Knappily Olympics Magazine

Extensive coverage by
Knappily
Contents
Quiet flows the River of January
Five rings to fool them all
Rio Olympics: WHO says game on
12
Been a long time coming
19
Rio is ready for the real carnival
24
The greatest show on earth kicks off
32
The Russians wont run in Rio
37
Putting the game down
45
Rio gets The Taste of India
52
The return of the Olympic underdogs
59
The world Bolt dominates
66
Lifting a nation
73
Rio gears up for Simone Biles
80
Doping scandal: Conspiracy against Narsingh?
87
Mirabai Chanu: Medal or nothing
94
Giving his best shot
103
The epitome of a fighter
110
Crash and burn and rise
117
The one man team from India
124
Deepika seeks redemption at Rio
130
The vault of her life
137
This is it
144
The history is now
151
The waiter racer walker from India
156
Can Yogeshwar bag the elusive gold?
163
Dutee Chand: the relentless fighter
170
Part rower, part farmer, every bit fighter
177
Because she can
184
The last woman running
191
Bolt is in the house
197
Mo and steady wins the race
205
Kelmendi does it for Kosovo
210
Sakshi Malik ends Indias medal drought
217
Sindhu storms into Rio final, assured of silver
224
The men are back
230
Medals, morals and Russia
236
Zika is no zoke
245
The Bahrain drain
252
The Art of Losing in Style
259
India must look beyond the medals
265
Of underperformances and heartbreaks
272
Thank You, Rio
279
The Parallel Olympics have begun
286
Their medals count for less
293
Beyond the noise
300
The blind side of football
311
The revenge of the Russian hackers
316
Mind over matter
325
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1
13/8/2016
There is so much more to Rio than the Olympics. Rio has got it all: the
latitude of the tropics, the swing of Africa and the European flavour that
comes from half a millennium of immigration. The teeming metropolis
was once an undeveloped natural bay which became the site of a European battle for the New World. Knappily revisits Rio de Janeiro. This
time from the very beginning.
WHAT
What is the history of Rio de Janeiro?
After clapping eyes on the natural port of the Baa de Guanabara
(Guanabara Bay), Rio was settled by the Portuguese in 1502
who mistook the bay for a river - and founded in 1565. French
and Portuguese expeditions fought over Rio until 1567, when the
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Portuguese governor, Mem de
S, expelled the French. The
French also wanted to make the
best of the strategic position of
Rio in the Brazilian region. More
settlers arrived from Portugal and
they gradually integrated with the
indigenous people. Over the next
200 years, Rio developed as a
major port, fighting off successive
military incursions from French and other European invaders.
By 1769, when it took over from Salvador as the Brazilian capital, Rio
had 50,000 inhabitants. The coffee boom brought great wealth
to the city, with huge plantations spreading deep into Rio state.
Fleeing the Napoleonic wars in Europe, the Portuguese royal
family moved to Rio in 1808, triggering the transformation of a
simple colony into the capital of the Brazilian Empire.
The story behind the name: The Portuguese navigators named
the city Rio de Janeiro (the River of January), mistakenly thinking
it was an enormous river mouth.
WHY
Why were the Portuguese competing with the French?
The failureof the Portuguese to establish a presence in Brazil enabled
ships from other nations, principally France, to plunder its coast. By
the 1510s, and possibly earlier
still, mariners from Brittany and
Normandy were visiting Brazil
to collect wood, offering the
natives trinkets, metal tools and
weapons in exchange for their
labour.
In the 1520s these activities
increased: in the first half of 1529
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alone, some 200 tons of brazil-wood arrived in the port of Honfleur.

Over time, French merchants also began to export the pepper-like
berry of the Schinus terebinthifolia plant. Although such voyages
were private ventures, the French crown, in principle, had few
qualms about them.
As French visits grew more flagrant, the Portuguese took counter
measures, appealing to Francis I to prevent encroachments by
sending patrols along Brazils coast. The most notable of these was
led by Martim Afonso de Sousa, from 1530 to 1532.The growing
Portuguese presence in the north-east in the 1530s and 1540s
deflected French ships towards Rio.
WHEN
When did Rio see its Golden Era?
At the end of the 19th century the citys population exploded because
of European immigration and internal migration (mostly of ex-slaves
from the declining coffee and sugar regions). By 1890 Rio boasted
more than a million inhabitants, a quarter of them foreign-born,
and the city spread rapidly.
The early 1920s to the late 1950s were Rios golden age.
With the inauguration of the grand hotels (the Glria in 1922 and
theCopacabanaPalace in 1924), Rio became a romantic, exotic
destination for Hollywood celebrities and international high
society who came to play and gamble at the casinos and dance or
perform in the nightclubs.
Rio continued to change.
Important new institutions were
founded, the Brazilian railway
was inaugurated in 1858, and the
first steamship service crossed
the bay to Niteri in 1862. The
population continued to grow
through the 1930s and 40s.
Rio became and remained the
political, economic and cultural
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centre of Brazil. Many important artisans, leaders, writers and
important people played a significant role in the cultural development
of the city. Along with being the busiest port in Brazil, the rail &
road infrastructure lead to a development of the trade industry.
Christ the Redeemer arrived in Rio in 1931.

This definitive landmark of Rio is a 30 metres tall Art Deco statue
of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, created by Polish-French
sculptor Paul Landowski and built by the Brazilian engineer Heitor da
Silva Costa, in collaboration with the French engineer Albert Caquot.
The face was created by the Romanian artist Gheorghe Leonida.
A symbol of Christianity across the world, the statue has also become
a cultural icon of both Rio de Janeiro and Brazil, and is listed as one
of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
WHERE
Where did the Brazilian capital shift to in 1961?
After World War II, Rio shifted from an agricultural economy to an
industrial economy. Bridges were built between important cities,
skyscrapers were constructed and free-ways were developed. The
population of the city increased in gigantic proportions and
this turned out to be a curse. Even if labour was in need for the
industries to develop, labourers were in excess and the number of
poor and unskilled people increased. This situation exists even
today and puts intense pressure on Rios resources.
Brazils capital relocated from
overcrowded Rio de Janeiro
to the planned, built city of
Brasilia in 1961. Upon its
establishment as Brazils capital,
Brasilia experienced very rapid
growth. Brazils capital change
was considered a success, and
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many countries have been inspired by Brazils capital relocation

achievement.
The idea of the new buildings and the plan of Brasilia itself were to
create an image of a modern Brazil. It was a contrast with the old
tradition, the old Brazil which Rio stands for.
The idea was to develop the vast swaths of jungle and plain that
held natural riches and seemingly endless farm land. But there was
no population centre to anchor such development.
During the 1956-1961 term of President Juscelino Kubitschek,
whose motto was 50 Years of Progress in Five, the city was
finally built in 41 months, no less, with labourers toiling 24 hours
a day until the inauguration.
WHO
Who are the citizens of Rio?
Rio as is Brazil in general - is characterised by centuries of
immigration from all parts of the world: the systematic settlement of
European invaders, in particular the Portuguese, but also Spaniards,
the Dutch, the English and the French, began more than three
hundred years ago.
Brazil, the fifth biggest country in the world in terms of area
and population, is primarily known in Europe as an attractive
holiday destination and former immigration country. Between the
first Portuguese settlement in the 16th century and the Second
World War, more than four
million people migrated to
the country, most of them
Europeans.
In this first phase of mass
immigration,European migrants
were needed above all as
workers in the agricultural
sector, for coffee cultivation in
Southeast Brazil and later for
the spread of industrialisation.
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In a second wave of immigration between 1910 and 1929 more than

one and a half million migrants entered the country to be employed,
once again, in agriculture. The immigrants again originated primarily
from Portugal, Italy, Spain, Russia and Germany, many of them
looking for a fresh start after the First World War.
HOW
How is Rio doing today?
The capital of Brazil was
moved from Rio to Brasilia
to reduce the economic
and financial pressure on
Rio. Political power was
moved to the interior of the
country. Today along with
its different ethnic groups,
Rio is making its presence
felt in the industrial, service
and tourism sector. Major
multinational
companies
have their headquarters in
Rio and the city does have its influence on the Brazilian economy,
as a whole.
The citys economic and social prominence has only been growing
since the 18th century after it became the main trade centre for the
gold- and diamond-mining areas of nearbyMinas Gerais.
While Sao Paulo became entrenched as Brazils economic
heartland and Braslia strengthened its position as the political
hub, residents of Rio increasingly pride themselves on being the
countrys cultural centre and Brazils most salient symbol to the
rest of the world.
You can be forgiven for thinking that Rio de Janeiro is the capital of Brazil.
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REFERENCES
Rio de Janeiro History
Rio de Janeiro
Origins of Rio
Rio de Janeiro History
Focus Migration: Brazil
7/8/2016
As the fireworks and the rousing speeches captivated a global audi-
ence, the citizens of Brazil were left fumingly unimpressed with the lack
of priorities that their country illustrated. With millions of dollars spent
unnecessarily to healthcare in doldrums, the country of Brazil may not
be ready to host an event like the Olympics. Knappily analyses the implications of being a host nation.
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WHAT
What is Brazils current situation?
Brazil has declared a financial
crisis, with its police and
executive force remaining
unpaid for several months now.
They are currently suffering
from their worst recession in
decades and the inflation has
rocketed to new highs.
US$100million has been spent
so far in the Olympics, but the
infrastructure at the host cities is nowhere near habitable.
Athletes have demanded alternate accommodation due to out-ofcondition toilets and exposed wiring at the Olympic Village.
Furthermore, an unprecedented outbreak of the Zika virus is putting
people in danger of microcephaly, which could lead to blindness,
deafness and epilepsy.
The Brazilian State is in absolute turmoil, and will be reeling from the
economic, medical and political repercussions of their unfounded
desire to host the Games for a long time.
WHY
Why are the conditions so deplorable?
Brazil, long known as the cultural home of sports like football, was
an almost natural choice for the International Olympic Committee as
host nation when the bidding was underway.
As the years went on and the dates of the Games loomed large,
Brazil saw the opportunity as more of a catastrophe; no preparation,
no on-ground staff, no amenities and barely any money left was the
scenario a few months prior to the Games.
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Brazils economy imploded

since instating Dilma Rousseff
as President in 2011, and has
reached fearsome depths
today.
As if that wasnt enough,
suspended President Rousseff
and a few others were found
guilty of budget fraud the day
prior to the opening ceremony
of the 2016 Olympics and were called on trial which is awaited.
As winners of the hosting bid, however, Brazil had to go ahead
with housing the thousands of athletes and many more fans of the
sporting world to their home.
Brazil is red-faced on the world stage, with appalling
accommodation, impossibly poor health care and financial frailty
of a magnitude the largest nation in South America has never
experienced, all coinciding unceremoniously with their first time
of hosting the Olympics.
WHEN
When did the meltdown occur?
In 2009, then President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva made
a memorable and stirring
presentation in front of the IOC
to procure the right to host the
2016 Olympics.
He was supported in his
endeavour by Brazilian sporting
greats like Pele to submit and
win the bid to welcome the
worlds greatest sporting event to Brazil.
Today, Lulas, and indeed all of Brazils, dream has turned into a
nightmare they cant wake up from, as everything tumbles out of control.
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In 2011, Lula stepped down as President of the seventh largest

economy in the world, and had brought Brazil to the pinnacle of
its growth, making it a standard in Latin America for its economic
progress.
However, his handpicked successor Dilma Rousseff has ruffled a lot
of feathers during her time in office, as she faces impeachment.
Since Lulas time in office and his visionary ideas and economic
models for Brazil, much has changed, with Rousseffs reign driving
the economy into the ground, unemployment growing and public
services deteriorating.
WHERE
Where do the Games go from here?
As was the case with the FIFA
World Cup 2014, Brazil has
spent hefty sums of money on
new stadiums, infrastructure and
world class sporting equipment
for the worlds athletes to enjoy.
The centrepiece of Rios
celebratory
and
sporting
endeavour, the Maracan
stadium, which also hosted
the opening ceremony, has been renovated with state-of-theart technology installed, with a new polytetrafluoroethylene roof
constructed from scratch in place of the existing concrete one.
It is clear that Brazil are spending, under whatever conditions,
to ensure that the Olympics go smoothly and they keep up the
responsibility of being the host nation.
However, things get difficult from here on in, as final stages approach,
more supporters fly in to watch the Games and athletes are in need
of recuperation and recreation.
These 3 weeks will perhaps drain Brazil of all its deposited funds,
and the nation as a whole will struggle post the Olympics, say major
economists like Peter Hakim.
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WHO
Who is to be blamed?
Lula cannot take the blame for his
nations downfall since his exit as
president; although he is doing
everything he can to tarnish his
name. A week ago, a federal judge
ruled that Lula must stand trial in the
political graft and kickback scheme
born in his government.
Lulas government did not save up
for a rainy day, and went ahead with
extravagant spending in their boom
years instead of responsibly keeping money aside for a situation
exactly like this.
The bribery scandal intensified under Rousseffs reign, who now
faces impeachment under several grounds, and currently stands
suspended, replaced by her vice-president Michel Temer.
However, there is hope in the form of Brazils new finance minister
Henrique Meirelles, who knows the Brazilian economic topography
well and brings the confidence and experience of being the former
chairman of Brazils central bank.
Economists and financial analysts diagnosed Lulas time-bomb
schematic and concurred that the only loophole in the plan was
that it required a certain discipline in testing times, something Brazil
lacked entirely, and what new finance minister Meirelles possesses in
abundance.
HOW
How will Brazil cope with this challenge?
As the economic scenario goes, there seems to be no end in sight,
but Brazil will have to do all they can to preserve their financial status
and rejuvenate it.
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One thing is absolutely certain,

and that is that the new model
that they will adopt under
Meirelles will be very similar to
Lulas original model, and will
work on Brazils core identity
and strengths such as its public
service and its transformation
of below-poverty-line citizens to
the middle class.
For the Rio 2016 Olympics however, there is no cause for dramatic
concern, as Brazil look well equipped despite their background
conditions, to pull off a sensational event.
The Games have faced no glitch at the sporting level so far, with
complaints rising only from the housing and medical sectors, and
Brazil will look to do whatever they can to plug these holes.
REFERENCES
Brazil opens Olympics with Olympic corruption
Brazils Already Regretting the Olympics
Heres what really went wrong with Brazils economy
Are Rios hospitals ready for the Olympics?
29/5/2016
The World Health Organisation has played down calls to move or
postpone the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro due to the threat

posed by the Zika virus. The WHO was sent an open letter by 152
health experts who feared that the virus could spread more rapidly
around the world as a result of an influx of Olympic visitors to Rio,
which is afflicted with Zika.
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WHAT
What had the scientist advised?
With just 10 weeks before
the Olympic Games in Rio
de Janeiro, 152 leading
scientists have written an
open letter to the World Health
Organization (WHO) saying
new findings about the virus
make staging the event in
the city irresponsible and
unethical and have urged
the Games to be moved or delayed to help prevent the spread of
Zika virus.
They cite the failure of a mosquito-eradication programme in Brazil,
and the countrys weakened health system as reasons to postpone
or move the Olympics in the name of public health.
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An unnecessary risk is posed when 500,000 foreign tourists from

all countries attend the Games, potentially acquire that strain, and
return home to places where it can become endemic, it said. Should
that happen to poor, as-yet unaffected places the suffering can be
great, said the letter.
Zika can cause birth defects, including a devastating syndrome
known as microcephaly in which babies are born with unusually
small heads and brains.
Nearly 1,300 babies have been born in Brazil with the irreversible
defect since the mosquito-borne Zika began circulating there last
year.
WHY
Why did the WHO reject the call for moving Olympics out of
Rio?
The World Health Organization
(WHO) has rejected calls to
cancel or postpone the Olympic
Games in Rio de Janeiro over
the Zika virus.
It said in a statement: Based
on
current
assessment,
cancelling or changing the
location of the 2016 Olympics
will not significantly alter
the international spread of Zika virus. Brazil is one of almost 60
countries and territories which to-date report continuing transmission
of Zika by mosquitoes. People continue to travel between these
countries and territories for a variety of reasons. The best way to
reduce risk of disease is to follow public health travel advice.
The WHO has already advised pregnant women not to go to Rio
(they are the most vulnerable) and says travellers should avoid
poor and overcrowded parts of the city.
The UN agency also predicts the Zika risk will drop in August, with
the South American winter resulting in fewer mosquitoes.
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In essence, the WHO has not said that there is no such risk; its
statement indicates that the virus will spread anyway!
Top-ranked tennis player Novak Djokovic has supported the WHO
saying that cancelling the Olympics is unthinkable and, for the
moment, he is still planning to compete at the Rio de Janiero Games,
despite worries about the Zika virus.
No Olympic Games have ever been moved from its host city
due to medical concerns.
WHEN
Since when has Zika been troubling South America?
It started with a game,
actually. Zika virus may have
been introduced following an
international canoe event held
in Rio de Janeiro in August of
2014, which hosted competitors
from various Pacific islands, a
study suggests.
Researchers believe that the
mosquitoes may have been
carried to Brazil in canoes or sporting equipment from the South
Pacific islands, where the virus was already rife in 2014.
Study from the samples taken from 364 patients in Brazil with
severe skin rashes from January through July 2015 reported that
119 patients had genetic material called RNA in their bodies that
indicated they had been infected by Zika, and this strain was similar
to that of Asian Zika virus strains.
Some reports had linked the Zika breakout to the 2014 FIFA World
Cup tournament held the same year, but this is now thought unlikely
as no infected Pacific island nations competed.
The Zika virus outbreak in Brazil was soon followed by a high number
of microcephaly cases, in which babies are born with abnormally
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15
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small heads. The link between the two is not definitively understood,
but is strongly suspected.
Thus far, there is no vaccine for the virus. But since it is a selfremitting disease, a person can be hopeful of being cured within a
week or two, and the treatment is usually symptomatic.
WHERE
Where is Zika still present?
It was first identified in 1947
in the Zika forest in Uganda.
For decades, it laid low in
Africa and Southeast Asia,
with just 14 documented cases
until 2007, when the first major
Zika outbreak hit Yap Island
in Micronesia. Other Pacific
Islands began to see more
cases, and in 2013, there was
another outbreak in French Polynesia.
The current outbreak began in Brazil in May 2015 and has since
spread to 40 other countries in North and South America, plus
Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
The World Health Organisation has now issued a warning that it
could spread to Europe in the summer months.
It is transmitted to people primarily through the bite of an infected
female mosquitoes, primarily Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus,
during the day time and infected humans are the main carriers and
multipliers of the virus, and serving as a source of the virus for
uninfected mosquitoes who are capable of transmitting the virus for
the rest of its life.
There is no way to tell if a mosquito is carrying the zika virus.
Adding to the complicaitons is the revelation that there have been
confirmed reports of cases of sexual transmission and of perinatal
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transmission (mother to baby). In theory, Zika virus could be

spread through blood transfusion.
WHO
Who are most vulnerable to Zika Virus?
For the relatively few people
who show signs of a Zika
infection, the illness is often
very mild and only onein-five people infected is
thought to develop symptoms.
Symptoms include: mild fever,
conjunctivitis, headache, joint
pain and rashes.
But in pregnant woman, as
this virus has now been shown to pass through amniotic fluid to the
growing baby, the effects can include pregnancy loss or a baby born
with an abnormally small head and brain a condition known as
microcephaly.
Microcephaly is when a baby is born with an abnormally small head,
as their brain has not developed properly. The severity varies, but
it can be deadly if the brain is so underdeveloped that it cannot
regulate the functions vital to life.
All those regions which are warm, having humid climate and pockets
of poverty or regions which are home to mosquitoes are equally
vulnerable in transmitting the virus.
India offers a similar environment to the virus. Infection of the Zika
virus happens when the Aedes mosquito bites a person - the same
mosquito also transmits the Dengue virus and is found widely in
India. Perhaps India has been lucky so far to not be visited by Zika;
the Olympics will provide a window of opportunity to this virus. Proper
screening will be required for the visitors and sportspersons going
to Rio.
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HOW
How is Brazil fighting Zika?
With an integrated universal
public healthcare system that
provides free treatment, Brazil
has reacted swiftly since the
identification of the epidemic
outbreak, with a view to
understanding the virus, the
manner that it appears and
evolves, as well as the risk
factors associated. Brazilian
health experts were able to make a swift association of microcephaly
with the Zika virus.
The Brazilian government has created a task force that is without
precedent with financial, technological and scientific resources
aimed at the prevention and fight against the mosquito transmitting
the disease for short, medium- and long-term periods.
Around 220,000 personnel from the army, navy and air force have
joined 300,000 public agents and volunteers all over Brazil to combat
breeding grounds in every house.
Brazil has been congregating the efforts of specialists in various
areas of medicine from all over the world in order to carry out research
in the country.
The government has been coordinating the international effort in
the fight against the Zika virus, launched with the mobilization of
Latin American and Caribbean countries, and in partnership with the
government of the United States for the production of a vaccine
Brazil has waited for long to host the Olympics. With the economy going
down and the government in perpetual crisis, the Olympics offer the only
hope to the Brazilians. They are not letting a virus kill that hope, are they?
The WHO says the games must go on. The real game, however, will be
between the visitors and the virus.
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REFERENCES
Zika crisis: WHO rejects move Rio Olympics call
Explainer: Where did Zika virus come from and why is it a problem
in Brazil?
Zika outbreak: Where is the virus spreading?
Rio 2016 Olympics should move due to Zika concerns, say 150
experts
02/08/2016
In a real-life telling of the iconic Chak de India, the Indian womens
hockey team has qualified for the Rio Olympics 2016, and have broken
strongly past both social barriers and knockout jitters to make it to the
top 12 in the world. Knappily looks at the stories of these heroic players,
and what this opportunity means to Indian hockey.
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WHAT
What is the story?
The Indian Womens National
Hockey team, led by Sushila
Chanu Pukhrambam, were
ranked 13th and knew full well
that it would take more than
their best to break into the top
12 and qualify for Rio.
Over the qualification stages,
India punched, kicked, passed
and scored well above their
weight to join the worlds elite
at the upcoming Olympics, the first since 1980.
India are confident of facing the big guns such as the US, Argentina
and of course, long-standing and overachieving rivals, Australia.
Neil Hawgood, incidentally an Australian national, has been Indias
coach since 2012, and has handled the reins with great acumen,
and will look to steer this dedicated chariot forward at yet another
hurdle.
The coaching staff members in the Indian camp reveal that by their
plans, India target to reach the quarter finals at the very least, but
dont think its impossible to go all the way.
WHY
Why is this encouraging?
Over the last 5 years, India has
tried to stage a grand return for
its national sport, by means of
a privately-funded league and
more emphasis on coaches
and training programs.
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This result on the path to the worlds most famous and glittering
sporting event will provide a much-needed boost to the revival of
hockey in the Indian sport sector.
Furthermore, the age of some members of the team is astonishing,
with 21-year old Rani Rampal being one of the senior players in the
squad.
The focus on youth and grassroots development is uplifting for fans
and well-wishers of hockey, and will be of immense help in setting
up a platform for a strong solid team that can play together for years
at its prime.
In light of recent social transformations and the increased emphasis
on gender equality and feminism, this triumph also serves as an
example for women all across India to continue to work hard, even
in spheres generally dominated by men such as sport, and achieve
their dreams.
WHEN
When did Indian women last compete at the Olympics?
Moscow 1980 was the first Olympics to include womens hockey, and
India were privileged to play in the maiden tournament, representing
the subcontinent in the USSR.
Nearly two generations ago, Indian men won a nervous final against
Spain 4-3, but the headlines were shared with the womens team
who placed fourth in an intensely competitive tournament.
Members of that team from 36 years ago have since moved on to
various professions, with Eliza Nelson and Prem Maya close to
retirement from their regular jobs.
Sudha Chaudhry, who was a magnificent presence in the team, is
now the mother of a 26-year old. In perspective, only two players of
the current squad are over 26!
If theres one thing that todays team can take from the heroic women
of 1980, it is their perseverance and will to compete at the highest
level, and after greater preparation and training, the women of 2016
are looking to better their compatriots record at the Olympics.
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WHERE
Where can India go from here?
After clinching third place at the
2014 Asian Games, India were
in good stead in their pursuit of
a spot amongst Olympians in
2016.
A
gold
each
in
the
Commonwealth Games, Asian
Games, Hockey Asia Cup and
the Afro-Asian Games will
be nothing more than dusty
medals in a cabinet on the other side of the world when the Girls in
Blue line up in Rio this August.
The top 12 teams post qualification have been bifurcated, and India
are placed in Group B, with three of the current top 5 in the FIH
World Rankings, namely, Argentina (2nd), Australia (3rd) and the
United States (5th).
However, four of the six teams from each group will qualify for
the quarterfinals, and India will take strength from this generous
opportunity.
From that stage onward, though, the tournament will really heat up,
and Neil Hawgood will hope that his team is completely ready for the
challenge, and that his tactics are executed to the hilt.
WHO
Who are Indias key players?
Captain Sushila Chanu is the embodiment of the quiet and
dedicated worker bee, focused on the job at hand and not distracted
by the flutter of the outside world. Leading India Juniors to the 2013
Junior WC in Germany brought her to the attention of national team
selectors, and she has since amassed 112 caps with the Blues, and
is now named skipper for the 2016 Olympics.
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Jharkhands
first
hockey
Olympian, Nikki Pradhan, has
a cinematic rise to the national
team, after being denied a
spot in 2011. She still lives in a
thatched mud hut with improper
infrastructure, but none of that
gets in the way when she picks
up a hockey stick.
Hailed as Indias best female
hockey forward in history, Rani Rampal brings extraordinary
composure and skill to the spearhead, and seamlessly manages a
billion dreams on her lean but legendary shoulders. This daughter
of a cart-puller knows how far she has come and how big this
opportunity is.
The complete squad: Sushila Chanu (Captain and Defender), Navjot
Kaur, Deep Grace Ekka, Monika, Nikki Pradhan, Anuradha Devi
Thokchom, Savita Punia (senior goalie), Poonam Rani, Vandana
Katariya, Deepika (vice-captain), Namita Toppo, Renuka Yadav,
Sunita Lakra, Rani Rampal, Preeti Dubey and Lilima Minz.
HOW
How do the team members feel about the upcoming challenge?
Our morale is high, (At
Antwerp), we beat many of the
teams who will play against us
in Rio Vandana Kataria
(because of sport), my father
never discriminated between
his daughter and his son.
Jaspreet Kaur
Exposure against top teams
has taught us what to expect in
Rio. Ritu Rani
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expectations are high but this is what every sportsperson dreams

