Stadium of China “Niao Chao” meaning “Birds’ nest”, this 16 day long event has started roaring.

Sports, as we all know, are the mirrors of the society. The summer Olympic which is staged every four years and the showpiece of this planet’s sporting talent, is the testament of this. The journey of the Olympic was started around 2500 years ago in the year about 376 B.C in the holy land of Olympia in Greece. Firstly it was confined within the Greeks, but as its popularity expanded, the competitor came also from Macedonia and Roman Empire. This ancient version was also staged every four years. The only prize that was given to the winners was the Olive wreath placed upon their heads. Though the prize was small, the winner had become the Hero of the town he represented. This lasted almost 1100 years up to 393 A.D when it was demolished by Roman Empire Theodosius who considered it as pagan.

Then it’s a gap over a millennium when it was reinvented. Thanks to the missionary jell of Frenchman “Robert Pierre de Coubertin” who actually revived the Olympics in the land of Athens in the year 1896. From that it has crossed so many hurdles to reach to its 29th edition. During its journey from 1896 Athens to the Beijing 2008, it has shown the rose of so many superstars, amazing performances, and unbelievable achievements. How can we forget the fight of famous Boxer Md. Ali? How can we forget the heart-breaking 400m race in which Our “Indian Flying” Milkha Singh finished 4th with the World Record in the 1960 Rome Olympic? How can we forget the unbelievable perfect ten made by the 14 year old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comanecci in 1976 Olympic or amazing run by Florence Griffith Joyner in 1988 Seoul Olympic? There are many exciting memories in the history of Olympic. This gigantic and most diverse sporting event gave birth so many all-time sporting legends like Athlete Carl Lewis or Pavo Nurmi, Swimmer Mark Spitz or Pole-vaulter Sergei Bubca and many more.

Olympic, as it’s the greatest event of the World, is directly linked with the Society and Politics. Its not possible to keep away Politics from it. On its way, it has passed by 2 World Wars and one cold war, those wars couldn’t prevent its spectacular run, rather gave it a competitive edge. It’s true that Olympic is an event which can radically change the political, economical and social status of the Host nation and the organizing country always took this advantage. It’s obvious that the main purpose of tha Chinese government to successfully organize this type of gigantic event is to present a progressive and modern China to all over the World. It’s not the 1st time. In 1896 in Greece and in 1908 in London, the Greek and British royal family respectively made it sure that they were always in the spotlight. Same goes to the tsar Nicholas in Moscow Olympic. But undoubtedly, the pernicious act was shown by the Nazi dictator Adolph Hitler in the 1936 Berlin Olympic. Hitler realized the propaganda value of using this event to showcase the racist message of superiority to the world. But finally and fortunately the Nazi Myths turned to dust.

Now, if we look at the Indian concern in the Olympic, it was full of shame. May be we firmly believe in the noble word spoken by the Olympic pioneer Robert Pierre De Coubertin  “the important thing is to participate and not to win medals”. It’s a great sorrow that India, the 2nd most populous country of the world, with more that a billion people, could win only 8 gold medals before this Olympic in its journey of 80 years from year 1928 and all the gold medals came in the form of Field Hockey which is also in the declining stage, even in this Olympic, Hockey team can’t qualify. Last Hockey gold medals came in 1980. After that in 3 consecutive events from 1984 to 1992, we finished without a medal. It’s Leander Paez in Men’s Tennis in 1996, Karnam Maleswari in women’s weight-lifting in 2000 and Rajyabrdhan Singh Rathore in 2004 who saved our country from total ignominy. Now what will happen in Beijing? Can an Indian go one stop more than silver medalist Rathore? Things looked bleak yesterday also. But finally we have a happy news. Today morning, Abhinav Bindra has won the gold medal in the men’s 10 meter air rifle in shooting and it’s the first individual gold medal by any Indian. Now we have started the miracle in this Olympic and hope for more medals in the row and hope that more expectation turn to be a reality.

Now, the Game is going on in Beijing. It has been a great challenge for China to successfully organize an event like that. There have been operational challenges and political controversies. But ultimately the game is going on. In 1908, one American Christian Missionary had posted 3 defiant questions in a local Chinese Newspaper. First question is when a Chinese sportsman attend the Olympic? Second question is when would China win a Olympic gold medal? Third question is When would China host the Olympic? At that point of time, nobody thought of answering those questions as China was a poor and weak country. But after a century, China has finally answered those 3 tough questions and shown the whole world the real power of China. As a neighboring country, we have to learn from them At the end it’s time to watch and enjoy the Dragon Olympic and hope that it will finish without any terrorist attacks and with full perfection and make the most perfect Olympic games ever.