of. I want to do well in the Olympics and make history. Rani Rampal
Play not to become an Olympian. Play in such a way that
the country is proud to call you an Olympian former Indian
Olympian striker, Pritam Siwach (nicknamed Lady Dhanraj Pillai)
If these girls win, and win they must, they will be accused of plagiarising
their script from that of Chak de India. The plagiarism may have already
begun.
REFERENCES
A cherished dream, 36 years in the making
Who is Sushila Chanu?
Meet the first Indian womens hockey Olympic qualifiers ever
06/08/2016
In just a few hours, the Maracana Stadium will host the opening cer-
emony of the Rio Olympic Games as Brazil looks to put all the doom
and gloom and mosquitoes of the past few months behind it and make
the world celebrate the carnival of sports for the next 17 days. Knappily
braces itself for the grandest of all events which makes us go faster,
higher and stronger.
Rio 2016
WHAT
What is Rio looking like now?
The 31st Olympic Games
officially starts in Rio, Brazil
with the opening ceremony at
the Maracana Stadium. This
is the first time Olympics are
being held in South America.
It is being estimated that an
astonishing 3 billion people will
watch the opening ceremony. This ceremony features 300 dancers,
5000 volunteers and 12000 costumes. Rio is looking colorful now.
When has it looked any less?
There are nearly 10,500 athletes from 207 nations along with a
Refugee Olympic Team participating in this event. They are here to
compete in 31 sports. The surge in adrenaline is palpable in all the
athletes. The same excitement is being seen in the audience flowing
from around the globe. The mood in the Olympic Village is light and
positive now, a sharp contrast to the recent headlines that called into
question the readiness of the accommodation.
This is the first time that Kosovo and South Sudan are taking part
in Olympic Games.
The United States, with 554 athletes, is the largest Olympic team,
and the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu is the nation only with one
athlete Etimoni Timuani participating as 100m sprinter.
India is sending its largest contingent ever with 119 athletes, with
highest numbers in badminton and shooting.
These games are the first to feature Olympians born since the year
2000 - and the youngest is 13-year-old Nepalese swimmer Gaurika
Singh.
Rio Olympics marks the return of golf and rugby to the Olympics.
Golf is returning after a 112-year absence but without more than 20
of its top players due to Zika fears. Rugby sevens will be making
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its debut at the Olympics, although rugby union featured regularly at

the Games until 1924.
Although the Games officially will take place between 5th and 21st
August, they have already started 2 days ago with the Womens
football.
Vinicius, who? I am the Rio Olympic Games mascot, a mixture
of all the Brazilian animals. I was born out of the explosion of joy that
happened when they announced that Rio would host the Olympic
Games, on 2 October 2009.
WHY
Why do Olympic Games matter?
The Olympic Games are not
any sporting event. They are
the grandest of all spectacles
and the highest of all platforms
for sportspersons, offering an
arena for nations to compete
without fighting another World
War. They are held every 4
years, but if you follow both
Summer and Winter Olympics
- the feast comes every 2
years.
Legacy: These games carry the legacy of ancient Greek tradition.
It brings people from across the world together to share common
values for about two weeks and makes them compete as strongly
as they can.
Athletes experience: These games expose the athlete to the
ultimate competition in her career. It is a prestigious moment in an
athletes career because there is no other competition in the world
that brings the top athletes of each country together. Just participating
in such an event itself is an honor of a lifetime. To win a medal is an
experience only a few fortunate ones on this planet experience. And
Rio 2016
it is through them that the rest of the world lives every moment of
the Games.
Audiences experience: This event also brings viewers and fans
together. This is an opportunity that comes once in 4 years for the
viewers - to watch the best athletes compete against each other,
cheer for their favorite athletes and enjoy the best among the best
performances.
Stories to keep for life: Many new champions will emerge in the
next two weeks, but it would have taken a lifetimes pain for them to
reach the Olympics podium. Then there would be the stories of the
favorite contenders not living up to the expectations but declaring
that they will practice more and do better in Tokyo (2020). You will
find the last athlete in the Marathon running to complete the race
even after everyone else has crossed the finish line long back. And
you will know that, at the end of it all, the Olympics is about the
never-say-die spirit in all of us.
WHEN
When were the first Olympic Games held?
The Beginning: According to
historical records, the first ancient
Olympic Games were held in 776 B.C.
The participants allowed to compete at
the Games in Olympia were all Greek
male citizens regardless of their social
status. The winner was crowned with
red ribbons tied on his head and
hands as a symbol of victory and also
received a palm branch.
Continuity: From the 8th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D., the
Games were held every four years in Olympia, located in the western
Peloponnese peninsula, in honor of the god Zeus.
Purpose: These Games were secular in character and aimed to
show the physical qualities and evolution of the performances
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accomplished by young people, as well as encouraging good

relations between the cities of Greece.
Decline and ban: After the Roman Empire conquered Greece in the
mid-2nd century B.C., the Games continued, but their standards and
quality declined. After continuing for nearly 12 centuries, Emperor
Theodosius decreed in 393 A.D. that all such pagan cults be
banned.
Revival and break: These Games were revived in the late 19th
century and have become the worlds most prestigious sporting
competition. The first modern Olympics took place in 1896 in
Athens, and featured 280 participants from 13 nations, competing
in 43 events. These Games were not conducted in 1916, 1940 and
1944 due to World Wars (I and II).
Summer vs. Winter: Since 1994, the Summer and Winter Olympic
Games have been held separately and have alternated every two
years.
Continuing the legacy: To continue the ancient tradition of crowing
the winners, the exceptional athletes are crowned but rather than
just having ribbons and a palm branch, now gold, silver or bronze
medals are tied to a ribbon and put across the neck of the winners.
WHERE
Where is the most inspirational story coming from?
This time the Games have
broken
the
decades-old
tradition of participation by
representing a nation. The
Refugee Olympic Athletics
team will compete in Rio
and offer hope to the fellow
refugees across the world.
They are an inspiration not
because they are participating
in Olympics but because they have made it possible after beating
all the odds. The members of this team were forced to flee their
Rio 2016
homelands due to wars, kidnappings and persecution. Now, they

have no home, no flag and no national anthem but will still
compete on the worlds biggest stage.
They will compete under the Olympic flag. They are not just here
to participate - they are here to win, represent the plight of many
such individuals and they are here to inspire.
This team includes 2 Syrian swimmers, 2 judokas from the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, a marathoner from Ethiopia and 5 middledistance runners from South Sudan.
The refugee team members were chosen from a short list of 43 athletes
who were identified at the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in
Africa as well as from the shelters in Europe. The International
Olympic Committee (IOC) stressed that they still had to cross
the qualifying marks: There were no shortcuts. Each Refugee
Olympic Team member earned the position, and got the qualifying
times needed.
The story of Yusra Mardini:
She is of 18 years and originally from Syria. As part of the refugee
team she is participating in the 200-metre freestyle swimming.
She was stranded in a vessel along with about 20 other passengers
trying to cross off the Turkish coast and enter the Europe. She
immediately slipped into the water with her sister, Sarah, and
began pushing the boat towards Greece and saved all of them.
She says with candor that can be expected from a teenager I
wasnt going to sit there and complain that I would drown.
She says: I want to show everyone that, after the pain, after the
storm, come calm days. I want to inspire them to do something good
in their lives.
WHO
Who are heartbroken?
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has started inquiring into the
state sponsored doping in Russia. After its preliminary inquiry, WADA
has recommended a blanket ban banning all the Russian athletes.
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But due to IOCs intervention,

it was decided that individual
sporting federations will
rule on the participation of
Russian athletes in their
respective events.
The decisions of individual
sporting federations were
then ratified by the Court of
Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
before a 3-man IOC panel,
which made the final decision.
The IOC has now cleared 271 Russian athletes to compete in
Rio from the countrys original entry list of 389, though the countrys
track and field athletes have been barred by athletics governing
body.
Whom to watch out for?

There are 32 venues where the competitions will take place.
Out of 306 events in this Olympics, the 100m sprint final and the
worlds fastest man Usain Bolt will be the center stage of attraction.
Bolt is defending his 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay titles for the 3rd
time - and his battle with American sprinter Justin Gatlin is likely to
be a highlight of the Games.
USA swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all
time, will be looking to add to his 18 gold medals.
American tennis player Serena Williams is aiming to win her 5th
Olympic medal. Team USAs invincible basketball team will be
aiming for their 3rd consecutive gold.
Brazils Barcelona striker Neymar will once again carry the hopes of
the home nation as they go for gold in mens football.
Among those who miss out are top tennis players Roger Federer
and Stanislas Wawrinka, NBA stars Stephen Curry and LeBron
James and a number of golfers.
Rio 2016
HOW
How prepared is Rio to conduct the Games?
Economy: Brazil, host nation,
is in deep recession and
political crisis. Even the arrival
of Olympics torch was marred
with protests.
Sanitation: Rio officials admit
they have failed to keep up
promises to clean the water and
it was reported that swallowing
just 3 teaspoons of water from
the Guanabara Bay is likely to lead to illness.
Brazil is the center of outbreak of Zika virus. Even the World Health
Organization has recommended pregnant women to avoid travelling
to the Games. The impact of Zika is evident from the 1 million out
of 7.5 million unsold tickets and backing out of many athletes from
participating in the event.
Security:
Brazil has employed nearly 85,000 security personnel from 55
different countries at the sport venues, Olympic Village, airports and
main roads.
In spite of such efforts, there is criticism of the security situation a New Zealand jiu-jitsu athlete claimed he was kidnapped in Rio,
Chinese media criticized security after women fencers were robbed
and shooting team members found unauthorized payments on
their credit cards.
In spite of all the criticism, which are not new for a host nation, the
IOC says Rio is now ready to welcome the world.
How should you watch the Games in India?

Brazils timing is GMT-3 hrs. So India is 8 hours ahead of Brazils
time (i.e. GMT+5:30 hrs).
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The opening ceremony will start at 8 PM in Brazil on August 5 which

means at early morning 4:30 A.M of August 6 IST. The broadcast
rights are held by Star Sports in the Indian sub-continent.
Let the Games begin.
REFERENCES
Rio Olympics 2016: 31st Games set for opening ceremony
The real Incredibles: First ever Olympics refugee team and the most
inspiring story youll read today
I WHY ARE THE OLYMPIC GAMES SO IMPORTANT TO MANY OF
US?
07/08/2016
The Rio Olympics 2016 got underway earlier than expected, and the
world was treated to womens football with some surprising scorelines,

game plans and record-breaking goals. Hosts Brazil, world champions
USA and giant killers Canada were all in action before schedule as the
2016 edition of the Olympics began with a bang. Knappily looks at the
first set of games at Rio 16.
Rio 2016
WHAT
What were the scorelines?
Brazil looked to put their world
stage blushes of the FIFA
WC 2014 and 2015 behind
them with an immaculate start
to their Olympics campaign
marked by a 3-0 win over
China for the womens team,
and then mauled Sweden 5-1
in the second set of games.
Sweden themselves edged
past South Africa 1-0 in a virtually empty Olympic Stadium, with
Brazils economic meltdown rendering Olympics tickets a privilege
only a few could afford.
World champs USA began the conquest of becoming the first team
to follow up a Womens WC win with an Olympic gold by beating
New Zealand 2-0, and then edging past France 1-0 in the second
game.
In the eyebrow-raising scoreline of the day, however, Canada
overcame Goliath in the form of Australia by a stunning 2-0 margin,
the first of which was the fastest goal scored in Olympic history.
The match also saw Canadas Shelina Zadorsky sent off in the 19th
minute, the fastest early bath ever in the Olympics.
Canada are now on the back of two consecutive victories, after
triumphing against a toothless Zimbabwe side 3-1.
WHY
Why did the action begin early?
The official start to the Olympics was with the ceremony and the
lighting of the torch, all of which was scheduled to happen on Friday,
August 5th.
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However, due to the time

constraint and number of
games to be accommodated,
womens football kicked off
earlier than schedule.
Some delegations are yet to
arrive at the Olympic Village in
Brazil, with the Nigerian mens
football team an example of
those making delayed entries
to the tournament. Famous
runner Usain Bolt was not present at the opening ceremony either.
Brazil is rife with protests from the citizens, with hospitals no more
than 3 blocks away from the centre stage Olympic Stadium claiming
a dearth in doctors, with patients families and Brazilians across the
nation claiming that they should be investing more in healthcare.
To make the Games as efficient as possible, Brazils Olympic
Committee concurred with the IOC and decided to begin group
games beforehand.
WHEN
When did womens football rise in the spotlight?
A few years ago, the infamous
former head of FIFA, Sepp
Blatter, claimed that the way
to make progress in womens
football would be to make
their shorts shorter.
The last few years, and
especially
the
months
following his dismissal from
the top post at FIFA, have
been monumental in terms of gender equality and the perception of
womens football in the world.
Rio 2016
Training regimes, grassroots development programs and coaching

and infrastructure have boomed and the womens facet of the game
has steadily risen in stature.
The game is speeding away from the image of a male-dominated
area, with more and more women taking up the cleats fearlessly.
Three time champions USWNT (US Womens National Team) and
indeed all competing womens teams have served as public idols in
the media and the sport to promote the healthy growth of womens
football.
The 2015 Womens World Cup in Canada enjoyed immense
coverage around the world, and the USAs win was a clarion call to
enthusiasts of the game everywhere.
WHERE
Where does Olympic football go to from here?
After
a
disappointingly
unintelligible start to the
Olympic football event, there
is hope amongst fans across
the world that things will turn
around.
Following a successful outing
at the Copa America and the
Euros, the Olympics are now
the third international football
event this summer.
Hosts Brazil led by captains Marta (womens team) and Neymar Jr
(mens team) will look to undo all the damage of their previous World
Cups, faltering at the knockouts and semis respectively.
Many other teams have turned their squad lists into a new-look force
of incomparable ferocity, with a potent mix of youth and experience
set to lead the lights at Brazil.
Overall, it seems like a mouth-watering prospect and the world of
football has much to look forward to.
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WHO
Who are the players to look out for?
USAs Carli Lloyd is their
captain and most capped
player as well, who scored
her 7th Olympic goal and 89th
international strike last night
against New Zealand.
Her compatriot Alex Morgan
bagged her 12th goal of the
calendar year with a second
half strike in the game against
New Zealand, showing yet again what we should be expecting from
the Women in White.
Brazils Marta will be nothing short of a hero if she manages to strap
down and lead her nation into Olympic history by securing a medal
finish, and more so if she bags Brazils favourite medal colour gold.
Janine Beckie of Houston Dash shocked the world when minnows
Canada scored inside 20 seconds against Australia, and will hope to
continue her good form in front of goal.
Frances Viviane Asseyi will be at the center of Frances midfield and
plans as she looks to be the young leader for les Bleues.
HOW
How are the teams expected to finish?
Medal favourites include hosts Brazil
and rivals Colombia, and the world
powerhouses USA, Australia and
Germany.
France and Sweden may not have
the easiest waltz up to the finals, but
Rio 2016
37
will surely look to make life difficult for the other teams with their
resolute defending.
New Zealand looked to bounce back from the 2-0 loss to USA and
went into the next game with greater determination to put them back
on track, and emerged edgy 1-0 winners against giants Colombia,
but the Ferns will have testing times ahead.
Underdogs Canada, South Africa and China will look to dampen the
celebrations with surprising wins like the one Christine Sinclaire-led
Canada chalked up against Australia, even with a player short.
REFERENCES
Olympic football gets under way in almost-empty stadium in Rio
Fastest goal, sending off in Olympic history on opening day at Rio
2016 Olympics
Football Ferns lose to USA in opener
Rio 2016 is already underway with womens football centre stage
22/06/2016
In an extraordinary summit in Switzerland, the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) has unanimously voted to support the decision by

the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to bar the
Russian track and field athletes from the Rio games because Russia
had failed to prevent systemic doping. However, IOC president Thomas
Bach gave some hope to Russias clean athletes, who may still get to
go to Rio.
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WHAT
What is the latest on the ban of Russian athletes from Rio
Olympics?
The Russian track and field
team remains suspended from
Rio de Janeiro after the IOC
supported the ban which world
athletics federation IAAF had
extended on Friday.
However,
the
individual
Russian track and field athletes
assessed as clean by the IAAF
will be able to compete for their
country in Brazil diluting a blanket ban the sports global federation,
the IAAF, had called for. The IAAF had earlier declared that if it
clears certain Russian athletes for the Rio Olympics, they will have
to participate as neutral athletes, not representing the Russian
Olympic Committee.
Rio 2016
The IOC also acknowledged and accepted the IAAFs position that
only the IAAF should determine whether individual Russian athletes
can be considered as exceptions to ban.
The IOC deemed competing under the Russian flag was appropriate
as only the Russian Athletics Federation had been banned and
not the Russian Olympic Committee.
WHY
Why are Russian athletes not allowed to participate in
Olympics?
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in December 2014 named an
independent commission to
investigate the allegations
made on a German TV channel
regarding systematic doping
among Russian athletes.
The commission was headed
by the highly respected Dick
Pound, the founding president
of the WADA, which went on to
release a 323-page report on
doping in Russian track and field.
The reports main takeaways:
Coaches, officials in the Russian track and field federation, officials
in Russias anti-doping agency, and others, organized efforts to
promote doping and make it possible for such efforts to be successful,
including the cover-up of certain positive cases of doping.
Identified the intentional and malicious destruction of more than
1,400 samples by Moscow laboratory officials after receiving written
notification from the WADA to preserve target samples.
Found that a number of Russian athletes suspected of doping could
have been prevented from competing at the London 2012 Olympics
had it not been for the collective and inexplicable laissez-faire policy
adopted by the IAAF and the Russian athletics federation.
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Bribes were accepted by high-level IAAF officials to ignore positive

doping tests and use of false identities to dodge tests was common
practice.
WHEN
When and how did the Russian doping scandal surface?
In December 2014, the
German television station ARD
aired documentaries titled Top
Secret Doping: How Russia
makes its winners on doping
in Russian track and field.
The reporter behind the
documentaries, Hajo Seppelt,
alleges not only that up to
99% of the Russian Olympic
team use doping but also that a network of corruption has been put
in place to cover up positive tests, involving officials at the Russian
anti-doping agency, the doping control laboratory in Moscow, as well
as the International Association of Athletics Federations.
After carrying out an investigation into modern doping practices
before the Sochi winter Olympics games in 2014, where Russia
came top of the medal table, Seppelt was contacted by two whistleblowers from within Russian sports: Yuliya Stepanova, a former 800m
runner now banned for abnormalities in her biological passport, and
her husband, Vitaliy Stepanov, a former official at the Russian antidoping agency, RUSADA.
In the documentary Stepanova says she was frequently encouraged
by her coaches to keep clean urine samples in a freezer for tests
during training and her husband said the Russian anti-doping agency
regularly received calls from the ministry, asking to reveal the identity
of athletes who had tested positive.
The documentary included footage, taken with a hidden cell phone
camera, of Olympic and IAAF World Championships 800-meter
Rio 2016
champion Mariya Savinova speaking openly about her doping

practices. Savinova has never been banned for doping.
WHERE
Where are the arguments of the IAAF in banning Russia?
A fresh documentary in
March 2016, broadcast
on German TV, suggests
that under the bonnet, the
system is as corrupt and
morally bankrupt as ever.
In this documentary, the
new head of the Russian
Anti-Doping
Agency,
Anna Anzelovich, had
previously
informed
athletes about dates for doping tests. In November 2015, the
countrys sports minister, Vitaly Mutko had promised fresh elections
and a 99% new leadership. But this new guard still carries the
pungent musk of the former regime.
A recent update by the WADA details numerous violations of its
rules when it tried to take samples in Russia during the past seven
months including its testers being obstructed and intimidated by
Russian security services and officials.
The report, entitled Play True Update on the Status of Russia
Testing, also revealed that 736 tests required from Russian athletes
were declined or cancelled and there were 52 positive tests and 111
whereabouts failures over the same period.
The report also found that minister Mutko issued direct orders
to manipulate particular samples, and that there was direct
intimidation and interference by the Russian state with the Moscow
laboratory operations.
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WHO
Who have been impacted by this ban?
In March this year, six Russian
track and field athletes were
stripped of all of the titles and
medals they won between
2009 and 2013 for breaking
anti-doping rules.
The Court of Arbitration for
Sport (CAS) made the ruling
at a hearing in Lausanne
(Switzerland), after upholding
an appeal from the IAAF against the athletes and the Russian AntiDoping Agency (RUSADA).
Sergey Kirdyapkin, who won the 50 kilometer walk at the 2012
London Olympics, Sergey Bakulin, winner of the same event at
the 2011 World Championships, and Yuliya Zaripova, who was
successful in the steeplechase at the 2011 World Championships,
have all had their medals taken away. Australian 50 kilometer walker
Jared Tallent could not believe his luck after he got upgraded to a
gold medallist, four years after London Olympics!
Olga Kaniskina, who won the silver medal for the 20 kilometer walk
in London 2012, has also been stripped of her medal.
The Russian athletes, who were preparing for Rio, are justifiably despairing
and fuming.
Shot putter Yuri Kuzev even argued that Russia should have
boycotted Olympic track and field events from the beginning rather
than suffer the embarrassment of being banned.
Russia had hoped that the IAAF ban could be overruled by the IOC.
However, the IOC has fully supported the ban.
For the athletes training in Russia, the Olympics Games are over
even before they began. The IOC and the IAAF can allow certain
Russian athletes, but even the neutral status can apply to those
who can show they have been living and training abroad, under
Rio 2016
a more rigorous system of anti-doping tests than Russias. The

800-meter runner Yulia Stepanova, whose testimony to the WADA
about drug use helped to spark an unprecedented investigation
will most likely be allowed to participate. Theres also a chance
for long jumper Darya Klishina, who has long been based in the
United States, well away from the embattled Russian track and
field system.
It should be noted that Stepanova is currently in hiding, after making
the startling revelations. The Russian Sports Minister says that it
would be absurd if Yulia Stepanova was allowed to compete at
the Rio Olympics while clean Russian athletes are barred from the
Games.
Most Russian athletes will learn the hard way that being unethical is never
helpful in the long run. But perhaps, they are not to be blamed. They were
mere cogs in the corrupt Russian wheel which would go any distance to
showcase a strong Russia through sporting domination.
HOW
How can Russia win back International trust?
In an interim report submitted
by the IAAF taskforce to the
IAAF council, the Russian
Athletics Federation (RusAF)
must show not just in words
but also in deeds - that there
is now a culture of zero
tolerance towards doping in
Russian athletics, and that
RusAF, Russian Anti-doping
agency (RUSADA), and the public authorities in Russia, working
in cooperation, have created an anti-doping infrastructure that is
effective in detecting and deterring cheats, and therefore provides
reasonable assurance and protection to clean athletes both inside
and outside of Russia.
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According to Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, Russia has

been reforming its anti-doping programme since it was banned in
November.
He points to the following steps taken by Russia: Introduced
independent and additional testing, Overhauled the Russian AntiDoping Agency and the Russian Athletics Federation, Introduced
stricter rules for doping and even introduced lessons on anti-doping
in schools.
Mutko insists Russia has done everything the IAAF has asked it to
do in order to be reinstated to athletic competition and has hinted
his country could take legal action if its athletics federation is not
reinstated.
The best way forward for Russian sports now is to put forward its
clean athletes (if there are any that is) for the IAAFs doping tests,
let them participate as neutrals and take the next four years (leading
to the Tokyo 2020 games) to comprehensively reform the system by
working closely with the IAAF and the IOC.
The fear is that there may be more skeletons in the Russian closet. The
latest WADA independent commission report on allegations of systematic
doping at the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014 will be released on July
15.
REFERENCES
Doping: IOC backs IAAF Russia ban but leaves door ajar for some
athletes.
Doping: Russian athletes remain banned from competition including
Olympics.
Athletics doping: Wada commission wants Russia ban.
Russian doping: Documentary claims land athletics in the dock.
The questions facing IAAF on whether Russias athletes will be at
Rio Olympics
Rio 2016
15/07/2016
Top male golf stars not showing up at the Rio Olympics 2016 is threat-
ening the future of golf in Olympics. They have cited fears about the
Zika virus for their withdrawal, but the real reasons may not relate to the
virus. Golf got enlisted at Olympics after a 112-year absence. It is now
left to the ladies to save the reputation of the gentlemans game.
WHAT
What is the problem?
20 male golfers, including the worlds top 4 - Jason Day, Jordan
Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson, have withdrawn from
the Olympics being held at Rio de Janerio.
The reason given by many is the threat of Zika - a mosquitotransferred virus linked to brain defects in newborn babies. This
is despite the advice provided by the World Health Organisation
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(WHO) that the risk to athletes

at the Games was low.
Other male players, though,
were brazen in their response
saying that the Olympics held
no allure for professional
golfers who would rather
compete for the sports four
major trophies - the Masters,
the U.S. Open, the British Open
(or the Open Championship)
and the PGA Championship.
It is not just about the majors either. The next few weeks are a busy
time for the worlds top players. The Open and US PGA are being held
in July, while the Olympic golf tournament takes place at exactly
the same time as the John Deere Classic, which has total prize
money of 3.73m, including a winners cheque of 650,000, and
offers valuable world ranking points.
There will be no prize money or points on offer in Rio - only the lure
of an Olympic gold medal and an opportunity to see their countrys
flag go up at the highest pedestal of sports.
Australian Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters winner, says he wont be
at Rio because the Olympics is not as important as other events
in the golfing calendar. Indeed, back in 2015 he said the Olympics
was nothing Ive ever aspired to do and I dont think I ever will.
He added: Its all about the four majors and I think thats the way it
should stay for golf.
Rory McIlroy left nothing to imagination when he said (forget
playing) that he would rather watch other (better) events at the
Olympics than golf.
WHY
Why are the women golfers not withdrawing?
All the top female golfers are going to Rio. Theres only one who
would have been in the top 60, the 39th-ranked player in the world,
Lee-Anne Pace of South Africa, who said no.
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Its interesting that women are

not worrying about the Zika
virus as much, when they are
the more vulnerable of the lot,
especially if they are trying to
conceive or are pregnant.
The womens world number
one golfer, Lydia Ko, says she
has spoken to other female
players and claims the general feeling is it is important for them
to be in Rio. Im more excited about the Olympics, about the
ceremony, about just being in that Olympic vibe than worrying
about the Zika virus, said the 19-year-old New Zealander. Were
all excited to go to Brazil, represent our countries and be there
amongst the other Olympians.
Justin Rose, a male English golfer who won his first major
championship at the 2013 U.S. Open, put forward the theory that
the top players had already postponed plans to have a family to
concentrate on their careers, but the main reason appears to be
that the top female professionals view the Olympics as a great
opportunity to showcase the womens game and promote it
around the world.
If the Olympics have to feature Golf in the coming editions, the fate of
the game rests in the hands and the clubs of the ladies. A common
misconception is that the word GOLF is an acronym for Gentlemen
Only Ladies Forbidden. The gentlemen have retreated from the highest
sporting spectacle, leaving it to the ladies to show why that acronym was
a misconception.
WHEN
When has Golf featured in the Olympics before?
Golf was featured in the Summer Olympic Games official program in 1900
and 1904. Golf is returning to the Olympics this summer after a 112-year
gap.
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The 1900 Olympics had 2

golf events: Mens individual
and Womens individual. The
1904 Olympics also had 2
golf events: Mens individual
and Mens team (there was no
Womens event in 1904).
22 golfers competed in 1900,
including 10 women and 12
men. The 1904 tournament
featured 77 golfers, all men.
In 1900, the gold for Mens individual was won by Charles Sands
(USA), and the gold for Womens individual was won by Margaret
Abbott (USA). Abbott won a porcelain bowl for first place in golf;
so literally speaking, she is not a gold medalist! Note that 1900
was the first year in which women were allowed to compete in
the Olympics, and these games included only 11 female athletes
competing in ladylike sports: golf, tennis and yachting.
In 1904, the gold for Mens individual was won by George Lyon
(CAN), and the gold for Mens team was won by USA.
The return is possible because of a successful bid that included leading
golf personalities helping to make the sports case at the IOC session in
Copenhagen in 2009.
WHERE
Where are the male golfers bringing disrepute to the game
which made them stars?
Some players are giving Zika as an excuse and creating a Zika
panic among other Olympic participants.
This is happening even when the WHO has said that the risk
of catching Zika was very low in August. There will be fewer
mosquitoes around in August because the climate is cooler.
Average temperatures in Rio in August are 22 degrees Celsius,
compared with 27 C in February, the hottest month.
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Olympians can further lower

the risk further by staying in
air-conditioned rooms and
using repellents and protective
clothing.
Other players have shown
utter disregard to the game
itself when one of top 4, Rory
McIlroy, said, I didnt get into
golf to try and grow the game.
I got into golf to win championships and win major championships.
He went as far to suggest he would not even watch golf on television
at the Olympics, instead choosing sports that matter such as
track and field.
There is resentment from other sports - including squash, which
lost out to golf in the fight for Olympic recognition in 2009.
Laura Massaro and Nick Matthew, both squash world champions,
say Olympic gold should be the pinnacle for any athlete whose
sport is part of the Olympics and believe the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) got it wrong by allowing golf back in
after a 112-year absence.
This may not bode well for the sport to remain in Olympics, at least the
Mens event thus hindering the growth of Golf as an Olympic event.
IOC president Thomas Bach said this would be considered
when the line-up for Tokyo 2020 is decided in mid-2017.
WHO
Who will be representing India at Golf in Rio?
Three leading professional golfers of the country Anirban Lahiri
and S.S.P. Chawrasia for the mens event and woman golfer
Aditi Ashok.
Current Asia No. 1 Lahiri (world ranking 62) and reigning Indian
Open champion Chawrasia (world ranking 207) were placed 20th
and 45th respectively in the latest International Golf Federation
(IGF) qualification list.
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Eighteen-year-old Aditi (world

ranking 444) was slotted 58th
among the women who have
qualified.
Anirban Lahiri
Lahiri, a winner of seven
international titles, had a
fine 2015 during which he
earned two European Tour
wins and a tied-fifth place
in the prestigious PGA
Championship. The 29-year-old Bengaluru-based golfers PGA
performance was the best by an Indian in a Major till date.
Lahiri, who made history by becoming the first Indian to be a part of
the International Team at the Presidents Cup, is competing on the
PGA Tour this season and was among the top-50 in the world for
most part of the year so far and will compete in his ninth successive
Major when he tees up at the British Open this week.
Chawrasia, the 38-year-old Kolkata-based professional, has tasted four
international wins including three on the European Tour, notched up a
long-awaited Indian Open victory earlier this year to be in contention for
the Olympics.
Aditi, a Bengaluru girl, was a top amateur and turned professional on
January 1 this year. She scripted a new chapter in Indian golf history by
winning the Ladies European Tour (LET) Final Stage Qualifying School
title in Marrakech, Morocco, in 2015.
HOW
How can golf save its seat at the future Olympics?
Olympic golf probably needs time to bed in.
When one looks at what happened to tennis when it was readmitted
to the Games in 1988, theres a possibility that golf may evolve as
an Olympic event too. Back then, the Czech Republics Miloslav
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Mecir took gold in Seoul as

just three of the worlds top
10 took part. However, by
London 2012, an injured Rafael
Nadal was the only missing
player from the worlds elite.
There is a chance that golf will
be part of the 2020 Games
in Tokyo. The hope is that in
Tokyo in 2020 the top players do support Olympic golf. Its very
important that they do. Its the biggest grow-the-game opportunity
available and there is no better way for players to give back to
the game than to support Olympic golf.
If the top players show the same attitude of disregard for
anything but Championships, then probably golf will get pulled
out of Olympics in the future.
That said, the players who have taken Olympics golf seriously
and are enthusiastic about participating in it, need to be taken into
consideration by the International Olympic Committee while deciding
the future of golf. After all, no game is all about the top players.
Such is the stature of the Olympics that it does not need the presence
of the stars to propagate its message of Citius, Altius, Fortius
(Faster, Higher, Stronger). In fact, new stars will be born in the
Olympics and take the game forward.
This is an interesting story unfolding though; the ladies trying to defend the
reputation of the game which for long was considered to be the bastion of
the gentlemen.
REFERENCES
Olympic chiefs to look at Rio 2016 golf withdrawals
Is Zika the real reason golfers are pulling out of the Olympics?
Golf at the Summer Olympics
Brennan: Rory McIlroy says what all golfers thinking in passing on
Olympics
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05/07/2016
Indias leading food products company Amul has been signed up as
the official sponsor for the Indian contingent at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The company, which has over the past seven decades become one of
Indias most trusted brands, aims to engage with youth and leverage the
connection between the energy of milk and sports. Knappily explains
what makes Amul Indias most meaningful brand.
WHAT
What is the deal?
Amul bagged the sponsorship of the Indian contingent at the Olympic
Games for the second consecutive time. The company will sponsor
Indias Rio 2016 team this time. Earlier, the company had sponsored
the Indian contingent at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Amul will launch a series of advertising campaigns for milk and
various dairy products to promote this association in the coming
months. Amul has embarked upon an Eat Milk with Every Meal
campaign.
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R S Sodhi, the Managing

Director of Gujarat Co-operative
Milk Marketing Federation Ltd
(which owns Amul) said, Amul
is committed to strengthening
the Olympic movement in India
and encourage the young
generation from all over the
country to take up Olympic
sports. This association will help in engaging the kids and youth so
that they can enjoy a healthy life, he added.
With more than 100 athletes qualifying, India will be sending more
than 100 athletes to Rio, its largest ever Olympics contingent. The
game will start on August 5, 2016.
Amul has already started coming up with its witty and impactful oneliners, an art which it has mastered like no other Indian brand has.
WHY
Why has Amul chosen to partner with the Indian Olympics Association (IOA)?
The last financial year saw
GCMMF, the cooperative body
that manages the Amul brand,
register a turnover of more
than Rs 23,000 crore. The
company aims to achieve Rs
50,000 crore by 2020.
With
over
200
nations
participating in it, Olympics is
regarded as the pinnacle of many sporting events.
Amul, over the years, has managed to remain the quintessential
Indian brand that continues to win hearts with their indigenous
marketing campaigns.
Milk is considered an integral part of athletes diet, and contributes
immensely to the physical and mental strength of the athletes.
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Amul will play host to the largest Indian contingent ever in which
more than 100 sports persons are taking part in different sporting
events. Its sponsorship means that it seeks to engage with athletes
and leverage the energy link between milk and sports.
The companys sponsorship to the IOA would mean that it would
soon launch a series of advertising campaigns for milk, butter,
cheese, and other products.
This is also a value-for-money deal. Amul will pay Rs 1 crore for the
sponsorship. With this, they get to sponsor the 104 athletes who will
carry the hopes of 121 crore Indians to Rio.
Sponsoring sporting events the bigger ones makes business sense
for any brand.
Perhaps the biggest advantage is that the sponsors can reach broad
demographic audiences in a very short span of time.
Sports competitive yet friendly nature and the fact that it consumes
emotions and prayers offer opportunities to marketers to connect
their brands with the sporting values such as resilience and team
spirit.
Case-in-point: Till the late 1980s, Visas brand awareness in Asia was low
compared with the USand Europe. Luckily for it, the 1988 Seoul Olympics
offered the perfect platform to improve Visas image and market share in
Asia. In 1987 when Visa launched its campaign in Asia (focusing on the
Olympics), it was number 3 in Asia. Within 3 years, it became the number 1,
displacing Amex from the top of the cards business. Bring your camera
and your Visa card, because the Olympics dont take place all the
time, and because this they wont take American Express, went one
of the ads. This was one of the most successful ad campaigns of all time.
Visa continues to sponsor the Olympics.
WHEN
When has Amul sponsored sporting events in the past?
Amul has continued to focus on the youth segment, as GCMMF has
targeted one national sporting event after another.
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In 2011, Amul sponsored the

Netherlands cricket team
in the ICC World Cup. It
later sponsored Switzerlandheadquartered Sauber F1
team at the inaugural Indian
Grand Prix.
In the subsequent year, Amul
sponsored the Indian contingent at the 2012 London Olympics.
Since then it has also taken The Taste of India to the Commonwealth
and Asian Games.
This association and activities around it will engage kids and youth
so they can enjoy a healthy life, said GCMMF managing director
R S Sodhi. With the investment made by our country for our best
athletes, we are confident that the Indians will deliver their best
performance, he added.
WHERE
Where is Amul different from the other brands?
As per the Havas Media Meaningful Brands study conducted last
year, Amul has emerged as Indias Most Meaningful Brand.
In a world that has grown to be chaotic to a discomfiting extent, Amul
offers a comforting reassurance.
The Amul Butter advertisement campaign (now called Amul Hits)
which started in 1967 and made Amul a household name will soon
enter the Guinness Book of World Records for being the longest
running campaign ever.
The iconic ad campaigns carry a blue-haired girl in polka dot dress
who typically delivers irreverent, cheeky and yet timely reflections
on issues that matter.
Competing with brands such as Cadbury and Unilever, Amul
has maintained the same campaign with the mascot and visuals
remaining the same, and has resonated across generations, amid
urban and rustic ambience alike.
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In 2012, DaCunha Communications, the advertising agency

behind the popular hoardings
celebrated
the
moppets
golden jubilee by releasing a
coffee table book.
Cartoonist Eustace Fernandes,
who created the tubby little
moppet who peddles out
politically incorrect reflections in 1966 passed away in 2012. The
Amul girl, who turned 50 this year, is one of Indias most powerful
mascots, and the brand, Indias most loved.
WHO
Who created Amul?
What do you know about
pasteurisation, the interviewer
asked Verghese Kurien when he
had applied for a Government of
India fellowship for a Masters in
Engineering abroad in 1946.
Something to do with milk? he
replied with an unsure voice.
From Anand: The story of
Verghese Kurien, M.V. Kamath
Kurien would then be allowed to specialise in metallurgy at the
Michigan State University as the committee remained impervious to
his pleas.
He was sent back to an unknown village in Gujarat called Anand to
work at a Government creamery on a salary of Rs.600 per month.
His efforts to quit didnt materialise.
By the conjunction of politics and patriotism, he decided to stay
on. He grew as an icon and pioneered the white revolution as he
revolutionised the lives of farmers and made India self-reliant in milk
production,
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Kurien was a socialist at heart, and a staunch critic of liberalisation.

He felt opening up the economy exposed India to unfair
competition from multinational companies.
Kurien has been a receipient of numerous national and international
awards. He is fondly remembered as the Milkman of India, and his
birthday, November 26 is celebrated as National Milk Day.
He passed away in September 9, 2012, and is survived by his wife
Molly Kurien, his daughter Nirmala, and grandson, Siddharth.
HOW
How did Amul establish itself in India?
In the late 1940s, India was a milk-deficient country. Today, India is
the largest producer of milk in the world, contributing seven per cent
to the national GDP and 26 per cent to the agricultural GDP. And
Kuriens socialist vision, and technology-led approach had a lot to
do with it.
Farmers from Anand had approached Sardar Vallabhai Patel and
Morarji Desai about the arbitrary fixing of the price of milk by the
Polson dairy, who had the rights to supply milk to Bombay under the
Bombay milk scheme. The middle men took a lions share as the
farmers suffered.
They wanted to set up a cooperative with their own pasteurisation
plant. When the government didnt budge, they went on a strike and
suspended milk supply to Bombay for two weeks. The government
caved in and officially recognised the Kaira Union as the milk
supplier to Bombay.
Patel and Kurien along with HM Dalaya set up the cooperative
movement. Kurien took care of putting the dairy equipment together
and running the units, and marketing. The technical aspects were
managed by Dalaya. Patel brought together farmers to set up more
cooperative societies.
New machinery was bought and milk procurement increased from
200 litres in 1948 to 20,000 litres in 1952. A dairy was set up in 1955
to process excess milk into milk powder and butter.
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As the initiative was a huge

success, the brand name
Amul (from the Sanskrit
Amulya or priceless, and also
an acronym for Anand Milk
Union Ltd) was registered
in 1957. For marketing and
distribution
purposes,
all
the dairy cooperatives were
brought under one umbrella
the GCMMF and the name Amul was transferred to this apex body.
Today, GCMMF is Indias largest food products marketing
organisation. It is jointly owned by more than 36 lakh farmers from
18,000 villages. They churn out 18 million litres of milk per day,
and the GCMMF buys all the milk that farmers bring in.
Kurien explained the rationale behind Operation Flood the strategy
that made India self-reliant in milk production thus:
Over the last 20 years Indias milk production has tripled; it has increased
from 20 million tonnes per annum to 60 million tonnes per annum. What is
the value of one tonne of milk? At Rs.6 a litre, the value of the increased
production of milk is Rs.2,400 crore. An additional Rs.2,400 crore goes
yearly into the villages and this has been achieved in 20 years, thanks to
Operation Flood I, II and III. The total investment was Rs.2,000 crore,
and that was not from the state exchequer. The input-output ratio is
staggering. The money also goes to those who own one or two buffaloes
the small farmer, the marginal farmer, the landless labourer. Dairying
has become the largest rural employment scheme in this country.
And the government has had very little to do with it, even though we
are a government institution.
REFERENCES
Amul to officially sponsor Indian contingent at Rio Olympics 2016
How Amul became a priceless brand
Amul-The Taste of India
The 31st Olympic Games have

begun.
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59
Rio prepares for the Usain Bolt

show
05/08/2016
In a theoretical Olympics medals table based on the parameters of pop-
ulation and national income, India stands fourth. But that is just theory.
India has won only 0.16% of the 12,796 medals awarded in the last
116 years of Olympics. Clearly, there are factors beyond population and
wealth that can account for Indias poor record at the Games. Knappily
dissects those reasons and hopes for an uptrend in Rio.
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WHAT
What has been Indias story with the Olympics?
The worlds second most populous nation has the worst Olympic
record in terms of medals per head. In the past three decades, it
has won only one gold medal - for the mens 10m rifle in 2008. In
London 2012, it bagged its best haul, six medals, or one for every
200 million people. In 2008, it got just three medals. Before that, it
was lucky to come home with a single medal. Indias performance is
pathetic even if we compare it with much smaller countries such as
Grenada and Jamaica.
India has historically and culturally treated sports as a non-priority
area. Even now, as the countrys economy develops at a healthy
rate, sport is not a priority for the government. Indian families value
education and sport is often seen as an anti-thesis to education.
The influence of sports in education is restricted to the once-a-week
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class on Physical Training

(PT) where teachers relax and
student play random games on
their own.
Historically, Indias rigid caste
system and social barriers
ensured that different castes
tended not to play sports
together. That has meant that a
large part of Indias population
hasnt been able to take part in
sports, and hasnt had access
to sporting facilities.
There is one sport in which India does, of course, excel - cricket.
The huge money professional teams can invest means the best
athletes are almost inevitably drawn towards cricket, draining the
pool available for other sports. Mahendra Singh Dhoni used to play
football at his district level before he took up cricket. It is difficult to
imagine that he would have been as successful with football (in India)
as he is with cricket. One of the many reasons for the fall of Indian
hockey since the 80s was the rise of cricket after Indias World Cup
win in 1983. Too bad cricket is not in Olympics. It is another matter
that when cricket got included in Asian Games, Indian team chose
to not participate.
WHY
Why is India in this situation?
There is of course the problem of lack of adequate sources, funds,
infrastructure, equipment, sponsorship and encouragement for
sports and games other than cricket in the country.
Then there is pervasive corruption, political influence and
unwillingness of sports authorities.
Inadequate training programmes and practice sessions which do
not meet international standards are said to be another reason for
dismal performances in the Olympics. In India, you got to first win
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an Olympic medal to get the

facilities required for winning
Olympic medals.
Only the very poor or the
very well off in India feel
motivated enough (for entirely
different reasons) to focus on
competitive sports. No more
than a very small percentage
of the population is willing to
devote its life to competitive
sports. Had the lure of a public sector job not been there, India would
have been bereft of even the handful who compete at international
levels.
In terms of public information, an individual can only aspire to be an
Olympic athlete if he or she has heard about the Olympics via the
media; and where there is little physical connectedness in remote,
isolated villages, many sporting jewels go undiscovered. In fact, if
you read the interviews of Indias Olympians from the hinterland,
most of them tell that they had never heard of Olympics before they
took up their sport.
WHEN
When have we seen the no medal, no attention attitude?
Nobody is expecting miracles,
but success breeds success; if
any Indian heroes do emerge
from Rio, there are hundreds of
millions of youngsters back in
India ready to try and emulate
them.
In 2012 Summer Olympics, 83
Indian players participated in
the games and won six medals.
India won 11 medals in hockey between 1928 and 1980. After this
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Indian hockey team never won any medal. Hockey fell from glory
once the teams performance started rolling down-hill.
The term Olympian has little or no meaning for the average Indian.
Medal winners often get their due but participants are often
forgotten, discouraged and relegated to oblivion. In some cases
medal winners are also forgotten.
Case-in-point: Mehboob Shamsher Khan
One of Indias oldest living Olympians and the first to represent India
in swimming at the Games is now a forgotten man. In fact, he was
always a forgotten man. He laments that he was never recognized
for representing India.
His achievements earned him a ticket to the Melbourne Summer
Olympics of 1956 for both breaststroke and butterfly events. Not only
was he the first ever Indian swimmer to do so, he also finished 5th in
the qualifiers. There has not been a single Indian swimmer who has
repeated the feat. But looking at what happened to Khan perhaps
it is understandable that Indians do not dream of being Olympian
swimmers.
86-year-old Khan now lives in Kythapalli, a nondescript village in
Guntur district with his family. He laments that he never received any
recognition for his spectacular achievements.
If a country is to truly become a sporting powerhouse, it is important to
celebrate those who tried their best as much as it is to make heroes out of
those who win medals.
WHERE
Where is India likely to do well, traditionally speaking?
India will be represented in Athletics,
Badminton, Lawn Tennis, Table Tennis,
Wrestling, Badminton, Swimming, Golf,
Weightlifting, Archery, Rowing, Hockey,
Boxing, Gymnastics and Judo in Rio.
Though a medal can be theoretically
expected from any of these events, the
four strongest teams in Rio are:
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Shooting: The big two - 2008 gold medallist Abhinav Bindra and
2012 bronze medallist Gagan Narang - combine forces with Jitu Rai,
the shooter in form, in Indias shooting squad.
Badminton: Heading into her third Olympics, Saina Nehwal is,
unexpectedly, Indias best bet for a medal in badminton. PV Sindhu
and K. Srikanth took could be dark horses.
Tennis: Sania Mirza, Leader Paes and Rohan Bopanna in the
contingent are strong contenders for the top glory. Tennis is
undoubtedly one of Indias strong points. If only Paes and Bopanna
could sort out their differences, a medal in doubles is not beyond
reach.
Wrestling: Besides Yogeshwar Dutt, Narsingh Yadav, who won a
place over two-time Olympic medal winner Sushil Kumar, is a likely
medal winner in the 74kg freestyle wrestling.
Looking at the current form of its archers, especially the women, India can
also expect Archery to produce a medal.
WHO
Who is representing India in the lesser known sports?
Rowing: Dattu Bhokanal,
24-year-old Army man, hails
from the state of Maharashtra
will be Indias sole rower at
Rio. Dattu will represents India
at the Rio 2016 Olympics in
rowing- Singles Sculls. Dattu
Bhokanal won the silver medal
atthe FISA Asian and Oceania
Olympic qualification regatta.
Rowerclocked 7 mins 07.49 seconds inthe 2km course.
Judo: Avtar Singh has become the first Indian judoka to qualify for
the Olympics since 2004. He is one of the two Asian judokas in the
90 kg category to bag a continental quota for the Rio Games.
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Swimming: Sandeep Sejwal and Supriya Mondal had surpassed

the B qualification mark for the 2016 Olympics at the 59th Malaysian
Open Swimming Championships in Selangor, Malaysia. Sandeep
is a bronze medallist from the 2014 Asian Games and an Arjuna
Awardee, while young Supriya has represented India at the 2014
Youth Olympics and last year won silver medal at the Commonwealth
Youth Games in Samoa.
HOW
How is this traditional view changing now?
Now private companies are stepping in to try to fill the gaps in funding
for Olympic sports. They are following the example of countries
such as Australia and the UK, which have dramatically increased
their medal count by investing in elite selection and training
programmes. It has been estimated thateach medal the UK won
in 2012 cost 4.5m. Maneesh Bahuguna, of Anglian Medal Hunt,
which is funding a number of predominantly unprivileged athletes,
including Dutee Chand, believes its efforts will - in time - deliver
results. Then we have the Olympic Gold Quest, founded by Indian
sporting legends Geet Sethi and Prakash Padukone. OGQs first
test was the London 2012 Olympics, where 4 out of the 6 Indian
medallists were supported by OGQ.
What we bring to the table for these athletes is the ability to bridge
the gap between those best practices that are unavailable to them
otherwise and the final performance at the Olympic Games, Mr
Bahuguna says. We improve their conditioning, physical and mental,
by leaps and bounds.
India is fielding its best-trained and biggest-ever team in Rio. It
is hoping to deliver on the promise of the countrys vast population,
reaping rewards on the winners podium.
For the time being, we can celebrate the diversity of Indias Olympic
medallists and hope that more such stories are created in Rio. Leander
Paes hails from a prosperous family. Karnam Malleswari, however, took
to the hard grind of weightlifting as a means to give herself and her kin
a better life. On the other hand, Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
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was an Army man with access to world class training and nurturing from
an early age. Abhinav Bindra, too, belongs to an affluent Sikh family. But
Sushil Kumar Tehlans and Vijender Singhs fathers were both bus drivers.
All of them are equal in one regard they won an Olympic medal for India.
What a great leveller this mother of all sporting events is.
REFERENCES
The sad but true story of Indias Olympic failures
Olympic Losers: Why India is so bad at sport
Rio Olympics: Indias realistic Olympic chances
Indian athletes who will make the nation proud this Olympics
Forgotten glory
19/06/2016
Usain Bolt will run in his last Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. He will hang
up his boots in 2017 after the world championships. For more than a
decade, he has been the planets ambassador for speed. During his career, Bolt has transcended what was thought possible and has redefined
the sport enough to inspire both awe and cynicism among people.
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WHAT
What constitutes the world of a sprinter?
Most athletic events are built
for the faster ones to succeed.
People love the notion of
speed; it is like a planetary
addiction.
Formula One might exemplify
speed but the sprint represents
its simplest and purest form
absent of frills.
People throng the stadiums as
athletes take part in something so much bigger than themselves in
an event that can be distilled to: from here to there. The sprinters
pursuit is largely one dimensional, and the clarity becomes part of
the thrill itself.
The event is not built on nationalism. Even the trash-talking athletes
acknowledge that the rivalries are not personal. So intuitive and
simple it is that it often flirts with spirituality and is often times a
metaphor for life itself.
Fans sit there chewing nails waiting for someone to outdo what
everyone else has done before, and the event itself is over before
one picks up the napkin one just dropped.
Usain Bolt, who has redefined our idea of fast, will participate his
last Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Last year, he had announced that
he will retire after the 2017 world championships
WHY
Why is Bolt special?
In the course of lifting us, Bolt transcends the sport. He is as much
a genius as he is a genetic freak.
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He was 6-foot-5 when he was

15. His height lent him the
advantage of covering more
ground in fewer steps than
others could. He takes 41
steps to cover 100 metres
as opposed to Tyson Gay,
5-foot-11, who takes 45.
His height also handicaps him
at the start of the race as it
becomes harder to manoeuvre
his long body and the turns taking him longer to reach top speeds.
But Bolts fast-twitch muscles and strong hips compensate for this.
Norman Peart, his manager, reckons that Bolt spends more time in
the air. He soars on tracks, and off it he seems to simultaneously
embrace arrogance and a care-free attitude.
Bolts stories dont reek of dedication. He talks about how he
dislikes training. Even his coaches acknowledge this. But he was
always a prodigy. He won the 2002 junior world championship in the
200 metres, and in 2004, he was already breaching the 20-second
mark.
At the moment he is not as fast as he used to be, but is still faster
than everyone else.
As if just to casually tell everyone that everything is alright, Bolt
graced local Jamaican fans with a blistering seasons best run of
9.88 seconds to win the mens 100 metres at the inaugural Jamaica
National Racers Grand Prix on June 12 this year. And, he (again)
won it in spite of a bad start. Imagine Bolt running with a good start
in Rio.
WHEN
When did Bolt rise to fame?
Usain Bolt has run the fastest 100 meters in the history of humankind!
commentator and former sprinter Ato Boldon hollered on TV unable
to contain his excitement. It was 2008, and Bolt had carved his first
Rio 2016
world record. He had clocked

9.72 at the Reebok Grand Prix
meeting in New York beating
his compatriot Asafa Powells
9.74.
After a disastrous run in
Athens in 2004 where he was
hampered by back issues and
a leg injury, he worked on
developing an efficient stride
with Glen Mills, a coach from Jamaica.
In 2007, he won silver at the world championships breaking the
Jamaican record in 200 metres, and hasnt looked back since.
There is something about Olympics 100 m records that make them difficult
to attain and more difficult to retain. Bolt now possesses them like no one
else has ever before.
At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, Jim Hines broke the 10.0 barrier
at high altitude with a 9.95. The record stood for 15 years before
Calvin Smith ran a 9.93 once again set at altitude in 1983.
Over the next three decades, athletes have shattered records at the
100-metre event so continually. Ben Johnsons steroid-infused 9.83
in 1987 has alone been chipped away by eight sprinters.
But none of the athletes took the sport by storm like Bolt did. He
soon became the fastest man whos ever lived. He ran a 9.69 in the
Beijing Olympics, and topped it with 9.58 at Berlin in 2009.
WHERE
Where does the cynicism come from?
Im still working with the fact that he dropped from 10-flat to 9.6 in
one year, Carl Lewis, a former U.S. Olympic champion told Sports
Illustrated after the 2008 Olympics. Lewis himself has admitted to
failing several doping tests.
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A competition that is so
simple in its essence has
also become vulnerable
to feats of chemical
engineering and other
conspiracies that has
tainted the reputation of
the sport.
100-metre record holders
from the past - Ben
Johnson, Tim Montgomery,
and Justin Gatlin - have
been unmasked as cheats.
Of the eight contestants in the 1988 Olympics mens 100-meter final,
only two have not been tainted by doping in their careers.
An anonymous survey by the World Anti-Doping Agency in
2013 revealed that 29 percent of athletes from the 2011 world
championships had indulged in doping in the past year.
Athletes from other countries have often criticised Jamaica for
not having a comprehensive drug testing programme. Several
Jamaicans failed drug test in late-2013, and the head of their
anti-doping agency admitted to performing only one outof-competition test in the six months leading to the London
Olympics.
While the programme has since been overhauled, and Bolt repeatedly
put under the scanner it still becomes hard to insulate him from
suspicion. Lance Armstrong, who was unmasked as a fictional hero
in 2013, never failed a drug test.
Bolts biggest challenger has failed the tests twice in 2001 and
2006 for ADD medication and testosterone levels, for which he was
handed a one-year and four-year bans respectively.
In fact, Bolt is on the verge of losing one of the three gold medals he
won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the A sample of Nesta Carter,
one of his team-mates in the 4x100m event was found to contain
Methylhexanamine, a banned substance.
It is therefore not surprising that doping suspicions hang there like a
mist in the world Bolt dominates.
Rio 2016
WHO
Who said What of Bolt?
Speaking of the doping
scandals that keeps hitting the
sport, Darren Campbell, former
British sprinter said, We cant
keep sweeping it under the
carpet. If Usain Bolt wins in
the world championships,
everybody goes, OK, great!
Usain wins! The savior!
But what happens when Usain
Bolt is no longer in the sport? What happens then? Campbell, who
won Olympic silver in the 200 meters in 2000 and gold in the 4100
in 2004, added.
Carl Lewis didnt conceal his suspicion over Jamaican sprinters.
Im proud of America right now because we have the best random
and most comprehensive drug testing program. Countries like
Jamaica do not have a random program, so they can go months
without being tested. Im not saying anyone is on anything, but
everyone needs to be on a level playing field, he said.
HOW
How will Bolt sign off?
If Bolt calls it quits today, he would go down as the greatest sprinter
to have ever run on this planet.
In less than two months, he will run in his last Olympics in Rio. He is
already the first person to bag the 100- and 200-meter Olympic
gold medals twice, and he would like to do it one more time.
Bolt tends to summon his best for the biggest of occasions,
and this isnt a feat beyond his reach. Many opine that he would
ease gloriously through the finish.
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However, last year Bolt was

plagued by an injury and had
to undergo a surgery on his
left foot, and since his return
he hasnt seemed as invincible
as he used to be. This may
however be changing, right
when he needed to turn around.
The Jamaican Grand Prix was
hint enough.
Some go as far to say that if
Bolt doesnt return from Rio
with medals, it would be a
blemish on his otherwise stellar CV.
In Beijing, he beat the silver medallist by 0.20 sec for gold, but beat
Justin Gatlin by 0.01 at the 2015 World Championships. But this is
still considered to be his greatest race for how well he held his nerve.
Perhaps this is what makes him different. He lives and breathes in
the excitement, and draws energy from people watching him. This
is what Bolt has always been about transcending limitations, even
his own. They said lightning doesnt strike twice. Bolt proved them
wrong. It is now widely believed that lightning can strike thrice. Bolt
will go for gold in Rio and, given the right start, he will go for his own
world record too and not just in 100 m alone, but 200 m too.
REFERENCE
Lets hope Usain Bolt comes back here to rule the Worlds: Christine
Ohuruogu
Bolt sets new 100m world record
Usain Bolt coasts to victory in first 100m race in over nine months
Lifting a nation
Rio 2016
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UAEs women weightlifting team did their country proud by earning a
spot in the Olympics quota. Aisha Al Balushi will go to Rio but each womans effort in the seven-member strong team counted. Notwithstanding
societal pressure, these and other sportswomen in the Gulf constantly
battle gender bias along with physical challenges to prove their worth.
May Aisha, Amna, and women like them pave the way for much-needed
change.
WHAT
What have the women weightlifters of the UAE achieved?
UAEs women weightlifting team have earned their country a second
consecutive Olympic qualification.
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The UAE team had missed

their qualification just by
one rank at the 2016 Asian
Championship. The teams
faith was rewarded two
months after the championship
when Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan,
Korea, Russia and Uzbekistan
were disqualified due to doping.
The seven member team was
then allotted one ticket to
the Olympics. An executive
meeting of the International
Weightlifting Federation (IWF)
finalized the re-allocation.
Aisha Al Balushi was chosen to represent the UAE. The 24-yearold is the second Emirati woman to enter the Olympics weightlifting
competition Khadija Mohammed who took part in the 2012
Olympics was the first.
Al Balushi will participate in the 58 kg category. She was thrilled to
represent her country but asserted that it was a team achievement
and the effort of each of the seven members (including her) had
made it possible for her to achieve this honour. She will also carry
the countrys flag in the opening ceremony.
WHY
Why is this feat a remarkable one?
It is a team accomplishment, one
in which each womans effort and
performance counted.
Social pressure and personal
injuries did not hinder these women
from giving their best and bringing
UAE to the attention of the IWF.
Lifting a nation
Rio 2016
Having missed the qualification narrowly at the Asian Championship

the teams last chance to make it to Rio these women did not
lose hope and retained faith in their team. The removal of six players
after the Asian Championship meant that the IWF had to choose
other strong teams. The IWF selected the new teams based on
ranking, universality and team efforts. It was dedication, patience
and a little faith that created this glorious moment for the team, said
Amna Al-Haddad, the oldest member of the team who participated
in the Asian Championship despite injury.
Faisal Al Hammadi, Emirates Weightlifting Federations (EWF)
secretary general said that weightlifting was a relatively new sport in
the UAE. For these women to break the bonds of orthodoxy, enter a
sport and prove their caliber in a short span of time is an achievement
that is an eye-opener for those who see women as unfit for sports,
and an inspiration worldwide.
The IWF selected UAE team and it was left to the EWF to send
one candidate. While the EWF chose based on the score of the
individual candidates, its president Sheikh Sultan bin Mejren hailed
the contribution of all the women and said, We are really proud of
all the seven members of the UAE team who took part in Tashkent
and created this opportunity for us.
WHEN
When do norms become an unfair barrier for women of the
Middle East?
When women are expected to
bid farewell to their sporting
talents as soon or before
they reach marriageable age,
irrespective of the national and
international laurels they have
won.
When
society
considers
academic achievements and
university degrees as stepping
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stones for better suitors and scorns on womens interest in sports

that would take women nowhere by which it means make it hard
to find a suitor.
When wives and mothers are expected to remain so and are actively
discouraged from being professional swimmers, runners, tennis
players and the like.
When even well-educated women discourage their daughters from
harnessing their talent in sports because it would be okay if it were
her brother but she should not nurture such foolish ambitions.
When husbands, children, in-laws, and everyone elses opinion in
the family matters and women are expected to submit to the same.
WHERE
Where are the winds of change coming from?
As near as a generation ago, women
were discouraged to say the least
from competing in sports. The firm
and steady manner in which brave
women are defying stereotypes has
awarded UAE with many firsts too
impactive to be ignored or treated
as a transient trend.
UAEs chronology has made
a landmark transition with
young Emirati women taking
part in sports like swimming, gymnastics and figure skating events
that women in this region couldnt even dream of.
Womens football was another late entrant in the UAE sports arena.
In mid-2009, the UAE Football Association formed a Womens
Football Committee designated with the responsibility of creating a
national team to represent the country at the international level. In
six years the number of female football players shot up from 20 to
2,000. Their FIFA rank rose by 60 spots in a year and stood at
73 the 14th highest ranked country in Asia.
Lifting a nation
Rio 2016
The UAE cycling federation formed a womens national team in 2012.

The team won four medals at Arab Track Championships in Sharjah
last year their first such major accomplishment. Ohoud Saeed,
their eldest cyclist shared past experiences of being harassed by
motor bikers when they realized that she was a girl. She is now
proud of having overcome such experiences and being part of the
national team.
More women are opening up to participate in sports due to initiatives
taken by the government to ensure that they do not have to discard
trademarks of their culture. More importantly, these women are
unleashing their potential and making their country proud.
Popular names like CrossFit Inc are periodically holding events to
gather female crowds. Women who have been involved in the sport
motivate others like them to join in. One such speech by Al-Haddad
a beacon of inspiration for many women in and outside sport had
her mother saying, Today when I am listening, Im listening not to
my daughter. I am listening to my teacher.
WHO
Who are the stars of the UAE weightlifting team?
Aisha Al Balushi fought

family members and societal
pressure to enter the field
of weightlifting. She showed
her talent by winning medals
in
competitions
and
at
least some of the voices
of
discouragement
were
silenced. Battling injury after
the Asian Championships, she
resumed full training in June.
Her persistence and leadership
qualities have made her a role
model for the other women around. Bin Mejren, president of the
EWF says of Balushi, She is always there on time for every training
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session; she is always taking care of the other members of the team,
especially the younger ones. Balushi is said to take the responsibility
of picking up and dropping back gym mates after the training when
they are hindered by unavailability of transport. Mejren adds, So a
girl who is doing so much for the sport, she deserves a chance to go
the Olympics.
Amna Al Haddad, a late starter in the field of weightlifting went from

being a depressed, inactive nineteen year old through becoming
a Nike-sponsored athlete and the first Emirati and GCC national
to compete in the Reebok CrossFit Asian Regionals in a veil. As a
motivational speaker and writer, she is actively involved in bringing
more UAE women into sport and inspires people across continents.
Her passion and commitment give her the confidence to chalk out
her own rules and learn along the journey.
Khadija Mohammed, who at age 17 became the first woman
weightlifter from the Gulf to enter Olympics in 2012, an unprecedented
achievement, said, I go to London with the sole desire of making
a statement on behalf of women from the UAE and Gulf countries.
All the members of the team must be commended for daring to
dream and shutting out discouragement, encouraging one another
and striving against all odds.
Crusading through each moment of pain, these women refuse to take
shortcuts and persist on. In doing so, they have elevated a nation.
All the women who have been inspired and are fighting individual
and collective battles to step into the field of weightlifting where
their strongest motivation comes from within, their teammates and
their coach. Any girl who plays sport will have fights with her family.
It is not just that they object to weightlifting, says Al Balushi.Despite
or because of this, their fiery enthusiasm and good humor remain
unscathed.
Special mention for Sultan bin Mejren, who as president of the
Emirates Weightlifting Federation, has relentlessly championed to
equip women and men weightlifters with self-sufficient training kits
and facilities. He fought for the six women in the Olympic qualifying
team to be rewarded in the same way as the UAE Olympic football
team and called on the IWF to accommodate the dress code of
UAEs women so that they are not hindered from participating.
Lifting a nation
Rio 2016
HOW
How should this change not be viewed?
The pressure from international
communities to bring more
women into sports should not be
misinterpreted as a challenge
or threat to the Gulfs cultural
norms and a defiance of the
system because that would
evoke a misguided rebellion.
It should not be treated as an
exclusive concept applicable
only to the rich families tainted by Westernization.
More of such positive change seems to happen in non-traditional
sports like weightlifting, archery, surfing etc. which do not require
women to greatly depart from their traditional dress. While this gives
hope, women should be encouraged to pursue other sports of their
choice too and not limited by religious or cultural demands.
While women should be encouraged, given the tremendous feats
accomplished by others like them, the change should not be only
about earning medals, doing the family, community and country proud
and then fading back into oblivion. Women need to be recognized for
their achievements and given equal opportunities as men to excel in
field of their choice.
REFERENCES
Weightlifter Aisha Al Balushi to carry flag for UAE at Rio Olympics
Marriage, motherhood, education, maybe sports: female Muslim
athletes expected priorities
Muslim women chase Olympic glory
INTERVIEW: Aisha Al Balushi out to upset the apple cart at Rio
Olympic Games after dream qualification
UAEs Amna Al-Haddad has lifted a nation
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She hasnt lost a competition in three years. She even has her own
move called The Biles, a gravity-defying feat that no one else even
dares trying. This 19-year-old American is being called the best and
most talented gymnast the world has ever seen. Such is her reputation
that no one will be surprised if Simone Biles wins gold in five of the six
Olympic events this month.
WHAT
What is Simone Biles story?
Simones grandparents, Ron and Nellie, officially became her mom
and dad when Simone was 6 while her mom, Shanon, struggled
with drug and alcohol addiction
Rio 2016
After a canceled field trip landed

Simone at a local gymnastics
center instead, Biles observed
the gyms students, then
spontaneously began imitating
their movements. She brought
home a flier urging kids to
sign up for classes. Simone
began the classes at 6, started
competing the next year with
Boorman as her coach and
rapidly advanced through the junior competition levels.
As a rising ninth-grader, she had to decide how high she wanted to
go in the sport. To advance to the elite level and be on that cover,
shed have to be homeschooled, Nellie told her. Biles was beginning
her push to join the junior national team, which required more time in
the gym and more travel to meets across the country. There would be
no prom, no after-school activities, no hanging with classmates. The
decision was hers. After a weekend of crying, she told her parents
she would do it. And then she did that, and then she did much more.
Now shes on her way to rock the gymnastics floor at the Rio Olympics
WHY
Why is Biles loved so much by so many?
Biles is a performer like none other. Ever.
She has won 4 consecutive
national
championships
and 3 consecutive world
championships the first
female gymnast to ever do
so. She has won 14 World
Championships medals, 10
of which are gold, in just
three years at the senior level.
To be sure of her dominance,
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you need to compare her with the second best (ever). The last
gymnast to come close to Biles had won 10 medals over 7 years
4 medals less than Biles after taking 4 years more! Biles has won
the most gold worlds medals of any female gymnast in history.
Ever.
Biles is recognized as an aspirational American dream in motion.

She is the first African American to be world all-around champion
and the first woman to win three consecutive world all-around
titles
I always have so much fun, Biles said once, after she had won
her fourth straight American national title all-around event and gold
medals in three of the four individual events.
She has her own move - the Biles - a double flip with the legs
straightened and a half twist thrown in at the end. The gymnast
has to fly end over end and land facing the same direction she was
running, as if deciding on the spur of the moment to trick out a sprint
with some midair acrobatics.
Being only a few medals away from being the most decorated
American Athlete in history, she doesnt let it get to her. In the
competitions, she is mature and ambitious. Off the competition,
she acts her (young) age. Biles biggest viral moment took place
at the 2014 Worlds, when she screamed after seeing a bee in her
bonnet.
Biles is equally prolific on social media, tweeting as well as retweeting
fans, teammates and reporters, perhaps more than anyone else on
the team. When Zac Efron wished her good luck for the Olympic
trials, Biles tweeted back in all caps: OH MY GOSH I THINK I AM
GOING TO PASS OUT OH MY GOSH CRYING! THANK YOU!
Shes also an unabashed Justin Bieber fan.
She has spoken out against body shaming, saying that she embraces
her stockier athletic build. I was built this way for a reason, so
Im going to use it, Biles said, describing her body as stockier than
her fellow gymnasts. To go out there and prove what I can do has
taught me a lot about who I am. We can push ourselves further. We
always have more to give.
Rio 2016
WHEN
When did Biles go international?
Biles did not win gold at her
first major event. Her senior
international debut was in
March at the 2013 American
Cup, an FIG World Cup event.
She and Katelyn Ohashi were
named as replacements for
Elizabeth Price and 2012
Olympic gold medalist Kyla
Ross, both of whom withdrew
from the competition because
of injuries. Biles led for two rotations but finished second behind her
teammate, Ohashi, after a fall off the beam.
It rained gold for her in the second outing. Biles immediately went
on to compete at the 2013 City of Jesolo Trophy in Jesolo, Italy,
where she took the all-around, vault, balance beam, and floor
exercise titles in addition to contributing to the United States
team gold medal.
After winning silver on all four events and the all-round gold medal
in the P&G Championships, she was named to the Senior National
Team and was invited to the qualifying camp for the 2013 World
Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Texas, where she was named
to the World Championships team.
In October, Biles competed at the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics
Championships in Antwerp, Belgium. She qualified first in the allaround, second to the vault final, sixth to the uneven bars final, fifth
to the balance beam final, and first to the floor final, making her the
first American gymnast to qualify to the all-around and all four
event finals since Shannon Miller in 1991.
Biles became the seventh American woman and the first AfricanAmerican to win the world all-around title.
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Biles missed the start of the next season due to an aggravated

shoulder injury, sitting out the 2014 AT&T American Cup and the
2014 Pacific Rim Championships.
At the 2014 P&G Championships, Biles again became the national
all-around champion after two days of competition, despite a fall
from the balance beam during her final routine of the meet. She won
the gold on vault and floor, tied for the silver on balance beam with
Alyssa Baumann, and finished fourth on the uneven bars. She was
once again named to the Senior National Team.
Biles then became the second American woman to repeat as world
all-around champion, following Miller (1993 and 1994), and the first
woman of any nationality to do so since Russias Svetlana Khorkina
(2001 and 2003).
Biles came first at the 2015 AT&T American Cup at AT&T Stadium
and was selected to represent the United States at the 2015 World
Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. During
the all-around final, Biles performed below her usual standard,
taking a large hop on vault, landing out of bounds on floor (which
she stated was a first), and grasping the beam to prevent a fall. Any
other gymnast could never have won after a fall and after going
out of bounds. But Biles is not any other gymnast. Her final score
of 60.399 was more than enough to secure the title with her
largest margin of victory yet. With that victory, Biles became
the first woman to win three consecutive all-around titles in World
Gymnastics Championships history
WHERE
Where did she score her career highlights before international
debut?
She did not always want to win gold at
Olympics. To begin with, her ambitions
were quite modest to be able to
compete at the regionals and then at
the junior level.
Rio 2016
Biles began her career at the 2011 American Classic in Huntsville,

Texas. She placed third all-around, first on vault and balance beam,
fourth on floor exercise, and eighth on uneven bars. Later that month,
Biles competed at the 2011 CoverGirl Classic in Chicago, Illinois,
where she placed fifth on balance beam and floor exercise. She
finished her first season at the 2011 Visa Championships in Saint
Paul, Minnesota, where she tied for seventh on vault.
Biles first meet of 2012 was again the American Classic in Huntsville,
Texas, where she placed first all-around and on vault, tied for second
on floor exercise, placed third on balance beam and fourth on uneven
bars.
She later competed at the 2012 Secret U.S. Classic in Chicago. She
finished first all-around and on vault, second on floor exercise, and
sixth on balance beam. In June, she made her second appearance
at the Visa Championships, this time in St. Louis, Missouri. She
finished third all-around, first on vault, and sixth on uneven bars,
balance beam, and floor exercise. After this performance, Biles was
named to the United States Junior National Team.
In the 2013 Secret U.S. Classic, Chicago, Biles seemed to mentally
unravel, falling from the uneven bars, stumbling on the balance
beam, and hurting her ankle on the floor exercise, which forced her
to withdraw from the vault competition. The following month, at the
P&G Championships, in Hartford, Connecticut, she won silver on all
four events and the all-around gold medal, finishing just ahead of
Kyla Ross, a member of the FierceFive.
WHO
Who is her coach?
Biles started at Bannons Gymnastix
in the beginners class, but as her
talent became apparent, she quickly
advanced. A year after enrolling,
Biles was in the middle of a class
when Aimee Boorman, a former
competitive gymnast and one of the
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coaches at Bannons, walked by and took notice. Impressed by her
explosive power and air sense- a gymnasts catlike ability to stay
oriented while flying through the air - Boorman soon became Biles
personal coach, a position she has held to this day.
To help Biles manage the stress of international competitions,

Boorman encouraged her to visit sports psychology coach Robert
Andrews, who runs Houstons Institute of Sports Performance and
had worked closely with the 2012 U.S. mens gymnastics team.
HOW
How does Biles do it?
I train 32 hours a week over
6 days. On Tuesday, Thursday,
and Friday from 9am until
12pm, I focus on basics and
skills so I can break everything
down and really get a hold of
them. In the afternoon, from
3pm until 6pm, I put the skill
sets together that I worked
on that morning. Monday and
Wednesday from 12:30-5:30, I work on basics for about 15 minutes
and then a combination of everything from skills to routines. Same
thing on Saturday from 9am from 1pm, she revealed recently.
Gymnasts routines are evaluated by combining a starting value (a
score determined by the difficulty of the program) and an execution
score (a score based on how well the gymnast performs the various
elements of her routine). Biles is not only doing all the most difficult
moves, shes also doing them better than anyone else.
Biless trademark is her floor routine. Whenever she competes, it is
the beginning of the end of the competition. She opens with a double
layout with a full twist, a display of sheer power - like an avalanche
screaming down the side of a mountain.
As for food, while she eats healthy food, she still has a love for pizza.
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87
How good are her chances at Rio?

It has to take more than bad luck to stop Biles from winning.
Consider this. In gymnastics the difference between gold and silver
is often in hundredths sometimes even thousandths of points. In
the last two years, her all-round scores over the last two years were
on average over two points higher than the second place finisher.
This means that Biles has reached such a record level of difficulty
that she can make a few mistakes and still win gold.
Even the legendary athletes have had their arch rivals. Simone Biles
is in her own league, where she performs to outperform her rivals,
who just cannot dare to even try the stunts that Biles has perfected.
The only way she can lose is if her nerves dont hold together during the
Olympics routine. But after having practiced so much and won so many
times, it would be nave for us to assume that the iron-willed Biles will
falter at the highest stage. Simone Biles is the inevitable winner. Get
ready to witness her greatness, if you have not done that already.
REFERENCES:
Simone Biles and her story
Biles training regime
Her achievements
Simone Biles
Doping scandal: Conspiracy against

Narsingh?
25/07/2016
Narsingh Yadavs Olympic dream is in jeopardy after the wrestler tested
positive for a performance enhancing steroid on Sunday. Narsingh believes

that there is foul play involved in the entire episode surrounding his dope
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test. After his dramatic qualification for the Rio Games, the news of his possible disqualification is even more dramatic as it could leave India with no
representations in the 74kg category.
WHAT
What is the issue?
Narsingh Yadav, a wrestler
from Maharashtra, had secured
a berth for the Olympics in the
74 kg weight category in May.
On Sunday, it was revealed
that Narsingh failed a dope test
Rio 2016
for Methandieone, considered a hard core performance-enhancing

steroid.
As a result, his Rio Olympics accreditation has been reportedly
withheld by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) conducted a random dope
test on Yadav on 5th July at the Sports Authority of Indias regional
centre in Sonepat.
His possible ouster is startling as debates have been rife over the
last several months as to who should be the one to make the cut
Sushil Kumar, the experienced two-time Olympic medallist (Bronze
in 2008 and Silver in 2012), or Narsingh Yadav, the bronze medallist
at the 2015 World Championships.
Sushils name wasnt included in the list of probables in the list
forwarded to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) by the WFI.
It was therefore concluded that Narsingh was chosen as he had
earned the Olympic quota in the World Championships last
year.
WHY
Why is the news shocking?
Animosity between the two
wrestlers grew as Sushil
repeatedly voiced out his
interests in representing India
in Rio. Sushil even dragged
Narsingh to court over the spot.
The court, however, ruled
that Narsingh had already
qualified for the games.
As the wrestler fails the drug
test, conspiracy theories are abound as to whether the Maharashtra
Police officer and World Championship bronze medallist was himself
responsible for his undoing or if he was a victim of a conspiracy.
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Narsingh has reportedly claimed that he is a victim of conspiracy. He

had allegedly received death threats in Sonepat.
He is believed to have explained this angle to NADA panel. Reportedly
he has implicated a senior official of Sports Authority of India (SAI)
also.
The steroid he tested positive for - Methandieone - isnt found
in food supplements. Only sportsmen have access to it.
The hopes of his supporters who stood by him during the last few
months would be squashed if Narsingh cannot make it to Rio.
WHEN
When did the Narsingh vs Sushil debate heat up?
After the London Olympics, the
world body FILA rejigged
the weight categories and the
66kg category was done away
with.
Sushil had won two Olympic
medals in the 66kg division in the
Beijing and London Olympics.
He upgraded himself to the 74kg
division following the revamp of
weight categories.
Narsingh bagged bronze in World Championship last year in the 74
kg category putting all cards on the table.
An Olympic berth belongs to the country concerned and not
the wrestler. This would mean that Wrestling Federation of India
(WFI) would take the call as to who will make the cut.
While Sushil has been Indias most consistent performer, he had
participated in only two international meets since London, the last one
at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the 74kg category alongside
modest wrestlers and won gold.
He had stayed away from the mat for quite some time, as he was
recuperating from a shoulder injury for over three years. The lack of
playing time has also been invoked as one of the crucial factors.
Rio 2016
While Narsingh is young, fit and more seasoned in the 74kg

category for ages, his performances leading up to the 2015 World
Championships had been underwhelming.
The debate began during Indian wrestlers outing at Las Vegas in
2015. The performance of the wrestlers was underwhelming, and
the absence of London medallists Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar
Dutt was frequently highlighted.
But then Narsingh stepped on the mat, and defeated Frances
Zelimkhan Khadjiev to earn a bronze medal and an Olympic
quota to represent India.
Narsingh Yadav had been the best in 74kg category until a couple of
years ago. It wasnt until the 66kg category was withdrawn that the
paths of Sushil and Narsingh intertwined.
The question has piqued interest ever since. Among the alibis the
federation has been grappling with are fitness, form, training routine,
and past precedents.
WHERE
Where will this affect Sushils chances?
Sushil commands respect
among his peers like no one
else does. When he swaggers
into training arenas, young
wrestlers, including Narsingh,
pause to touch his feet.
He won back-to-back medals
in the 66kg category at the
2008 Beijing and 2012 London
Olympics, and is a former
world champion. When he tested waters in the 74kg category at the
Commonwealth games albeit against a modest field, he emerged
with a gold.
However, even as Narsingh faces an ouster, chances are really slim
that Sushil would represent India in his place.
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The countries are only allowed seek replacements for injured

athletes, a Hindustan Times report said.
Sushils name doesnt even feature in the list of standbys sent to the
International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The most likely scenario: If the dope results are confirmed, the
74 kg category will remain vacant. It is only on medical grounds
that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allows replacement
of sportspersons. If an athlete fails doping test, the punishment
is to be collectively borne by the entire country, not just the
particular athlete. However, Indian officials are keeping their hopes
high because Sushil is a double Olympics champion.
WHO
Who said Hours after Narsingh tested positive Sushil took to
Instagram to post this: Respect should be earned, not demanded.
While Sushil did not indicate
that he is referring to Narsinghs
doping scandal, the timing of the
message and the recent animosity
between the two wrestlers made
the intentions of posting this open
to questions.
Someone has sabotaged my food
supplements and water intake,
Narsingh said in a statement issued on Sunday night. I have been a
professional freestyle wrestler for over 15 years and I have undergone
almost 25-30 dope tests, Narsingh said. I have come out clean every
single time and never have any of my samples returned positive results.
I have undergone three tests in the last month and a half. I appeared
for a dope test on the 2nd of June before leaving for a training camp in
Bulgaria. I was again tested on my return on the 25th of June and once
again on the 5th of July.
I have seen him since he was 10. He cant do it. He has always relied on
his natural diet to reach this level. He has been tested so many times in the
Rio 2016
past also but had never ever failed any tests. I am sure its a conspiracy
and he has been framed, an emotional coach Jagmal Singh said.
The possibility of sabotage looms large as athletes are often instructed to
not trust even their room-mates, and be particular about what they gulp down.
HOW
How does this affect Indias Rio chances?
The Wrestling Federation of
India (WFI) hasnt handled
the situation particular well as
it has been dragging its feet
in the matter leaving room for
speculations.
Even after the probables
were out, the WFI remained
noncommittal while the IOA
asserted that Sushils name
could still be added to the list.
Asked if Narsingh will miss the Rio Olympics, Director General Navin
Agarwal said, It is too early to comment in that regard. We will try to
complete the whole thing quickly. I cannot speculate on that.
The WFI has already handed him a provisional suspension. But the
WFI President Brij Bhushan Singh himself claims that Narsingh
had been framed and insists that the episode seems to be an
attempt to sabotage the wrestler. He said the substances found in
Narsinghs sample are the same as that found in his roommates.
It is foul play. Narsingh has a very clean history. It is clearly a
conspiracy against him. A decision on the representation in 74kg
is to be taken later but in all likelihood there would be no Indian
representation in 74kg in Rio. Narsingh has been handed provisional
suspension as of now, a WFI official said.
However, his Rio chances have taken a severe blow as the World
Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is likely to rule the athlete responsible
for what is found in his system.
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Narsingh would have been raring to prove why he was the best
wrestler to represent India in the 74-kg category; unfortunately, he
may not get the chance to salvage his pride.
India, on the other hand, may go unrepresented in the 74-kg category
as the late date for changes (July 18) has already been overshot.
REFERENCES

Respect should be earned: Sushil
Narsingh shines through Sushils shadow
Doors may not open for Sushil
Narsingh fails dope test, may miss Olympics
19/07/2016
Mirabai Chanus unbending will has seen her through the harshest of
struggles. As she trains to perform at the Rio Olympics, age, consistency, stamina and perseverance are on her side. This has Indias hopes
of a medal pinned on her despite the tough competition she would face
against others and herself. We also need to examine why so few Indian
sportswomen shine as Mirabai has.
Rio 2016
WHAT
What makes Mirabai Chanu stand out?
Her journey along the domain of
weightlifting exemplifies Dr. A.P.J.
Abdul Kalams quote, Dream is
not the thing you see in sleep but is
that thing that doesnt let you sleep.
Starting from a dream inspired
by watching stellar weightlifting
champion Kunjarani Devi perform,
her path since then has been in
relentless pursuit of this dream.
She made her dream an
obsession and went several
extra miles from traveling 60 km everyday as a beginner for training
through persevering despite financial impediments that did not
even permit her prescribed diet and got in the way of her game
through convincing parents who couldnt afford the cost to training
her mind to focus despite battling insomnia and self-doubt.
Despite doping scandals hitting the image of womens weightlifting,
Mirabai and a few other determined young women fought their
way to make a mark. National team coach Vijay Sharma says of
Mirabai, Unlike a lot of lifters who succumbed to doping, she has the
willingness to lift, which could fulfill not just her, but Indias Olympic
dream as well.
Kunjarani Devi, Mirabais coach says of her student, Mirabai
is one of those lifters that you get once in a generation. She was
always willing to work hard and wasnt someone who would look to
get away when she thought no one was looking.
What problems do Indian women face in sports?
Each of the following points is a sliver of the intricate and poisonous

discrimination against women in sports.
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Sexual and other forms of exploitation. The suicide pact of four

talented, young female athletes training at the Sports Authority of
India (SAI) centre in Alappuzha made news last year. A small section
of the media did bring up deeply rooted evils such as exploitation
of the girls poverty, absence of a committee to address sexual
harassment issues and corruption. Probes and investigations were
ordered by a shocked SAI and Kerala Government, in parallel with
a good deal of denial and downplay. Since then, there have been no
reports on the case.
Other allegations of sexual harassment by sportswomen have
met with victim blaming, removal of the accused after finding
him guilty followed by allotment to a more comfortable post. V.
Chamundeshwarnath, in June 2009 was suspended for harassing
women for sexual favors, sacked in August 2009 for allegations of
corruption and went on to become co-owner of Mumbai Masters, a
franchise of the Indian Badminton League.
Under-represented by media. While the Dhonis and Kohlis thrive
on media and ad space, Mithali Raj, a woman cricketer with
remarkable achievements and the current captain of Indian women
cricket team is hardly a known name. Television broadcaster Star
India stalled marketing plans for the Womens ICC World Twenty20
tournament having found no takers. HerStory recently covered an
article on eight Indian sportswomen who are international stars but
unknown names in India.
Dipa Karmakar, the first Indian gymnast to qualify for 2016 Olympics,
almost missed her chance due to lack of funding and government
interest.
From the incident where Mirabai, after winning the gold medal at the
12th South Asian Games was left by herself at the stadium in an
unknown place due to the team bus taking off without her, through
the situation in which Sarita Devi, a boxer who had to borrow money to
lodge a complaint against an unreasonable one-year ban to true accounts
of Rishu Mittal, gold medalist in boxing turned domestic helper, Situ
Saha, bronze winner at the Athens Special Olympics turned gol gappas
seller and of bronze medalist Nisha Rani having to sell her equipment
to continue supporting her family; the levels from indifference to apathy
of Indian government and citizens to our women in sports pervade our
system.
Rio 2016
WHY
Why does Indias hope ride on Miras young shoulders?
Her consistent performance
and remarkable improvement
over the last couple of years has
brought out Mirabais potential
as an outstanding weight lifter
with a strong chance at the
Olympics.
Since winning a silver
medal in the 2014
Commonwealth Games
at Glasgow where she
lifted 170 kg, her progress
has been steady. Her performances in three consecutive major
tournaments that year were proof of her power to withstand.
In 2015, her achievements included a ninth place in the World
Championships and this year, at the trials for Olympics she broke the
nearly twelve-year national record set by the widely-celebrated,
multiple-award-winner Kunjarani Devi. She accomplished this by
lifting an 85 kg barbell from the ground to an overhead position in
one stroke known as snatch the first lift. In the second lift known
as clean and jerk, she equaled Kunjaranis record of 107 kg. Only
three participants in international competitions exceed Mirabais
record.
Age and stamina are on her side. Kunjarani Devi highlights these
when she says of Mirabai, She is quite young and she stays around
her competition weight even during the off season. That means she
can lift heavy during training and she will still be able to recover and
not get injured.
For India, Mirabais medal would mean holding its head high again after
a series of setbacks since Karnam Malleshwari won the bronze medal at
the Olympic Games in 2000.
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WHEN
When did Mirabai take to weightlifting?
It all started with a dream
when she was nine years
old.
Having
watched
what she now thinks
was
Kunjarani
Devis
performance at the 2004
Olympics, the child Mira
dreamt of holding a medal
on the podium. That was
her calling and she never
looked back. She began
by facing the first hardship of cycling the long distance from her
village to the training centre every day.
It was mental will rather than innate physical strength that saw her
through the relatively less exciting phase at the beginning. She had
to lift bamboo canes for six months before being allowed to hold
an iron bar. Once she got started, she accelerated to excellence;
winning gold at the sub-junior level by the age of 11 and at the junior
nationals in 2011.
Her familys financial position meant that she could not afford the
prescribed diet of milk and chicken everyday; it wasnt even
possible to afford just the milk. She took the resultant drop in
performance in her stride considering it a passing phase while
keeping her focus intact.
When she needed to shift permanently to Imphal, her parents
hesitated and said they could not afford the fee. She convinced them
by making and fortunately winning a deal that she would quit if she
didnt qualify for the Olympics 2016.
Parents asked me to quit if I didnt make it to Rio, so I had no
option, Mirabai says.
Rio 2016
WHERE
Where are the challenges Mirabai needs to overcome?
Chinas
likely
candidate
18-year-old Hou Zhihui lifted
a phenomenal 210 kg totally,
during the Olympic trials. Two
other candidates - Ryang Chun
Hwa, North Korea and Khamsri
Panida, Thailand recorded 196
kg and 194 kg lifts - narrower
leads over Mirabai. In addition,
three other contenders are
almost level with her.
Mirabai, a debutant, will compete against Japanese veteran Hiromi
Miyake - a silver medalist in the 2012 Olympics and bronze winner
in World Championship of 2015. Her record last November was a
total of 193 kg.
The close contest scenario requires Mirabai to improve her
performance by as much as a couple of kilos in a short span of
time. This is a challenge, for she is already at the higher end of her
potential.
In each of the two lifts, the contestants will be allowed three
attempts. Vijay Sharma says that Mirabais reaction on stage is
the determining factor. She cant afford to miss a lift. In the trials,
a single miss in the first attempt to lift 103 kg in a clean and jerk
manner forced her to attempt lesser weights subsequently and fall
short of making a new record. At the Olympics, it would mean the
fourth place. More importantly, it would mean no medal.
Her sleepless nights though not uncommon are a constant source
of worry; they reflect her minds stubborn refusal to be tamed to rest
and recover.
As she puts it, one needs to confine ones mind to focus methodically
on the coachs instructions and implementing the technique
successfully. Everything else is noise that needs to be blocked
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out. She admits, Its not easy. Because always your mind wants to
wander.Self doubt, fear and stray thoughts among other forms of
noise should neither numb nor drive one to desperation resulting in
a miss. The noise-proofness achieved by the mind needs to hold on
during that breathtaking moment.
WHO
Who shares a special bond with Mirabai?
Kunjarani Devi she inspired her
to dream and later on became her
driving force as a coach.
Mirabai, chosen as participant
of a national camp at Bangalore
met Kunjarani there for the first
time. When she realized that
the coach showed her tough
side only during training, she
began to bond with her on a
personal level and followed her
back to the national camp at Patiala in 2013.
As they both hailed from Manipur, they bonded further in Punjab,
a place far from home. Mirabai says that at times she cooks for
Kunjarani and can share her feelings with the latter, like she would
with her mother.
Kunjaranis determination to see her students succeed goes way
beyond the training sessions be it encouraging Mirabai and her
teammate Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu in their mother tongue at the
2014 Commonwealth Games or sparing no effort in soothe and alert
her students before competitions.
That Mirabai has broken her coachs records doesnt sadden
Kunjarani. Aware of her struggles at a time when womens weightlifting
was at a fledgling stage, Kunjarani doesnt want Mirabai to face the
same troubles and earnestly desires to see her conquer greater
heights and believes it will happen.
Rio 2016
Kunjus story
Nameirakpam Kunjarani Devi is the most decorated Indian sportswoman
in weightlifting. She took part in seven successive World Championships
and with the exception of the Melbourne edition in 1993, she won medals
(though never gold) at every one of those competitions. She also won
bronze medals at the Asian Games. However, after winning 61 medals in
international events, all she wanted was to fulfill what she had called her
last ambition a podium finish in the Olympics.
She finally got a shot at Olympics glory in 2004 Athens, after two
decades of lifting. Age was not on her side (she was 38) but what
she lacked in age, she made up in practice and was tipped to become
the second Indian woman weightlifter (after Karnam Malleswari
finished third in Sydney 2000) to achieve Olympic glory. That she had
undergone knee surgery twice did not deter her from the pursuit.
On 14th August 2004, Saturday night, Kunjarani Devi was pitted
against lifters 15-20 years younger to her. She had to rise above
her personal best to be in the Top 3. Summoning all her strength
and experience, she returned a total of 190-kg. This was her best
performance in an international meet. But her best was not
enough that night.
When it was all over, Kunjarani Devi was placed fifth, beaten to
bronze by 10 kg. She was later moved to the fourth position, after
the Thai lifter, who came fourth, tested positive for drugs.
Her protg Mirabai is in a similar position now not the best in the world,
but capable of winning the bronze with her best performance with one
difference. Mirabai is going to Olympics at the age of 22. Can Kunjarani
Devi make Mirabai do what she could not?
It is remarkable that Mirabai says it is medal or nothing for her at Rio.
No athlete wants to be known as the one who came fourth at Olympics.
HOW
How important is it for Mirabai to win?
To say that she has to win to raise Indias much-dented prestige in
the field of womens weightlifting begs the question, How has India
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treated its sportswomen? The

short answer to that is with
appalling indifference!
To say that her win would
bring about a sea change in
how Indians perceive the sport
would be sadly untrue as the
barely-noticed feats of previous
women achievers in various
fields of sport have proved.
That she should win because
if she loses she would fade
away and all her marathon efforts would come to nothing rings
more true. She has come this far because her continued involvement
with the sports she loved was contingent on her winning medals as
a way of life.
That she should win to carry forward Kunjaranis legacy and inspire
not only more young girls to enter sports but the entire country to
listen to her perspective on problems like doping and take a critical
look at the good, bad and ugly sides of Indian sports rings more true
for the more optimistic.
How can we have more like Mirabai from India?

We need to understand that gender discrimination against Indian
sportswomen thrives despite some positive change, and as long as
we do nothing about it, our notions of national pride on noticing
our successful sportswomen are akin to delusions.
Mirabais take on the doping scandals is refreshingly sensitive
and direct. While acknowledging that it is a big problem with a
long past, she says, I think we need to educate the sportspersons
about supplements and how doping can be caught. Most people
think its just a supplement, but they dont realise how it could
tarnish ones career. We need to examine the root cause and see
how to address it instead of cribbing about the countrys fallen
reputation.
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If there is the circular argument in which families point to the

governments lack of interest and societys lack of acceptance as
reasons for discouraging their girls from sports and government and
society point fingers to families reluctance leading to low female
participation to justify their indifference and negligence, its high time
we break from it and make the sports environment more conducive
for higher female participation.
We must recognize, respect and reward the numerous deserving
sportswomen who have battled against all odds to achieve accolades
in their chosen field.
REFERENCES
Rio 2016 Olympics: Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu sleepless inPatiala
Kerala athletes suicide: Such a cruel game
Mirabai Chanu breaks 12-year-old record, sets sight on Rio
2016Olympics
Rio Olympics 2016: More than medals at stake for Satish Sivalingam
and Mirabai Chanu
Once unable to afford a glass of milk, Mirabai Chanu has charted an
unlikely Rio Olympic journey
22/07/2016
Inderjeet Singh, Indias only male shot-putter at the Rio 2016 Olympics,
is preparing to take to the field to bring India glory. His performance in

various international events in 2015 turned heads. However, his journey
hasnt been an easy one, as is the case with many Indian athletes. Knappily puts the spot light on Indias premier shot-putter who once practiced
under motorcycle headlights.
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WHAT
What does Inderjeet want from the government?
Inderjeet Singh, who will
compete in the mens shot put
event at the 2016 Olympics next
month, has a modest demand.
He wants the government to
fund his coachs trip to Rio.
There has been no commitment
from the government to this
end.
The India and Asia mens shot
put No. 1 has put in a request for funding of his coachs trip to the
Athletics Federation of India, but nothing has materialized yet.
His coach Pritam Singh, the brother and coach of two-time Olympian
Shakti Singh, helped Inderjeet manage to win gold at the 2015 Asian
Athletic Championship and the 2015 Summer Universiade.
Rio 2016
The only support that I want from the government at this time is to
please send my coach to Rio with me, Inderjeet said when asked
about his preparations for the Olympics.
Being the lone shot-putter to travel to Rio, the motivational component
for a good performance will be greatly absent if his coach doesnt
accompany him.
The coachs presence will take some pressure of the competition
out of the athlete and allow him to focus better.
If your coach is not there with you, there is no one around who can
tell you what you are doing wrong while the competition is going on.
Sometimes the athlete forgets to take care of themselves or what to
do at that point of time. Only the coach can help remind the athlete
about those (small but important) thing, emphasizing the need of
his coach by his side.
WHY
Why is the story of Inderjeet Singh inspirational?
His fathers death in 2007
threatened to have a breaking
effect on his athletics dreams,
but his mother did everything
in her capacity to ensure that
didnt happen. The family had
to sell their shops and take
loans from many people to
support Inderjeets training.
With no electricity in his
village Bhiwani, Inderjeets
coach and friends would turn on their motorcycle headlights
so he could train at the Bhim stadium in Bhiwani.
Inderjeet never say die attitude has helped him overcome
difficulties which have rarely bogged him down.
In 2013, Inderjeet Singh was left in a bit of trouble on arriving in
Kazan for World University Games; his baggage didnt arrive in
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time which left without his practice shoes, competition shoes and
kit.
During the qualification rounds and the final of the mens shot put,
Inderjeet borrowed a pair of shoes that were much smaller than his
actual shoe size, and somehow played on after squeezing his feet
into the borrowed pair.
Despite the discomfort, he managed to produce a personal best
of 19.70m and bag Indias first medal at the World University
championships, bringing home a silver medal.
WHEN
When did Inderjeet announce his arrival on the world stage?
Inderjeet created history in
2015 by winning the countrys
first Universiade, also known
as the World University
Games (WUG), gold medal
in athletic. He won the event
with his final throw of 20.27
meters.
He had competed at the 2013
Summer Universiade and won silver medal with a throw of 19.70
metre which was his personal best at that time.
2015 was an exceptional year for Inderjeet, with five gold medals in
all five international events he participated in that year. He won the
Asian Championships in China with a throw of 20.41 meters before
bagging gold in each of the three legs of the Asian Grand Prix in
Thailand. He had also won a bronze in the Asian Games last year
with a throw of 19.63 meters.
With a personal best of 20.65 metres achieved at the 19th
Federation Cup in May 2015, Inderjeet achieved the 20.50 metre
qualification mark for the Olympics. This made many sit up and
take notice, as he is the first Indian to be qualifying for Olympics
in shot put.
Rio 2016
WHERE
Where has the system failed Inderjeet?
Despite
being
named
in the Target Olympic
Podium (TOP) scheme,
it took Inderjeet close to
four months to receive
clearance to train in the US
under his coaches.
The Sports Authority of
India (SAI) had rejected his
request to take his personal
coaches along with him
to US. It was only after he
threatened to quit the TOP scheme that it was accepted.
While he is thankful to the government for providing support through
the TOP scheme, he finds the administrative hurdles making the
processes difficult for athletes to excel.
Emphasizing this point, Indrajeet said, Athletes should speak up.
If we dont, administrators will continue to impose their will on us.
The onus is on us to pave an easier path for the next generation of
athletes.
He made it a point to perform so that he is able to get support
from the government. In the initial stages, athletes do not get
the right support from the government. Once they attain some
stardom by performing exceptionally well in an international
event, then theres support. Even that comes with its own set of
impediments.
When undergoing doping tests, he finds that theres harassment of
players. Last year, he was tested more than 10 times, far more than
what was considered necessary.
Inderjeet says, in this country (India), athletes are created by
accident, not by design.
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WHO
Who is the other shot putter representing India?
The other shot put athlete from
India is Punjabs Manpreet
Kaur who created history in
2015 as she smashed an
18 year national record to
clinch the gold medal at the
55th National Open Athletics
Championships. In the process,
she also qualified for the Rio
Olympics 2016.
Throwing 17.96 m, the 25-yearold broke the 18 year record
held by Harbans Kaur which was set in 1997 (17.43 m). She also
passed the Olympic qualifying mark of 17.80 m in the process.
Hence, currently, she is the national record holder in the womens
shot put event.
Kaur hails from Sahauli village in Patiala, and is currently working for
Diesel Locomotive Modernization (DMW), which is a diesel engine
manufacturing unit of the Indian Railways in Patiala.
She took a sabbatical for 3 years in 2010, after her marriage to her
coach of 7 years, Karamjeet, and the birth of their daughter. Now,
the mother of a four year old, she plans to continue excelling in her
event and making her country proud.
Her coach and husband Karamjeet, however, is also facing the
trouble of not being able to accompany her to the event due to
financial troubles.
When she requested the Athletics Federation of India to fund her
coachs travel, a senior AFI official told her, You wont win a medal;
hence whats the point of sending a coach with you?
Representing the country in an event that was never represented by
an Indian woman is an achievement by itself; such treatment meted
out to athletes will demotivate other players to dream of reaching the
echelon of winning a medal at the Olympics for the country.
Rio 2016
HOW
How important is it for Inderjeet to win a medal?
Inderjeet knows that his careerbest effort of 20.65 metres is
not good enough for him to get
a medal in Rio.
His focus is to give his best. He
hopes to get a podium finish,
but he understands the stiff
competition. He wants to learn
from this experience, and says
this is not his last Olympics.
Shot put competition will come
mostly from Germany, US,
Poland and Jamaica. London Olympics 2012 gold medal winner,
Tomasz Majewski from Poland (who was also the winner in the 2008
Beijing Olympics), threw at 21.89 m.
The current leading shot put player, Joe Kovacs from the USA, has
thrown his best at 22.56m, while in the latest event he threw 22.13m.
Ryan Crouser, also from the USA, holds a record of 22.11m, and is
the second best shot-put player participating in Rio Olympics.
Thus, Inderjeet is under no disillusion of the stiff competition he faces from
these athletes who are able to achieve marks of 21 metres and upwards
consistently, while hes been consistently able to throw over 20 in the last
one year. It is a matter of 1 metre. Its not going to be easy to improve this
much. But then, by his own admission, he stepped up his performance to
qualify for Rio because he had to prove his critics wrong.
Inderjeet is polite in manners, outspoken in interviews and strong in built.
One can sense that when he throws his last shot at Rio, he will power it
not just with his strength, but also with his never-say-die spirit.
REFERENCES
Olympian struggling to get coach to Rio
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Inderjeet wins Indias first-ever athletics gold in World University

Games
Manpreet Kaur cant take coach to Rio
Rio wont be my last shot
27/07/2016
OP Jaisha, Indias Marathon champion, has qualified for the Rio Olym-
pics at 33. She has furthered the threshold of excellence in the most
challenging of track events. Fighting abject poverty she once had to
eat mud to survive - with the support of her mother and coaches, Jaisha
emerged as a promising athlete, when her decline started. She fought
her way back again, one mile at a time.
Rio 2016
WHAT
What is OP Jaishas claim to fame?
Orchatteri Puthiya Veetil Jaisha
has consistently broken her
own national records; the
latest being last year when she
clocked 2:34:43 in the marathon
event of World Championships at
Beijing and broke her own record
of 2:37:29 achieved earlier that
year. In the earlier marathon
event - her first ever full marathon
appearance; she had broken a 19 year old record. Now, she is all
set to take part in the Olympics for the first time at the age of 33.
She has made her mark in some of the most arduous of track events
and competes in the 1500m, 3000m and 5,000m events and even
in the 3,000m steeplechase event that requires her to jump over
obstacles including water on the way and in which she is a former
national record holder.
She is among the few Indian women athlete runners who made and
crossed milestones in their second innings.
Despite Indias lack of encouragement to its athletes, (Jaisha says
documentation work is a nightmare for athletes and also there are
no training facilities; rarely does anyone sponsor athletes. Her coach
too feels that Athletics Federation of India (AFI) can put more effort
in addressing the needs of Jaisha and other talented girls like her)
Jaisha has come this far in the field and is focused on achieving
newer milestones to make India proud.
WHY
Why is her story inspirational?
Despite the utter penury she faced as a child unavailability of food
forced her to survive on mud several times, rice water was a luxury
- she went on to cultivate an interest in running.
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As a child she used to get up at

5 am, milk the cows her mother
bought on loan, and then walk
a mile to the local milk society
to sell the milk and walk back
home. Then she would walk
another two kilometres to
school. She had to run to her
home during the lunch break to
eat, if at all there was anything
to eat. In the evening she would
once again make the two-mile
return trip to the milk society.
This was Jaishas high-altitude training while growing up.
Inability to pay the sports college fees was her first hurdle to taking up
the less traveled path towards a career with unpredictable returns.
Determination and faith in her abilities made her take that first step
which led to glorious results.
She knew the value of opportunity and steadfastly held on to the
chance that came her way. In her own words, When you have
nothing to fall back on you must grab the opportunity that comes
your way and put your heart and soul into athletics. I did just that at
Assumption College.
Despite constant doubts about her ability to re-enter the field of
athletics she faced a low performance phase, her age was a
problem and she had to battle injury and respiratory problems, with
exemplary support from her partner and coach, she re-fuelled her
determination to run for India once more.
WHEN
When did Jaisha know she could win?
To attend her first sports-cum-cultural festival, teenager Jaisha had
to travel 3 km through the woodlands on the way. She adamantly
insisted on going and her mother, tired of refusing finally gave in
saying, Do what you want.
Rio 2016
This was the only time Jaisha

defied her mothers wishes
and set off from Thrissilery, the
tribal region in north Keralas
Wayanad district. She went to
the festival as a spectator but
was persuaded to participate in
the 800m race by a local coach
struggling to fill in last-minute
dropouts from his team.
In her first such race, she was
barefoot, competed with the national school games champion and
to everyones amazement, went on to win the first place; achieving
an unbelievable 100-metre lead over the national school champion.
She ran home and proudly showed her family the winning certificate,
and brought tears of joy to a mother battling depression, a bedridden father and three elder sisters. Since then on she would run to
make and break milestones and lift her family out of the miserable
poverty that had befallen them.
Her foray into the national level was preceded by a remarkable victory at
the 2005 University Games when she was in Assumption College she
bagged the gold in 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m distances.
She was selected for the National Camp and guided to win the bronze in
the 5,000m event at the 2006 Asian Games.
WHERE
Where did Jaisha need to again struggle her way up?
At the age of 21, she had had a great start, and her career as an
athlete looked promising, but instead of scaling greater heights
her performance took a downward turn. Family commitments took
her time and energy, leaving her devoid of both these essential
ingredients for excelling in her profession.
She used the prize money earned at the Doha Asian Games to
arrange her sisters marriages, sold her house to pay off an earlier
loan, and settle medical bills for her father was still bed-ridden. Her
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body too protested strongly

with injury and health problems
cropping up.
She diverted her focus and paid
heavily with her performances.
Victories at the national level
and a bronze in the 1,500
metres at the Asian Athletics
Championshipscould not offset
below average performances in
other crucial events. She was in
a situation made worse by her stress fracture, and her London Olympics
dream was killed. As for her career, it seemed to come to a standstill at
30. She found herself wanting to quit.
Then her recuperation and resurgence began, greatly aided by her
husband, following her exclusion from the national camp after an
unsatisfactory attempt at the Asian championships in Pune. The
couple went to Sports Authority of Indias high altitude training centre
in Dharamshala where Jaisha slowly but steadily regained her form
and strength over nine months.
Who have stood by Jaisha through her tough times?

Jaishas mother, in the midst of abject poverty chose to take a loan
by mortgaging a small piece of land beneath their thatch house
instead of putting her young daughters into menial jobs. Her mother
said to Jaisha that they would even go hungry but not do things they
werent comfortable doing.
Girish, a local club coach, recommended her to the management
of Assumption College in Changanacherry. This helped her gain
admission into a college renowned for the best athletics facilities
in Kerala. Had Girish not made this fortuitous recommendation,
Jaishas talent could never have been honed.
Unnikrishnan Menon, the coach at Assumption and Ninamma
Thomas, head of the physical education department took Jaisha
under their wings providing moral support and the necessary
training kit including shoes.
Rio 2016
Dr Nikolai Snesarev, known

for his grilling training sessions
and
dictatorial
methods,
pushed Jaisha to achieve her
breakthrough at the continental
level. He recalled Jaisha on
his return in 2014 and trained
her in spite of her last few
performances not being up to
the mark. She lived up to his
faith by winning the bronze
in the 1,500 metres at the
Incheon Asiad. He also got
Jaisha to switch to the marathon category and the shift has paid
off tremendously. Jaisha said, on breaking a national record at the
Mumbai Marathon, Before the race, Nikolai sir said that he wants
to see me running with the lead runners for the first 18-25 kms. That
encouraged me to do much better which resulted in my timing. I am
confident of doing well in the future under him. I just trained for two
months for this event and did so well. I believe, with more than a
year to go, I can do much better in the Rio Olympics under him.
Gurmeet Singh, former sprinter, coach and Jaishas husband
recognized his wifes potential and left no stone unturned in ensuring
that she realized it. Realizing that she needed full-time training to get
back into shape, he quit his job and accompanied her to the Sports
Authority of Indias high altitude training centre in Dharamshala.
Staying outside the centre, he paid for his accommodation from his
own pocket and encouraged Jaisha through the road to recovery. If
there is a saying that Behind every successful woman is a strong
man, Gurmeet exemplifies it.
HOW
How is Jaisha already a winner?
She does not expect to win a medal but has set a more realistic
goal of being within the Top 8. However, perseverance despite all
odds and a refusal to succumb to defeat supplemented with the right
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guidance and support has got her this far. Her qualification for the
Olympics therefore, by itself, makes her a winner.
She has lived up to the support and faith of those who stood by
her and proved critics wrong. Defying herself with each race, her
best recorded timing is 14 minutes and 37 seconds further from
Ethiopian Tiki Galenas at the London Olympics. Even an inspired
performance which sees her break her own record (again) cannot
get her a podium finish. If she had a few years to prepare for this
clash of the best Marathoners of the world, she could have given
herself a fighting chance. But India consistently fails to provide that
much undistracted time to its athletes who spend most of their time
worrying how to take care of their families. So all we can be sure of
is that Jaisha will break her own national record in the Rio Olympics.
She has been able to rescue her family from poverty, and has repaid
the family loans. The fame she brought to her village influenced the
Grameen bank to waive off a portion of the loan. She says, Today, my
family has three square meals. Everyday 365 days of the year. As a
bread-winner for her impoverished family, she is already a winner.
Jaisha is currently supported by JSW Sports group. Despite sponsor
assistance, Jaisha has to incur the expenses for shoes, sports clothing
and other essentials. A fundraising campaign has been raised to make
Jaishas journey into the Olympics a smoother one and keep her
focused on her rigorous training schedules. The goal of the campaign
is to raise Rs. 500,000 of which Rs. 439,000 have been raised so far. If
you want to contribute too, the link is in the References.
REFERENCES
Mumbai Marathon: Jaisha breaks 19-year-old record to be fastest
Indian woman
From eating mud to Olympic participation: The remarkable journey
of Indias O P Jaisha
OP Jaishas 42 kmhurdles
Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2015: OP Jaisha qualifies for
Beijing WC in style by setting new national record
Fundraising campaign to help OP Jaisha
Rio 2016
02/08/2016
Tintu Luka is often deemed as a pace setter who chokes in the fi-
nal half of the 800 meters event. Her best-ever performance was not
enough to take her to the final of the London 2012 Olympics. Tintu will
have to break her own national record to make it to the final of the Rio
Olympics and return the faith of her mentor P T Usha.
WHAT
What were Tintu Lukas early years like?
Lukas story is about grit, inspiration and persistence. She grew up
under difficult circumstances in a small village of Valathode in Kannur
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district, Kerala. Valathode did not have

electricity when she was growing up.
Her father was a mason based in
Saudi Arabia. Being the eldest of three
daughters to her parents, she had to
support her family with expenses as
well. As a young girl, Luka had to walk
5 kms on the treacherous hilly path to
reach her school.
She was inspired by her first role model,
her mother, Lissy, who was a state-level long jump athlete.
Lukas athletic skills were noticed at a very young age by her uncle
who decided to respond to an advertisement by the Usha School of
Athletics.
P T Usha, unarguably the best female athlete of India ever, saw
her own image in young Tintu. Usha decided to train Tintu for the
greatness that she was capable of.
Why has India pinned Olympic medal hopes on Tintu Luka?
Tintu Luka has worked her way
up. She has been through a rough
patch too, only to train harder, learn
from her mistakes and emerge
stronger. She was there in London
2012 Olympics when people asked
Tintu who? She is here again, in
Rio, determined to raise the stature
of athletics in India by entering the
final of 800mts.
She began her ascent aged
19, by bagging a silver medal
at the Junior Asian Athletics Championships. This was the arrival of
a new prodigy, in a rather disappointing athletics setup of India.
Two years later, she broke Shiny Wilsons 15-year-old national
record in the womens 800m at the Continental Cup in Croatia when
she timed 1:59:17.
Rio 2016
Luka is now a six-time National Champion, two-time Asian

Championship medalist, two-time Asian Games champion,
Commonwealth finalist and also a semi-finalist of the London
Olympics. She conquered Asia by winning gold at the 2015 Asian
Athletics Championships in Wuhan. She goes to Rio in good form.
WHEN
When was the last time India won an Olympic medal in athletics?
Norman Pritchard representing British-India, won two silver medals in
Mens 200mts and Mens 200mts hurdles - in the Paris Olympics, 1900.
Since Independence, India does not have a single Olympic medal in
Athletics.
Milkha Singh missed the podium finish by one-hundredth of a second
at the 1960 Olympics in Mens 400mts final. He led the first 200mts
before eclipsing to third place, but lost his third place in a photo
finish.
P. T. Usha narrowly missed a bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles
Olympics in 400 meter hurdles by one-hundredth of a second. This
disappointment fuels the determination of P. T. Usha to produce an
Olympic medalist from her academy.
Usha is careful to not put pressure on Tintu. We do not discuss medals,
she says. But it is not difficult to imagine what gift from Rio Tintu wants for
her mentor of 15 years. If she makes it to the final and that in itself will
be a spectacular achievement for an Indian athlete she would try much
more than her best to fight for Ushas dream.
WHERE
Where can we see the influence of P.T.Usha on Tintu Luka?
Usha identified Lukas potential at an early age of 12, when she got
enrolled in PT Usha School of Athletics in 2001. This early advantage
served a major backing for Luka in coming years, as she was termed
as the Prodigy on Podium.
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P. T. Usha and Tintu Luka share a lot

in common, in terms of the state they
come from (Kerala), similar upbringing,
economic strata and most importantly,
they have faced similar kinds of hurdles
in their lives. This is said to be the key
reason for their successful partnership.
In Indian context, gender and language
barriers are a major concern in sports,
and play a vital role in Athletics too.
Usha could break those barriers with
Tintu Luka, with clear communication in Malayalam and advising
her constantly to ignore the critics and believe in her innate talent.
P. T. Ushas experience of fame, packed stadiums, and the
disappointment of narrow finishes has equipped her to train athletes
with the right frame of mind to face high pressure situations. Her
long standing dream also serves as a major motivating force behind
the efforts and success of Tintu Luka.
PT Usha never lost faith in Tintu Luka, not even when Tintu was being
written off.
Tintu Luka, just 21 then, was touted to win a medal in the finals of the 800m
at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Usha had announced to the world
that her protg would make India proud. Tintu shocked everyone by the
pace she set in the first lap (400 meters), leading the pack by 4 meters. As
the spectators braced themselves for Indias first ever womens Athletics
gold in Commonwealth Games history, Tintu started slowing down. Then
she slowed even more, finishing a modest sixth.
Articles were then written on how Tintu is not the champion athlete
PT Usha had hyped her to be.
Experts on Athletics declared that Tintu just did not know how to run
an 800 meters race. She ran two races, winning the one that did not
matter and choking in the final dash.
Ushas response was simple - There is nothing wrong with her
style. She said that Tintu was overawed by the packed stadium and
thunderous applause. The occasion had got to her nerves.
It was not just her liking for Tintu but her own experience as a worldclass athlete that prompted Usha to declare that Tintu wont change
her style of running. Tintu just runs fast, she said.
Rio 2016
She also had a word of advice for the critics it is so much easier
to stand outside the tracks and criticize than to be on the tracks and
run your heart out.
Usha also started working on Tintus endurance level so that she could
run at her faster for much more time. This has shown results, though not
consistently.
Tintu crashed and burned in the semi-final of London 2012 Olympics
but that was her seasons best performance too. Her competitors
were better prepared than her.
It was in fact her crash and burn performance last year that got her
the ticket to Rio. Tintu crashed out in the first round heats of the
womens 800m race in the World Athletics Championships at Beijing
with a disappointing seventh-place finish but qualified for the 2016
Rio Olympic Games with a season-best effort.
WHEN
When can we catch Tintu Lukas performance at Rio Olympics?
Tintu Luka would be taking part in
the 800mts event at Rio Olympics
2016.
Heats will be held on 17th
August, Wednesday, 2016.

Timings: 3:30 AM to 4:30 AM
IST
Semi Finals will be held on 19th
August, Friday, 2016.

Timings: 2 PM to 3PM IST
Finals will be held on 21st August, Sunday, 2016.

Timings: 2 PM to 3PM IST
Official Broadcaster: Star Sports (in India)
By her own estimates, Tintu needs to cross 1:58 to make it to the final of
Rio 2016. This will require her to break her own national record by more
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than a second. Having had a good run in 2015 and a rigorous practice
session recently, she is confident of making it to the final.
WHO
Who are Tintu Lukas main competitors?
Luka would first have to tame
her own mental demons, to
handle the packed Rio crowd at
the Olympic arena. She has the
tendency to be overwhelmed
by the crowd pressure and start
off early from the blocks. She
will have to somehow channel
the energy of the crowd in the
second half of the race to run
the fastest 800 meters of her
life.
With her best timing of 1:59.17, Luka pales in comparison to the best
runners from the formidable pool of competitors - Caster Semenya
(1:55.33) from South Africa, Francine Niyonsaba (1:56.24) from
Burundi and Eunice Jepkoech Sum (1:56.99) from Kenya.
In all earnestness, Luka should be deemed to a winner if she makes
it to the final eight and finishes in the top five.
Finally, she would have to strategize her race as advised by P. T.
Usha and Milkha Singh, to garner enough endurance and stamina
for the final stretch of the event. She has to run the last 200 meters
of the 800 meters like she runs the first 200 meters. At this level of
competition, she has no other choice.
HOW
How prepared is Tintu Luka for her biggest challenge?
Tintu Lukas performance has varied from good to ordinary. But all through
her career she has trained hard and run harder. As a young athlete at
Rio 2016
Ushas school she had to be

trained with the boys because she
had outrun all other girls.
Luka clocked 1:59:17 in 2010,
her first performance below two
minute barrier. Since then she
has struggled to better it. But
she says she is ready to better
it in Rio. I have improved a
lot and I am confident that I
can reach the finals in the 800
metres, a confident Luka told the media last week.
Experience counts too. She finished sixth in the semis of the London
Olympics in 2012 in spite of her season-best performance. You only
have to watch her performance in that race (video in the References) to
see how she set the pace and gave it all (she led till the last 150 meters).
Luka understands that when it comes to Olympics, merely giving her
best performance will be giving too less. At the London Olympics, I
did my best but now I have corrected myself in certain areas and have
improved a good deal and hence feel more confident, Luka said.
Her season best of 2:00.61 achieved at Praha (CZE) 2016
currently the 53rd best time in the world this season helped her
qualify for the Rio Olympics.
Luka would have to end up with a sub 1:58:00 timing to qualify for
the finals of Rio Olympics and to be in contention for a podium finish.
If Tintu Luka could garner a podium finish, it will be a legendary achievement
in the history of Indian sports. The long standing dream of more than a
billion Indians would stand fulfilled. More importantly, in doing so, Tintu
would ensure that her mentor PT Usha will not have to wait for another
Olympics to see an Indian track athlete stand on the Olympics podium.
REFERENCES
All Athletics Stats
Time for Tintu Luka to prove her worth
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Rio Olympics 2016 Official Website

Tintu good, others better
Road to Rio: Tintu Luka, Indias best bet to end athletics medal wait
at Olympics
04/08/2016
In a country struggling to pronounce Luge, Shiva Keshavan has rep-
resented India five times at Winter Olympics, has won the Asian Championship twice and is the Asian speed record holder in Luge. Recently,
Shiva had to pull out of the Luge World Championships in Germany and
Luge World Cup circuit due to lack of funds. Knappily presents the story of Shiva, the hero India owes.
Rio 2016
WHAT
What are Winter Olympics and Luge?
Winter Olympics is a major
international sporting event
held every four years. Winter
Olympic events take place on
snow and ice. Hence, it would
be a huge challenge in terms
of infrastructure for both the
Summer Olympics and Winter
Olympics to be staged together.
Winter Olympics are held on
separate four-year cycles in
alternating even-numbered years. For example: London Summer
Olympics took place in 2012, Sochi Winter Games took place in
2014, Rio Summer Olympics will take place in 2016, hence the
next Winter Games will take place in 2018 (at Pyeongchang, South
Korea).
Winter Olympics host events which are most often played and
practiced in arctic regions, like Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Bobsleigh,
Cross-country skiing, Curling, Figure skating, Freestyle skiing, Ice
hockey, Luge, Nordic combined, Short track speed skating, Skeleton,
Ski jumping, Snowboarding and Speed Skating.
Luge is one of the oldest winter sports featured at the Winter Olympic
Games where a competitor or a two-person team rides a flat sledge while
lying face-up and feet first. The event track is designed to be a curved
slope, to ensure free downward movement with speeds clocking in the
range of 150 km/h without brakes.
Luge is timed to the 1/1000th of a second, not only making it the
fastest, but also the most precise Olympic sport. Speed, drops
and the turns make Luge a high-risk sport and one chance is all a
participant gets. The competitor who clocks the fastest overall speed
wins the event.
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WHY
Why sportsmen like Shiva matter?
Shiva Keshavan hails from
the small hill town of Manali,
Himachal Pradesh. He is the
son of an Indian father and an
Italian mother. Growing up in
the midst of snow clad roads,
pursuing winter sports was a
natural choice for Keshavan.
Keshavan ventured into Luge
when he was just 15 years old,
in his native town. He trained
extensively and attended a Luge camp conducted by world champion
Gnther Lemmerer. Within a year, sixteen year old Keshavan became
the youngest person to ever officially qualify for the Winter Olympic
Games in Luge.
Winter sports training is highly expensive and training for Luge is
even more so. India lacks the necessary infrastructure, gear and
coaching expertise in any kind of winter games. This made it highly
improbable for Keshavan to practice in India, with no Luge rings and
expertise by his side.
Keshavan dared to do something that was brave, bold and risky,
even by the standards of this inherently risky sport. Since there are
no Luge tracks in India, he modified his equipment by replacing Luge
blades with Luge roller skates. Then the lion-hearted Keshavan
lugged down the narrow hairpin highway roads of Manali at a speed
ranging from 100km/hr to 120km/hr. One tiny mistake on his part or
the oncoming traffics could see him tumble into the 6,700 feet deep
valley.
Under such dire circumstances, Keshavan practiced and managed
to clock one of the best speeds in Asia. He was the pioneer of Luge
and the only Indian participant at five consecutive Winter Olympics.
Shiva matters because he chose to not let the circumstances make him
surrender his passion. There was no one who knew about Luge, there
Rio 2016
were no tracks for Luge, there was no audience for Luge in India. Shiva
made the roads of Manali his Luge training center and became him own
team.
WHEN
When should Shiva have quit Luge?
Shiva Keshavan has been
representing India for 20 years
in Luge, and has had no real
support or recognition all
through his journey.
Keshavan had trained all his
life without a professional
coach. When he finally found
a coach in Yann Fricheteau,
a former Olympian, he had to
discontinue the contract after
the Frenchman quit due to the non-payment of his salary.
American Coach and former world champion Duncan Kennedy
also quit after non-payment of dues. This was a major setback for
someone competing at the world level.
Funding has been a major hurdle for Keshavan. He always had to
shell out expenses from his own pocket for a coach training fee,
track fee, gym, physiotherapy, travel expenses, boarding and
lodging. Altogether it amounts to a little more than Rs 1 crore and
quite unaffordable to be managed by Keshavan.
In spite of such dejecting vibes, Keshavan set a new Asian speed record
at 134.3 km/h (83.5 mph) after beating the previous record of 131.9
km/h (82.0 mph) and won gold medal in Asia Cup 2011 at Nagano in
Japan. In 2012, he set a new Asian track record at 49.590 seconds.
Shiva should have quit when it dawned upon him that even being a fivetime Olympian and the flag-bearer and chief promoter of Winter Olympics
in India was not enough for him to get enough funds and support for
training. But he did not quit. One has to have passion for the sports to be
so dedicated for so long against all odds.
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Quitting has not just crossed my mind, sometimes I have gone

through phases when it was physically impossible for me to compete,
says Keshavan.
WHERE
Where did India go wrong in treating an athlete like Shiva Keshavan?
Italy, which boasts of world class
lugers, recognised Keshavans
talent. They offered him citizenship
and access to all existent luge
infrastructures along with funding.
However, Shiva rejected the offer
declaring that he is an Indian and
would always compete for India.
Meanwhile, the Indian sporting
fraternity is yet to acknowledge
the efforts and achievements of a home-grown hero. This shows
apathy and complete lack of respect towards such hardworking
sportspersons. Shiva is special because he has single-handedly
ensured that India is represented in the Winter Olympics.
The sports administration paid little heed to the financial woes and
infrastructural proposals of Keshavan. As a matter of fact, he lost
two world class coaches due to non-payment of dues.
The bitter truth is that India does not even consider winter sports
seriously enough to fund it further.
WHO
Who have lent their support to Shiva?
International Luge Federation, noticing the promising talent, helped
Keshavan for training, when he qualified for his first Olympic games.
Keshavans wife Namita Agarwal has also been his Sports manager
and a pillar of strength.
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Crowd funding: Since I was not

getting any help from the Union Sports
ministry, my friends suggested me to
go for crowd funding. We are trying to
raise some funds, but it is like a drop
in the ocean.
Micromax Informatics Ltd has pledged
its sponsorship for Keshavans
training, equipment and all his necessities to compete in Pyeongchang
Winter Olympics in 2018.
HOW
How can India fall in love with winter sports?
First, Indian winter sports
federations have to undergo
a major revamp in terms of
structure, operations and
composition.
Politicians and businessmen
would have to be kept out of
Sporting Federations, reducing
any kind of conflict of interests.
Dissemination of funds and allocations has to be transparent and
subject to strict audits because there are many Winter Sporting
federations functioning, but no ground level operations are taking
place. The money may be being utilized for ghost projects.
If we examine the history of major winter sports, they all were once
tourist attraction spots. North and East India have tremendous
potential for Winter sports and tourism in India. The onus is on the
Tourism and Sports Ministry to collaborate and promote winter sports
in these regions.
Shiva Keshavan is the lone warrior battling it out on an icy track; it
is high time Indian sporting fraternity provides him the necessary
support. His performances show that anyone with grit and
perseverance can make it count on the world stage single-handedly.
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Shiva Keshavan is to Winter Sports in India what Sachin Tendulkar is

to Indian cricket. India needs to celebrate his efforts - for it has taken a
lifetime of passion to keep the flame alive on the ice.
REFERENCES
Winter Olympics: Luge
Olympic losers: Why is India so bad at sport?
Five-time Olympian Shiva Keshavan on crowdfunding drive
What winter sports? Five-time Olympian Shiva Keshavan pulls out of
world events due to lack of funds
Shiva Keshavan: The Winter Olympic hero India doesnt deserve
06/08/2016
Deepika Kumaris fluctuating performance in the Qualifying Round

yesterday followed by a finish at the 20th position has set archery buffs
of India on tenterhooks. Deepikas passion for archery and belief in
her abilities saw her through the toughest of times. Putting her dismal
performance at the Londons 2012 Olympics aside, Deepika has returned
to the Olympics with renewed determination to win a long-pending medal
for her country.
Rio 2016
WHAT
What was Deepikas performance at Rio yesterday?
Archery began in Rio even before the
Opening Ceremony. The qualification
round was conducted yesterday with
much expected from Deepika Indias
most successful archer in recent times.
However, the ghosts of London 2012
seemed to haunt 21-year old Deepika,
with her performance being much below
her usual standards, though still good
enough to see her through.
Deepikas performance was wayward, with some hint of what she
was capable of. She made a solid start and even led the pack briefly
before falling to 20th place. She seemed to be struggling in the wind.
Nothing was wrong apart from the wind. It was difficult to follow and
understand. I shot the arrow and it was a miss. Of course is not what
I expected, but theres nothing I can do about it now, Deepika said.
Indian womens team of Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi and
Laxmirani Majhi finished seventh in the qualification. Had they
finished in the top four would have given them a bye to the quarters.
India will play against Colombia who were ranked 10th. If they win
against Colombia, they will meet the second ranked Russia next.
In the individual round, Deepika will face 45th ranked Kristine
Esebua of Georgia. Deepika has to raise her game in Rio to match
her potential.
What makes Deepika an exemplary archer?

She had determination and focus the makings of an excellent
archer since a very young age.
As a junior world champion her accomplishments are indeed great.
She became the second Indian to win junior compound competition
at the Archery World Cup in Merida, Mexico and returned home
only after winning the Youth World Archery Championship in Ogden,
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US in 2009. She even excelled in team events and along with Dola
Banerjee and Bombayla Devi, clinched another gold medal in the
womens team recurve in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. She
had won the gold for the womens individual recurve event.
A below par performance at the 2012 London Olympics devastated
her. Failing to deliver after the tremendous expectation set by Indias
archery team was a setback she took a long time to work on. She
described the experience as a trauma, but understood her pain and
that of her countrys which had fuelled harsh criticisms and made
it back with a bang, this time with renewed energy and focus on
winning a medal.
If her recent performances are an indication, she stunned the archery
world by breaking South Korean Bo-Baes record in the womens
recurve event of the Archery World Cup in Shanghai. Her coaches
said this was not a surprise as Deepika surpasses the men archers
in practice sessions. She won her fourth silver medal at the World
Cup this year.
WHY
Why do her achievements count for more?
Deepika identified her potential
as a child and believed in
her own self when no one
else did. Starting off with
homemade bows and arrows
and mangoes as targets, she
pursued her passion with a
steely focus against all odds.
An 11 year old Deepika in 2005
is reported to have told Meera
who runs an archery academy
in Kharsawan and is the wife of
the then CM of Jharkand, Just
give me three months. And
please throw me out if I dont perform. And perform she did.
Rio 2016
Deepikas father Shiv Narayan Mahato is a rickshaw driver in Ratu,

Ranchi (Jharkhand). It was reported recently by the Times of India
that her father still drives an auto-rickshaw and makes just Rs 200
every day. Financial struggles have never hampered Deepikas
drive. Her parents were earning Rs 1,500 per month and living in
a modest hut when Deepika told them that she had set her sights
on a career in archery. Her parents, despite their financial situation,
wanted to see their daughter live her dream. She got to use proper
equipment only in 2006, when she joined the renowned Tata Archery
Academy where she started receiving a stipend of Rs 500 per month.
Her focused shots have earned her laurels and enabled her to set
greater aims since then.
Her indomitable spirit stood the test of sudden drastic failure. Though
the failure at Olympics slammed hard against her will and health,
she bounced back and is now more determined than ever. Even
after her disappointing performance in the Qualifiers yesterday, she
remained confident of her abilities.
Her achievements count for much more than her many medals because
she refused to surrender to circumstances which came in the way of her
true calling. Anyone who is capable to do that is a winner.
WHEN
When did Deepika rise to the world stage?
At the age of twelve, she
won the junior compound
competition in the 2006
Archery World Cup; becoming
the second Indian to do so.
Fifteen-year-old
Deepika
Kumari became an inspiration
for youngsters across the
country when she won the
11th Youth World Archery
Championship after ousting
world class champions of her
age group.
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For her exemplar performance at the Delhi Commonwealth Games

2010 that also won her a double gold, she was recognized with the
Outstanding Performance at CWG (Female) Award at the 2010
Sahara Sports Awards ceremony.
In May 2012, she won her first World Cup individual stage recurve
medal at Antalya, Turkey after defeating Koreas Lee Sung-Jin by
six set points to four in the final. She earned the first rank in the
world in Womens Recursive Archery later that year.
WHERE
Where did Deepika suffer her biggest setback?
She entered the London
Olympics 2012 as a top player.
Her elimination in the first
round itself was a great shock.
Prior to the competition, a lot
of expectations had been set
on the Indian archers as India
for the first time since 2004
Asian Games had filled the six
quota places available at the
Olympics. A successful season
with Deepika as the crowning
glory had hopes held high.
Deepikas performance both in the individual and team events
came as a big disappointment. The team, ranked second in the
world, lost to Denmark in the second round. Deepika too lost in the
first round to Amy Oliver of Great Britain.
The cold weather (the team had been exposed to windy Gangtok as
a part of their training), viral fever and Olympics pressure factor are
said to have overwhelmed the debutante Deepika. She said later
on, I filed away each detail of the last few days and remembered
the mistakes I had made, vowing never to repeat them again. I told
myself to train my mind to shut out the crowd, whose cheering had
distracted me even while I was aiming.
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Forcing herself out of her shell despite her own state of shock, selfdisappointment and the pain of having let down the nation was
a mammoth task at first, and her coach motivated her. Once she
decided to move on however, the fighting spirit came right back.
WHO
Who are the other members of Indian archery team at Rio?
The archers representing India are
Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi,
Laxmirani Majhi and Atanu
Das, the only Indian male archer
at the Games. The Indian mens
team could not make it to Rio.
Bombayla Devi had archery
in her DNA and followed her
mothers footsteps to make her
own name and identity in the
field. This is her third Olympic appearance and she finished 24th
with 638 points in the qualifying round.
Lakshmirani, a coal miners daughter, was able to complete her
schooling, thanks to the persistence of her parents to see her
educated. Since then, she fought a tough battle to arrive among
the top names in archery. She ended 43rd with a score of 614. She
could not qualify for the individual event.
The total score of 1892 placed India in the seventh position.
Atanu Das, the sole male contender in the Indian team defeated
some of Indias finest archers to earn a quota for the Olympics. He
was the best scorer for India and finished 5th with a score of 683.
Atanu came back from 10th place after the first half (36 arrows) to
shoot 23 perfect 10s in the next 36 arrows and end up fifth.
Deepika finished twentieth falling from a top slot and winding up with a
score of 640.
Despite having participated consistently in the Olympics since 1988,
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India has never once made it to the quarterfinals in the individual

archery event. The womens team made it to the quarter finals in 2004
and 2008.
Note: The womens team from South Korea lived up to their reputation.
Eyeing their eighth gold from as many editions, they occupied the top
three ranks through Choi Misun, Chang Hye Jin and Ki Bo Bae.
HOW
Just how difficult is archery as a sport?
General consensus has it that
anybody can get started in
archery and consistently hit
targets with an hour of daily
practice. But to go beyond this
and reach an expert level needs
mastering of the advanced
aspects and that takes years.
Compound and recurve bows
are used in archery. The
former is said to shoot faster
and straighter, the latter shoots
further in an arc. Depending on
the person, either of these can be used by a newbie archer.
It is also said that in a sense it is simply a matter of finding your own
style; something is right only insofar as it works for you. However,
no style will be right unless it is reproducible consistently, so that you
shoot each arrow in exactly the same way. Some things will always
cause inconsistency and the beauty of most of these is that they are
easy to correct.
The age at which one achieves nation-wide recognition was defied
by Dolly Shivani Cherukuri (whose story we have covered earlier)
who set a new national record when she became the youngest Indian
to score 200 points over five and seven-metre distances. She was
nine days short of her third birthday when she accomplished the feat
in 2015.
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137
REFERENCES
Deepika struggles to find reasons for her poor show
Rickshaw drivers daughter Deepika Kumari aims to hit the bullseye
Having battled demons, Deepika Kumari has unfinished business
at Olympics
Rio Olympics 2016: Archers eye redemption for London 2012 flopshow
Watch: Indian archers seek redemption at Rio Olympics 2016 and
move past London debacle
08/08/2016
On Sunday, Dipa Karmakar vaulted into history books by becoming the
first Indian gymnast to enter the Olympic final at the Rio Olympic Centre.
The 22-year old Tripura girl executed the vault of death Produnova to
perfection on her way to the final. She will be competing in the final on
the eve of Indias Independence Day to try to become Indias first Olympic medallist in Gymnastics.
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WHAT
What unravelled at the qualifiers?
Dipas scores in the four
rotations were 14.850 (the
vault), 11.666 (uneven bars),
12.866 (balance beam) and
12.033 (floor exercises).
She ended up with an
average score of 51.665 and
secured 28th place overall.
Qualifications in the other
categories eluded her by
some distance. But her best
performance arrived in her favourite category, the vault.
There were some jittery moments when she was pushed to seventh
spot by the overwhelming favourite Simone Biles (the US) and
Shallon Olsen (Canada) when they scored 16.050 and 14.950 on
the vault respectively. The top-8 made the cut for the medal round.
Dipa will now compete in the Womens Vault in the Artistic Gymnastics
final, scheduled for Aug 14, 2016.
It is interesting to know that Simone Biles, who has won the allaround at 12 consecutive international competitions since 2013, has
only one weakness. And that weakness is Dipa Karmakars only
strength. It is the death defying vault Produnova.
WHY
Why are Dipas achievements not surprising?
While the qualification puts a stamp on Dipas profile, it is hardly surprising.
She impressed so much and raised so many eyebrows on her road to the
qualifiers that she was in fact expected to make the cut.
Dipa Karmakar is currently one of the best-known female vaulters in
the world, Jim Holt, who has coached 7 nations at a fourteen World
Championships over the last quarter century, certified back in in 2014.
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The Produnova vault, named after

the legendary Russian gymnast
Yelena Produnova, which Dipa
performed at the qualifying round
to secure 14.850, has a margin of
error that is so thin that a mistake
could leave the athlete with a
broken neck, or paralysed.
Executing this handspring
double-front somersault for a
womens vault can get a score
of 7.0, the maximum possible, and yet only five women in the world
have so far attempted it. All others, including the world dominating
champion Simone Biles know the perils of the Produnova. Im not
trying to die, said Biles when she was asked if she would attempt
this dangerous vault.
When Dipa was asked if she would attempt the Produnova, her reply
was not unexpected. Id seen boys do it, so why not? she said. It is
another matter that even the boys are scared to attempt the Roche,
the mens equivalent of the Produnova. A faulty landing on neck can
mean death.
Deep down, Dipa knows that the Produnova is the only way she
can land a medal in the competition. She is the underdog who is not
scared to go to the extreme. And she has gone to the extreme so
many times the extreme has become her home. She says that in the
last three months of training she has executed the Produnova one
thousand times.
The Produnova is not just dangerous - it is often accused to be
ugly because of its landing (often on butts and backs). But Dipas
Produnova is now celebrated as the best Produnova since the
original.
This might be the last Olympics where the Produnova gets the
maximum points upon its successful execution. There is a campaign
led by the American gymnasts to reduce the points awarded for this
lethal vault. The reasoning is simple lives are being put at stake by
this high risk, high return system.
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If Dipa has to win on the eve of Indias Independence Day, she will
not just have to execute the Produnova, she will have to execute the
best Produnova ever.
After her successful landing in the qualifiers, she acknowledged the
concerns of the Indian reporters. The vault is very dangerous, she
said. I say, Thank you, I like the risk.
WHEN
When did the turning point come in Dipas career?
Dipas adventure began 16 years
ago when she was a flat-footed sixyear-old. But the Tripura girl did not
enter into gymnastics by choice.
She went along with her father,
Dulal Karmakar, who is a
weightlifting coach and served
half a decade in the Andaman
Islands training athletes.
But in 2007 when I won at the Junior Nationals in Jalpaiguri I started
gaining interest, she says.
The real turning point came in the 2010 Indian gymnastics contingent
in the Delhi Commonwealth Games. Dipa saw Ashish Kumar create
history by winning Indias first ever gymnastic medals.
Thats when I told myself I will win it for India in Glasgow four years down
the line, says Dipa.
And thus she embarked on the road greatness.
Heres a look at Dipas history:
She won the Junior Nationals in Jalpaiguri at the age of 14.
She represented India in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the
Asian Games in China.
At the 2014 Asian Games, she finished fourth with only the Olympic
medallists finishing ahead of her.
Rio 2016
She nursed an ankle injury but still managed to bag bronze in

Glasgow at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, first Indian female
gymnast to do so.
She later won bronze at the Asian Championships in Hiroshima.
She progressed to the final and eventually finished fifth at the 2015
World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.
Since 2007, Dipa Karmakar has won 77 medals including 67 gold,
in various levels of competitions ranging from state to international.
WHERE
Where was the challenge for Dipa?
Overcoming the system
In India, sports other than cricket
have fewer heroes. On top of this,
athletes wrestle a poor system and
lack of professionalism to get to the
top.
The
government
doesnt
support gymnastics a lot, and
Dipa herself emerged from
humble beginnings. In her first
gymnastics competition, Dipa
competed without shoes and
borrowed an oversized, ill-fitting costume.
Up until the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010, she had been
practicing and competing on irregular sized landing mats (10cm as
against the norm of 30cm).
On top of all this, for a long time the Gymnastics Federation of India
was unrecognised, affecting practice and funding for the athletes.
Even for the Test Event, there had been a break in the national camp
for three-four months when Dipa was on her own in Agartala.
Flat-footedness
As a child, Dipa had flat feet. This makes her achievements even more
commendable.
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Flat feet are a condition in which the arch of the foot is depressed
and the sole of the foot is almost completely in contact with the
ground. Having flat feet makes it difficult to run or walk because of
the stress placed on the ankles.
Dipa had to work doubly hard to get the curve in her feet.
I still remember Dipa coming to me as a flat-footed kid, which is not
good for a gymnast. It affects the spring in her jump, says her coach
Bisweshwar Nandi.
That was the hardest part to fix for Dipa, we had to work very, very
hard when she was a little kid to get the curve in her feet.
Only after coach Nandi corrected my flat foot, my journey began,
admits Dipa.
WHO
Who did Dipa make proud?
A lot of credit for Dipas
accomplishments must go to her
father and her coach.
I will give her some advice about
keeping her focus on getting a
medal (in the Rio Games), said
Dulal Karmakar after she qualified
for Rio. Whatever was his advice,
it worked in the qualifiers because
Dipa performed at her best against
a formidable team of competitors.
Dipas father Dulal introduced her to gymnastics and got former India
captain Bisweshwar Nandi to train her.
She wants a medal at any cost there and if she does as well as she did
before, she can even get gold, her coach Nandi told The Hindu before
leaving for Rio.
Nandi had revealed how nervous he was about the burden that Dipa
carries. I feel that we are carrying the dreams of a billion Indians who just
cannot understand how difficult it is for Dipa to get a medal here, he said.
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Coach Nandi deserves the applause from a nation which usually does not
celebrate coaches who are not coaching cricketers.
With neither equipment nor funds, Nandi utilised his own Do-itYourself skills to build apparatus for Dipa when they started training
together. He constructed a springboard from the parts of a secondhand scooter and stacked several mats on top of each other to make
a vault, if you can call it that.
Nandi is angry about the reactions he got from the conservative
society when people found out that he was training a girl. Now he
wants Dipa to prove everyone wrong.
The relationship between coach Nandi and Dipa is one of the most genuine
mentor-mentee relationships in Indian sports. Together, they are the
gymnastic nobodies making the world interested in Dipas skills,
one vault at a time.
HOW
How has India fared in Olympics gymnastics so far?
While Dipa was the first female gymnast
to qualify for the Olympics, Indian men
have competed in the category before.
Till date, 11 Indian male gymnasts
have competed in the Olympics.
2 in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics
3 in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics
6 in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics
However, the last participation by India
in gymnastics at Olympics was way back in 1964, and it should be noted
that, at that time, there was no qualification system in place.
REFERENCES
Dipa Karmakar qualifies for Vault final
The vault that is too wild even for Simone Biles
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This is it
A degree in difficulty
10 things to know about Dipa Karmakar
Dipa Karmakar interview
This is it
08/08/2016
Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, has added
one more Gold to his kitty and is determined to sign off his phenomenal career on the high of the highest podium. Crests and troughs have
characterized Phelpss relationships with the sport and near ones. His
comeback post retirement had its share of dark moments but he now
looks set to make his mark yet again.
This is it
Rio 2016
WHAT
What makes Phelps hungry for medals, even after 22 Olympic
medals?
Well, he has already taken that
count to 23 now, after winning
Gold in the 400 meters freestyle
relay. When I was on the block
I thought my heart was going to
explode out of my chest, Phelps
said. I was so hyped tonight, so
excited. The turn that he took en
route to increasing the lead of the
US relay team has been deemed
the best ever in swimming. Probably the best turn thats ever been
done underwater, said Phelps coach, Bob Bowman. That was a
serious turn.
The persistent feeling that he could have fared even better at the
2012 Olympics drove the 31-year-old Phelps to give his body and
talent one last chance at the 2016 Olympics and Phelpss fifth
Olympics event.
Phelps had said in 2012 that the London Olympics would mark
the finale of his career as an athlete. He changed his mind
eighteen months later as he wanted to mark his farewell in a
different manner. So he set out once again, rekindled his love for
his sport along the way thereby setting the right stage for bidding
adieu.
He would have a chance to surpass himself and is eyeing a fourth
straight gold in the 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley. This
would raise his threshold of making history.
He would also have an opportunity to avenge his defeat to
South African Chad le Clos in the 200m butterfly in London.
Phelps may hold this event special as it marked his Olympics
debut in 2000.
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This is it
WHY
Why is Phelps one of the greatest sportspersons ever?
He never tires of surpassing
himself and has always been
fuelled by the urge to shatter
self-set milestones. His debut
performance at the Olympics
at the age of 15 earned him
the fifth position in the 200
m butterfly event. Refusing
to be content, he analyzed
the performance as a pretty
big accomplishment that he
didnt want as he wanted
more.
His dedication to swimming became an obsession. Every holiday,
every Christmas and every birthday meant preparation for a conquest
in the pool. He explained the obsession as, I was trying to be as
prepared as I could, and I tried to see what I could really do and
what my potential was. I just really did kind of whatever it took.
He had a burning desire to do something different from anyone
else and establish his uniqueness. When he reached a gold medal
count that was one less than the record seven achieved by fellow
countryman Mark Spitz, everyone began to compare the two. Phelps
said, Everyone was comparing me to Mark Spitz. But for me it was
never about beating Mark Spitz. It was about becoming the first
Michael Phelps, not the second Mark Spitz.
He refused to be demotivated or dejected even by those he idolized.
Ian Thorpe, Australian swimmer was one example. Thorpe had
doubted Phelpss chances of winning eight gold medals in Beijing
2008 Olympics. Phelps taped the remarks to his locker and took
motivation from them. Ian Thorpe, after witnessing and congratulating
Phelps after the latter clinched the 8th gold medal said, Im really
proud of him not just because he won eight golds. Rather, its how
much he has grown up and matured into a great human being. Never
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in my life have I been so happy to have been proved wrong. Thorpe

is now rooting for his boy in Rio.
He recognized talent even among his competitors and gave them
their space to excel. In 2004, he beat teammate and rival Ian Crocker
to win the 100 butterfly and the right to swim in the medley relay, the
crowning glory of the Olympics. Knowing that Crocker, at that time
had battled a sore throat, Phelps felt he deserved another chance
to excel. He gave up his relay slot to Crocker and cheered in the
stands as the latter led the U.S. to victory in a world record.
WHEN
When did Phelps reach crests and troughs in his career?
In 2000, he became the
youngest U.S. Olympian that
the event had witnessed in
some 70 years. It looked like
he had everything going for
him when in 2004 he smashed
his own world record in the
400-meter individual medley
and bagged six gold and two
bronze Olympic medals.
An incident of drunken driving
at 19 had him arrested in his
native state, Maryland. The
incident disfigured Phelpss
reputation but he set an example for teenagers by courageously
owning up. He was placed under supervision for one and a half
years and had to speak in schools about the dangers of alcohol.
A continuation of his stellar performance at the 2008 Olympics
catapulted his name and reputation. Out of the 8 gold medals he
won, 7 of them were for feats that set new world records and one, a
new Olympic record. The figure of 8 was a new record in itself the
maximum number of golds won by a single participant in a single
Olympics event.
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This is it
In 2009 Phelps was photographed smoking a water pipe (used often

to smoke narcotic substances). His reputation plummeted in the
eyes of Kelloggs who decided not to renew his endorsement deal
and the USA swimming, who suspended him for three months. He
admitted the authenticity of the photograph and publicly apologized
for his behavior.
Another spectacular performance in 2012 shut out all who had
denounced him. He won four golds and two silvers; attaining the hat
trick title of most successful athlete in the Games.
His low phase became worse after he was arrested in 2014 for
drunken driving and speeding; and underwent treatment. USA
Swimming suspended him from all competitions for six months.
In 2014, he announced that he wanted to compete again and he
won three golds and two silvers at the Pan Pacific Championships
that year. By December 2015, he had acquired 62 national titles in
his career.
What is really amazing is that each time he erred, he admitted, apologized
and proved his mettle. That courage and humility is admirable even if it
was brought about by circumstances or the environment.
WHERE
Where is his return to be celebrated?
At the Olympics. This time he
is reported to have practiced
more than ever and been more
disciplined about his training.
In 2012, the Phelps who won
medals was also reported to
have hated swimming to the
core and dragged himself
through. This time, whether
he wins or not, he has given
his best and shown how the
lowest phases of life can be
overcome. Newer medals with benchmarks would further the reach
of his records (his current count of 19 gold medals is more than
This is it
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double the second highest record holders) and make the event his
grand finale.
Among those he inspires. It has been said that the greatest impact
of his legacy is found in the swimmers he has inspired some of
whom will compete with him and some yet to make it big. His return
in this manner reinforces his fighting spirit giving them all the more
reason to cheer.
Among his fans. Fans took to twitter when the news of his
return was announced to express their joy through the hashtag
WeAllKnewHeWouldBeBack.
Within himself. He has wanted to go out on his own terms and will be
doing so through this event. In fact, he is doing it already.
WHO
Who have motivated him for a comeback?
Bob Bowman who has been
a father figure and nearly
constant presence in Phelpss
life since the latter was 11
shares a deep relationship with
his student that has witnessed
its share of crests and troughs
with some troughs seeming
like the rock bottom. One such
trough happened in the days
prior to the London Olympics.
Bowman took a break post 2012 Olympics as the strain of coaching
Phelps for London had taken a toll on him. In August 2013, Phelps
called him for dinner and informed him of his decision to comeback.
Bowman was extremely skeptical but Phelps asserted that this time
around he wanted to compete for himself.
The comeback was anything but smooth and Phelps, after a
particularly disappointing performance thought he had hit the lowest
phase when he was arrested again for drunken driving. Bowman
had dreaded this or worse and said, He had isolated himself from
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This is it
me, his mother, and the people who had been his support team. So
he was sort of out there by himself.
When Bowman visited Phelps at the treatment centre he expected
the worst but was in for a surprise. Phelps recovered and after a
grueling phase got his groove back in 2015. It was Bowmans best
moment seeing Phelps realize that he still had it in him.
Phelpss friend Ray Lewis influenced his new habit of sleeping earlier
to get his body fresh every morning a needed measure to mitigate
the effects of aging.
Keenan Robinson, a close adviser of Phelps and his conditioning
coach and his close-knit swimming family Chase Kalisz and Allison
Schmitt have shown support in their own way.
His new family Nicole Johnson, his fiance who stood by him (the
two of them had broken off their relationship twice and rebuilt it in
2014), and his son whom he adores. He has a strong bond with his
mother and is now more comfortable with his father, with whom his
relationship had been strained for a long time.
HOW
How will Phelps direct his life after Rio?
He says he has reached the
stage to mentor and help
youngsters and is working on
it. For the first time his peers
have selected him to be
captain of the US mens team.
He is also toying with the idea
of working with Bowman as
assistant coach.
He heads the Michael Phelps
Foundation which promotes
active and healthy lifestyles for kids. After 2008, he used his $1
million Speedo bonus to set up this foundation. Kids take courses
on water-safety, recreational pool activities, swimming lessons,
and health and wellness. Phelps is reported to thoroughly enjoy his
The history is now
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interactions with the kids and intends to spend more time working
with his foundation.
He also plans to travel with his son Boomer and wife Nicole.
The swimming is fine -- Im glad for the swimming, Bowman says.
But quite frankly, if he stops right now and never swims again but
stays in this place as a person, Id be thrilled.
Fred Phelps, Michaels father adds, Im proud of the fact that he
found himself and knows who he is now. He sees now that there is a
tomorrow way down the road. Its real life. Hes going to be a human
being. A father. A husband. A friend. Hes going to be a son.
Phelps says he has moved beyond his past and is eager to evolve
along with his new family. This is a new journey. I truly cant wait for
the next chapter of my life. And I dont know the last time Ive said
that.
REFERENCES
What if says medal-hungry Michael Phelps ahead of Rio Olympics
swansong
The Greatest: Michael Phelps returns for another Olympicfarewell
RIO 2016: MICHAEL PHELPS LAST CHALLENGE
The rise and fall of Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps prepares for life after Rio
The history is now
06/08/2016
The Indian Mens Hockey team will begin their Olympics campaign now
against Ireland. Much has changed in the teams play and performance
since they finished a humiliating 12th in London 2012. While it is inevitable that the legacy of Indias eight gold medals in Hockey will be invoked, the belief in the team comes as much from their current form as
it does their past glory.
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The history is now
WHAT
What are the teams chances to win a medal at the Olympics?
Since the disaster in London,
the Indian hockey team has
only gone on an upward spiral
despite the ongoing hire and
fire policy of the coaches. After
missing out on an Olympic spot
in Beijing and finishing amongst
the bottom placed teams in
London, the team became the
first to capture a spot for the
Rio games. Indian team is currently ranked fifth in the world and is
the best team from Asia.
The team won gold at the Asian Games in 2014, which ensured
their qualification for the 2016 Olympics. They followed this up with
a medal at the Commonwealth Games.
The history is now
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Even more recently, the team clinched the Sultan Azlan Shah
Trophy and then followed it up with their first ever medal in the
Champions Trophy, a silver, after they lost in the finals to Australia
in a shoot-out.
Though the competition in Rio will be much tougher than it was in
the previous tournaments, the new format might just be ideal for
India to pull off a giant killing act.
WHY
Why was there a change in captaincy just before the squad left
for Rio?
With just less than a month
left for the Olympics, the
Hockey India Federation
pulled off a surprising move
by announcing PR Sreejesh
as the captain of the squad
for the Olympics.
Sreejesh, who helped India
clinch their maiden Champions
Trophy silver, replaced Sardar
Singh, Indias highest capped
player and captain for the squad who clinched the silver in the Sultan
Azlan Shah Trophy.
Sardar Singh, who has been having some problems off the field,
remains a pivotal player for the squad though while playmaker Sunil
was named vice captain. Much depends on Sardar coming back to
form during the tournament. He is one of the best playmakers in the
world now.
While Sreejesh was officially named captain, he wont be wearing
the captains armband in any of the games to avoid missing games
due to suspension, as he was the only goalkeeper named in the
squad.
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The history is now
WHEN
When are Indias matches scheduled?
The twelve qualifiers are
divided in to two groups of six
with the top four teams from
each group qualifying for the
quarterfinals. India are placed
in Group B alongside Argentina,
Canada, Germany, Ireland,
and the defending champions
Netherlands.
India commence their campaign
against Ireland on August 6,
play Germany on August 8, Argentina on August 9, Netherlands on
August 11 before concluding the group stage against Canada on
August 12.
The team is expected to qualify from this relatively easier group.
WHERE
Where did the team last win a medal at the Olympics?
The Indian National Hockey
team was the first team
outside Europe to be a part
of the International Hockey
Federation.
The team has 8 Gold Medals
in the Olympics, including
six consecutive medals from
1928 to 1956, an era in which
they remained unbeaten in the
Olympics.
But since 1980, where the team last won gold in a depleted field, the
team has seen more lows than highs.
The history is now
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After finishing a lowly seventh in the games in 2000 and 2004, the
team fell to its lowest stand point after they failed to qualify for the
Beijing Games and finished in 12th position at London.
Their best finish since the 1980 games has been a fifth place in
1984 in Los Angeles.
WHO
Who is Roelant Oltmans?
Until a year ago, the Hockey
India Federation was in tatters
after its constant hire and fire
policy of the coaches.
But the hiring of Roelant
Oltmans, one of the greatest
modern day coaches, has
brought in stability in the team
and the team goes to Rio as
one of the contenders for a
medal.
Oltmans, as a senior coach, has won everything that top flight hockey
has to offer including the Olympic gold with the Netherlands in 1996,
but taking the Indian team to that level will be a different challenge
altogether.
Oltmans, though was appointed of the coach last year, has been
involved with the team from nearly four years and was the high
performance director when former coach Paul Van Ass was sacked
after a spat with the Federation.
HOW
How is the format different from the previous editions?
To improve the flow and intensity of the competition and reinforce fan
experience, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) instituted some
changes to the match format.
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A match will now consist of

four 15 minute quarters, with 2
minute rest after each quarter
in contrast to the two 35 minute
halves.
Other changes include the
implementation of 40 second
time-outs following penalty
corner awards and the scoring
of a goal.
Games ending in ties are directly decided by penalty shootouts as
extra time has been abolished since 2013.
With additional stops to rehydrate and re-strategize, the new format may
prove to be ideal to Indias chances, who have historically been guilty of
conceding late goals as the players tire as full time approaches.
REFERENCES
India staying focused in Rio magic world
Defence holds the key
Hope sticks out for Indian hockey team
India Beat Spain 2-1 in Mens Hockey Warm-Up
The
21/08/2016
25-year-old Manish Singh Rawat represented India in the 20kmracewalkingevent in 2016 RioOlympicsand bagged the 13th position in the event. In doing so, Manish beat four former world champions,
three Asian champions, two European champions and even two Olympic medalists. From being a waiter to a promising Olympian, Knappily
walks you through the story of Manish and the recent interest in racewalking in India.
Rio 2016
WHAT
What has Manish Singh Rawat achieved at Rio?
The
25-year-old
Manish
finished 13th in the 20km event
at Rio, ahead of some of the
best racewalkers in the world.
2012 London Games silver
medalist Erick Barrondo of
Guatemala was one of the
participants, and the Pahari
overtook him quite easily. He
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registered a final timing of 1:21:21, less than a minute behind the

bronze medalist.
To the untrained eye, this might seem like a massive time difference,
butwhile racing or in this case racewalking such long distances, 37
seconds isa time span that can be very muchmade up.
What is racewalking?
Racewalking is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics.

Although it is a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must
appear to be in contact with the ground at all times.
Race walking is one of the strictest disciplines in athletics, with posture
and technique being as crucial as race speed. Two basic rules of the race
are crucial to all the competing athletes.
The first is that theathletes back toe cannot move offthe ground
until the heel of the front foot has touched. This rule is called loss
of contact.
The second rule statesthat the supporting leg must be straightfrom
the point of contact with the ground and remain straightened until
the body passes over it.
There are two racewalking distances contested at the Summer Olympics:
the 20 kilometres race walk (men and women) and 50 kilometres race
walk (men only). Both are held as road events.
WHY
Why is his 13th position as good as a medal?
Rawat bagging the 13th spot in the
finals is a very inspiring story. In
the finals of his event, Manish beat
four former world champions, three
Asian champions, two European
champions and even two Olympic
medalists.
For a man to go from a village
which doesnt have proper
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roads to excel at the Olympics is a story so incredible it might dwarf

everything else youre heard from Rio so far.
When Manish started his professional career he earned only Rs.
1500 ($25) a month, a far cry from the average $10,200 spent on an
academy athlete in the USA.
UK declared last week that it costs them an investment of 5.5
million for each Olympic medal. The difference is too big to even
imagine. So if there was a way to calculate performance per unit of
investment, Manish would come on top. However, it must also be
admitted here that many racewalkers come from poor backgrounds.
Instead of practising on tracks, Manish practisedin the foothills of
the Himalayas;instead of wearing aerodynamic shoes, he wore torn
shoes from the local market; and most importantly, instead of giving
up, he persevered.
For someone who worked two part-time jobs a day, to become a top 15
racewalker in the world in itself is a huge success.
WHEN
When did Manish take up race-walking?
It was his casual participation in
racing competitions at the school
level in 2006 which first sparked
Rawats interest in athletics. To
reach his school he had to walk 7
km up and 7 km down, so he was
used to walking.
His father died when he was in
class 10. So, he had to work
in different places to make
ends meet. He worked as a farmer in a village, a dishwasher, a
labour guy in a farm and even drove tractors. So spending time on
practicewasnt an option.
Rs 1,500 per month wasnt really enough for a family of 6 to survive.
He used the money he got for his family and for his training.
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In 2010, a farmer then, Manish gave the police sports quota an

attempt, but for some reason, he was not given the chance, despite
being a national level medal winner. It was financially the most
difficult time for him, and the Kerala-based walker even thought of
quitting the sport in order to fend for his family.
Thanks to his coach, Rawat decided otherwise. The coach promised
Rawat that his future is bright.
In 2011, he was appointed a constable in Uttarakhand police under
sports quota at a salary of Rs 12,000 per month. The fixed monthly
income meant a lot to his family.
Talking about how racewalking isnt taken seriously, he told Sportskeeda:
I wont mind admitting this, but racewalking has a rather funny posture.
So people do end up laughing. But the funny posture exists for a reason
because the feet have to be planted on the ground. So when I used to run
in my village people used to laugh at me. Yet, he has not let himself be
bothered by what others think.
A day prior to his Rio event, Manish injured his knee. But instead
of complaining he went to his coach and asked him to increase his
repetitionsso that he couldget used to thepain.
WHERE
Where is India found wanting?
Over the past four years,
racewalking in India has been
heavily ignored, despite being one
of the top performing sports. For a
country like India which is starved
of a Rio Olympic hero, we need to
support the hidden gems such as
Rawat.
Indias national racewalking
team coach Alexander Artsybashev perfectly described Indias
racewalking potential whenhe said, I strongly and firmly believe if
the Indian authorities are willing to take racewalking more seriously
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as a sport for a medal, great things are possible. I myself can assure
you that we can win not just one medal, but several medals. Just look
at Manish;no one even knows him and he is now one of the top 10
racewalkers, that too with minimal facilities. Its a sort of conundrum
for the country. Do they really want to accept the fact there is a
chance for a medal or not?
In India, racewalkers, like the other atheletes in India, dont have the luxury
of world class equipment for training like their competitors.
Stressing on the need to promote sports among the youth, Rawat
said that lack of funds, technology and proper coaching is keeping
the talent in the country from shining through.
Giving his own example, he said it wouldnt have been possible for
him to pursue sports had it not been for the monetary support and
mentorship of his coach Anoop Bisht.
WHO
Who should get credit for Indias rise in racewalking?
Indian race walkers are on the
march courtesy of a Russian. The
Sports Authority of India put out a
tender for a coach in 2011, and the
chosen candidate was chief coach
Alexander Artsybashev, from the
Siberian city of Chelyabinsk.
Before Artsybashev showed
up, Irfan Kolothum Thodi was
at best moderate. But in just over a year, Thodi went from struggling
to break 1:30 to finish 10th at the London 2012 Olympic Games. His
1:20:29 in London, which remains his personal best, showed almost
perfect pace judgement after having gone through halfway in 40:10.
Apart from Thodi, at the London Olympics, Gurkha soldier Basanta
Rana set a national record of 3:56:48 at 50km for 36th place, the
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first Indian to qualify for the longer event and a quantum leap from
his previous best of 4:02:32.
Gurmeet Singh clocked 1:23:34 in the 20km after reaching halfway
in what was then a road best of 40:37, and Baljinder Singh recorded
a worthy 1:25:39 for 43rd.
This was a huge improvement as not a single Indian appeared at the
IAAF World Race Walking Cup 2010 in Chihuahua, Mexico. But, two
years later in Saransk, and a year after Artsybashev took over, India sent
nine race walkers to the Russian city and the mens 20km team finished
a remarkable fifth.
By the IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Taicang, China, May 2014,
Indian walkers had enough class to finish eighth in the mens 20km,
seventh in the 50km, with another healthy dose of personal bests to
show for their efforts that included Sandeep Kumars 3:56:22 that
shaved 26 seconds of Ranas mark.
But perhaps the biggest breakthrough for India was in the womens
20km. Khushbir Kaur was a modest 35th, but she mixed it with the
worlds best to claim a 1:31:40 national record.
Nine Indian race walkers including Khushbir Kaur, Manish Rawat and
Sandeep Kumar took part at this years Rio Olympics.
HOW
How unfair is it to mock racewalking?
Hips swaying, arms pumping, race
walkers can look a little ridiculous
compared to other Olympic
athletes. Their awkward gait
lacks the grace of the gymnasts,
the fluidity of the swimmers,
and the power of the sprinters,
but their sport requires serious
athleticism.
Nevertheless,
broadcasters and sports pundits cannot resist taking mocking racewalking.
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163
In the Pedestrian Age in the 1800s, walking was the biggest-money

spectator sport in the world. Top walkers walked in match races that
earned them the equivalent of millions of dollars a year.
But walking fell on harder times as running changed from short
sprints to the longer races originally pioneered by the walkers.
Lack of respect also likely comes from the top competitors being
non-Anglo. Russia, Mexico, Ecuador and Poland are fielding the
best - and thus the sport is bound to get less press as the USA,
Canada, and Britain finish out of the medals.
Detractors say walking that fast is unnatural and looks funny. But
then what is natural about pole vaulting? The parallel bars? Plenty
of sports look silly if you dont appreciate the skill and technique they
take to do well.
Racewalking is a difficult sport. It isnt just about the stamina you have but
the mental ability involved.Imagine walking non-stop for 20 kms and also
focusing on how both your feet cant be mid-air at the same point.
The characteristic hip sway of race walkers is the key to their speed.Instead
of rotating their hips the usual four degrees or so, like when the rest of us
walk, race walkers rotate their hips around 20 degrees. This additional
rotation gives them longer strides.
REFERENCES
Beyond the medal race: The inspiring Manish Singh Rawat story that
we almost missed
From waiter to guide to Rio, its been a long walk for Ukhand athlete
INDIA FOLLOWS MEXICAN MODEL TO RACE WALKING SUCCESS
No Respect for Olympic Racewalking
21/08/2016
Yogeshwar Dutt has journeyed from being a shy village boy to an
Olympic bronze medallist in London. He will be competing in the 65-kg
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category on Sunday (17:00 IST), the final day of Rio Olympics. Given he
has been part of the Olympics thrice, his opponents would have already
dissected his game threadbare. But the journey that Dutt has embarked
raises expectations on him to return home with a gold.
WHAT
What makes him different?
Yogeshwar Dutt was raised
in a household of teachers, in
Bhainswal Kalan, a tiny village
in Sonepat in Haryana.
He was 8 when he took up
wrestling. He convinced his
family of teachers that he
belongs to kushti, and that he
wants to turn into a successful
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pehelwan. He overcame a lot of hurdles and challenges to get to

where he has.
He rose from a 55-kg rookie wrestler in Athens Games to a 60-kg
bronze-medal winner in London. He went further up to the 65-kg
gold-medal winner at 2014 Asiad and Common Wealth Games to
renewed 65-kg category in the current Olympics.
Run up to Rio:
Dutt is the third Indian wrestler to win an Olympic medal after K
D Jadhav in 1952 and Sushil Kumar in 2008 and 2012. He won a
bronze medal in the London Games in the 60-kg category.
He battled most of 2015 with injuries and has even undergone a
knee surgery. This will be his fourth and final Olympic appearance.
There is pressure of expectation, pressure of experience, pressure of
being the senior-most, he admits.
Given he has already made three Olympic appearances, his
opponents would have dissected his game threadbare already. That
would make things more challenging for Dutt.
After Sakshi Maliks bronze earlier this week, Dutts will look to cap it
off with a Gold on Sunday.
WHY
Why is Dutt expected to go out on a high?
The journey that Dutt has
embarked to win a medal in
London Olympics in 2012
raises expectations on him to
seal one more medal in Rio
Olympics 2016.
2004 Summer Olympics:
At the Athens Olympics, at 21, he
took part in Mens freestyle 55 kg
and stood 18th. He finished 9th in
Beijing in the 60-kg class.
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2012 Summer Olympics

As he grew as an athlete over the next few years, the expectations
were high on him to deliver a medal for India in London Olympics
2012.
When he lost to Russias Besik Kudukhov in the second round, the
expectations of billion Indians lay shattered. But the repechage
system gave him a reprieve.
In spite of getting injured on his right eye in the first round of repechage
due to which he could barely see, he won all the three rounds of
repechage. His best performance came in the third repechage round
when he faced North Koreas Ri Jong Myong, who was a favourite.
The 2016 Summer Olympics is his last. And for Dutt, it is gold or nothing.
WHEN
When did his other milestones arrive?
He won Gold in 2003 Common
wealth Games, Bronze in
the 60 kilogram category at
the 15th Asian Games at
Doha in 2006, Gold in 2010
Commonwealth
Games,
Gold in 2014 Commonwealth
Games, Gold in 2014 Asian
Games to confirm his berth for
all his Olympic participations.
Although each of his medals is a milestone in itself, few of his bouts
standout due to the context in which his success arrived:
He lost his father just 9 days before he boarded the flight to Doha
for the 2006 Asian Games. He also sustained a knee injury. But
despite all the emotional and physical trauma, he managed to win
the bronze in the 60-kg category at Doha.
Two years later, at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, he
overcame a career-threatening knee injury to win the 60-kg title. He
Rio 2016
came up with an exceptionally skillful performance to win the gold

for India.
WHERE
Where does Dutts fire come from?
Patriotism: He derives his
immense motivation by reading
the biographies of patriotic leaders
like Subash Chandra Bose,
Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat
Singh and Jhansi ki Rani.
Spirituality:
He derives motivation from
wrestling itself which shapes
his spiritual side. He carries
the legacy of the akhara tradition by carrying his Bajrang Bali idol
everywhere he goes.
He offers prayers to Hanuman before stepping on the mat.
Determination:
He has always considered wrestling his life. He is insane in pursuing
his passion and succeeding in it.
Viren Rasquinha, former India hockey captain, once tweeted a video
where Yogeshwar has heavy weights dangling from his neck. Ive
never ever seen anyone doing neck weight exercises, he said.
Perseverance:
Right from his first Olympic appearance in Athens, he learnt from his
mistakes and continuously improved and upgraded his techniques. It is
his perseverance that won him a medal in London.
His inspiration:
He was motivated by the sight of Leander Paes winning the bronze medal
at Atlanta 1996. His inspiration in wrestling was Balraj Pehlwan, who was
from his native village.
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WHO
Who is Dutt up against?
Dutt is up against Mongolias
Ganzorigiin
Mandakhnaran
in the first round but faces a
tricky draw ahead.
In the quarters, he is likely to
ace Russias Soslan Ramonov
2014 worlds gold and 2015
bronze winner in the quarterfinal. If he gets past him,
Uzbeks Ikhtoyor Navruzov
reigning silver medallist
could meet in semis.
Who are the top contenders for gold in his category?

The road to a medal in the 65 kg category will be tough. A lot will
depend on the draw that a player gets on the day.
Dutt is expected to face a stiff competition from 6 other wrestlers,
who have equal chances of winning gold - World champion Frank
Chamizo of Italy, Russias Soslan Ramonov, wrestlers from Iran,
Poland, Azerbaijan and Turkey.
HOW
How have the other Indian wrestlers fared?
While Sakshi won bronze, the
other Indias wrestlers have had a
forgettable Olympics.
Vinesh Phogat unfortunately injured
her knee during her womens
freestyle 48kg quarterfinal against
Chinas Sun Yanan.
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Babita Kumari was knocked out in her opening womens 53 kg

category wrestling bout 1-5 against Greeces Maria Prevolaraki.
Sandeep Tomar lost to two-time World Champion Victor Lebedev
of Russia 3-7 in the 57 kg category to get ousted from the mens
freestyle wrestling.
As if to rub salt to the wound, Narsingh Yadav was banned for four
years, a day before his bout.
How do wrestlers come to light in India?

In India, not enough recognition is given to athletes until they win
any big event. They will have to work very hard to earn recognition
in India. Some of them could not see light despite their efforts.
To an extent, that wrestling has become a region-specific sport
it being popular in north while not so popular in the rest of the
country.
Taking wrestling as profession is not much acceptable as it is a
contact sport. One should be willing to get hurt and suffer those
injuries, and get beaten sometimes, which is hard for many.
This is also why the government should take necessary steps to
promote athletics, not just popular sports and games, and ensure
that proper facilities are provided to those who are already in the
sport. This will help the athletes to pursue their passion without
facing any difficulties. It could yield better results as the athlete can
just focus on their game.
REFERENCES
Yogeshwar Dutt confident of going out on a high
Yogeshwar Dutt: From shy, self-effacing village boy to patriot,
philosopher, pehelwan
Indias medal chances in wrestling at Rio 2016 Olympics
Indias Olympic moments: Yogeshwar bags bronze in London
How an injured Yogeshwar Dutt realised his Olympics dream at
London 2012
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28/06/2016
ecognised as one of Indias best prospects in sprint from a young age,
Dutees career was almost over when she was banned in 2014 after a
higher than permissible level of testosterone was found in her body. One
national record was not enough. So Dutee broke her own record twice to
qualify for the Olympics 100m event. Indias fastest female sprinter now
heads to Rio.
WHAT
What has Dutee achieved?
Dutee Chand has been on a roller
coaster ride for most of the last
two years. From a point where her
career seemed dead and even her
identity was called into question,
the sprinters redemption was
complete when she qualified for
this years Rio Olympics with a
track blazing performance.
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Hailing from a humble family in Gopalpur, Odisha, Dutee is used

to battles, on and off the track. On Saturday, the athlete emulated
the legendary PT Ushas feat 36 years ago in sealing a berth in the
100m sprint event at Rio Olympics.
Dutee Chand will be only the second Indian woman sprinter to
participate in the Olympics PT Usha competed in the 100m and
200m at the 1980 Moscow Games.
Dutee clocked 11.30 seconds in the heats at the 26th G Kosanov
Memorial Meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
She also broke her own national record of 11.33 seconds, set at the
recent Federation Cup, in the process.
The record did not last long as Dutee took just 11.24 seconds to win
a silver medal in the finals in Almaty.
The qualifying mark for the Rio Olympics was set at 11.32 seconds.
Even though her personal best may not be enough for a medal in
Rio, Dutee has done the country proud in the manner she battled
and overcame adversity.
WHY
Why is her achievement more special than it looks?
As Dutee was sprinting her
way to becoming one of
Indias best athletes, her flight
was curelly cut short by a
hyperandrogenism case, which
deemed her unfit to compete
as a female athlete.
Her case was a reminder of the
ordeal faced by another Indian
athlete, Santhi Soundarajan,
who lost the silver medal she
won in the 800m at the 2006
Doha Asian Games. Santhi felt humiliated, went into depression and
even attempted suicide. But Dutee chose to fight the injustice at the
highest court for sports.
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In a landmark CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) judgment that is

now a marker for world athletes, Dutees eligibility to compete as a
female athlete was restored in time to revive her Olympic dream.
Rather than repent over the time she lost, she immediately got on
the tracks and more than made up for the lost time.
The best timings in the womens 100m this season are around the
10.80s mark. If Dutee manages to clock her personal best at the
Olympics, she is likely to get into the semi-finals. But it is unlikely
that she can get a podium finish. Not in this Olympics. To remove
0.5 seconds (her best timings are around 11.30 sec) from her
timing would take all that she has got and even more. She will draw
inspiration from her favourite athlete, Usain Bolt, who was able to
shed a few tenths of decimals from his timing to break the world
record.
In 1980, PT Usha managed 12.27 sec in her heat at the Moscow
Games and did not advance further. But Dutees feat cannot be
reduced just to timings and qualification marks. The way she has
fought poverty, adversity and prejudice is an inspirational story.
WHEN
When was Dutees career almost over?
Dutees future was seemingly
put in jeopardy when she was
banned in 2014 after a higher
than permissible level of the
male hormone testosterone
was found in her body.
She was dropped from the
Commonwealth
Games
contingent at the last minute
after the Athletic Federation of
India stated that hyperandrogenism made her ineligible to compete
as a female athlete. The decision was made in compliance with
International Olympic Committee (IOC) regulations on female
hyperandrogenism designed to address a perceived advantage for
female athletes with high androgen levels. The Athletic Federation
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of India and the International Association of Athletics Federations

(IAAF)s actions were widely criticised as an affront to Chands
privacy and human rights.
Her world came crashing down but she gathered herself to fight it
out in the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
She had just won two gold medals at the Asian junior athletics
championship in Taiwan and was preparing for her maiden
Commonwealth Games appearance in Glasgow when her name
was struck off the team list.
She was subsequently handed an indefinite ban from competing
under the IAAF guidelines that debar athletes with hyperandrogenism.
She took her case to every forum she could. Chands act of defiance
was picked up by Kolkata-based gender activist Payoshni Mitra, who
convinced the Sports Authority of India, at that time helmed by Jiji
Thomson, to fight for her.
They brought together an international group of scientists, former
athletes and bioethicists, including Canadian Olympian and author
Bruce Kidd, one of the worlds leading activists for equality in sports,
and medical anthropologist and author Katrina Karkazis from the
Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University, US.
A Canadian law firm called Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
took up her case, pro bono (for the public good).
On 25 July 2015, in a landmark ruling, the CAS overturned Chands
ban, and suspended the hyperandrogenism rule, giving the IAAF two
years to come up with scientific evidence to support such a ruling.
WHERE
Where does she derive her strength from?
Her success on the track is a testimony to her grit for she had to run, as
fast as she could, in spite of all her problems. But champions rarely rise
in a vacuum.
For Dutee, her elder sister Saraswati Chand was her cornerstone.
Being a former athlete herself, who had won medals in the World
Police Championships; Saraswati encouraged and inspired her
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sister to pursue her dreams.

And Dutee chased down her
dreams, literally.
As a young girl, Dutee would
often race with Saraswati on
the banks of the Brahmani river
in Odisha.
Olympic ke liye qualify hua, (I
have qualified for the Olympics)
read the Whatsapp message from Dutee to her elder sister on 25th
June. The elder sister took some time to absorb what Dutee had
achieved and rushed to inform their parents, Chakradar and Akkaji,
both weavers. Akkaji, who had been praying and fasting for her
daughters event, broke her fast. The village broke into celebrations.
Dutees coach N Ramesh has been her biggest strength. Even before the
ban was lifted, Ramesh, who coached at the national training camp run
by the SAI at Patiala, Punjab, had called Chand with a proposal: to shift to
Hyderabad, where Ramesh was now posted, and continue training to get
her ready for a shot at Olympic qualification.
Ramesh spoke to Indias national badminton coach Pullela Gopi
Chand, who runs the famed Gopi Chand Badminton Academy in
Hyderabad. Gopi Chand agreed to keep Chand and Ramesh at the
Academy, with free access to the facilities. This is where Chand and
Ramesh went on hyper-drive with their training, trying to make up
for lost time.
Anglian Medal Hunt, a sports management company that represents
Chand, also stood by her through the entire process, and helped
with gaps in funding.
WHO
Who else has represented India in 100m at the Olympics?
Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha, generally known as P.T. Usha,
is unarguably the most famous and successful Female Athlete from
India.
Rio 2016
She became the youngest

Indian sprinter, aged 16, to
compete in the 1980 Moscow
Olympics. She also represented
India in the 1984 (Los Angeles)
and 1988 (Seoul) Olympics.
Usha became the first Indian
woman to enter the final of an
Olympics event (400m hurdles) in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
She lost the bronze medal in 400 metre hurdles by one-hundredth
of a second. Her timing of 55.42 seconds is still the national record.
Watch her Olympics race in the video (References).
She won 4 golds and 1 silver in 1986, Seoul Asian Games, claiming
for herself the title of Asias sprint queen.
Usha retired from Athletics and married V. Srinivasan in 1991, but to
the surprise of everybody she made a sudden comeback in the year
1998 and won Bronze Medals in 200m and 400m races at the Asian
Track Federation Meet held at Fukkowakka in Japan.
Usha has won 101 international medals in her career.
She was honored with the Arjuna Award in 1983 and Padma Shri in
1985. Apart from it, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) named her
Indias Sportsperson of the Century and the Sports Woman of the
Millennium.
Also, she was named the Greatest Woman Athlete at Jakarta Asian
Athletic Meet 1985 and given the World Trophy for Best Athlete in
the years 1985 and 1986.
Currently she coaches young athletes at Usha School of Athletics
at Koyilandy in Kerala, including Tintu Luka - her protg who is
running 800 metres in the Rio Olympics.
HOW
How was Dutee subjected to biological racism?
Acting on an anonymous complaint filed at the Asian Junior
Championship, the Athletics Federation of India conducted a series of
tests on her without informing her what it was for. Three days later, she
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was told that she was banned

from competing and asked to
leave the national camp. It was
only a few days later, that a
dejected Chand, sitting at home
in Odisha, saw on TV that she
had failed a gender test.
Initially, sex determination test
(which was started by the IOC in
1968) was as crude as asking the athletes to drop their underwear. Later,
this was replaced by testing swabs of cheek tissue for chromosome.
South African athlete Caster Semenyas rise to prominence brought
up this disputed issue once again. At the end of the storm, the IAAF
and IOCs Medical Commission came up with an upper limit for
testosterone which will be permissible for a women athlete 10
nanomoles per litre of blood.
A lot of athletes had to undergo hormone suppression therapy, and
some even went under the knife (genital surgery) in order to keep
their testosterone level within the norms. However, Dutee Chand
refused to do so.
She decided to challenge the ruling at the Court of Arbitration of
Sports (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. What I have is natural,
she told at that time. I have not doped. I dont deserve the ban. This
should never happen to another girl again.
When South African athlete Caster Semenya failed a similar gender
test after winning the gold medal at the 2009 World Championships,
the country supported her whole-heartedly. She was eventually
allowed to keep her medal and prize money. As for Dutee, she
missed out on a year.
She fought not just for herself but for others like her to change not
just the ruling but the unfair system itself. She succeeded in the
court. And she continues to succeed on the tracks.
There is something liberating about sprinting you put all you got on the
tracks and no one stops you for those 100 meters. That an athlete comes
up from humble backgrounds, fights an entire system yet wins on the
tracks captures the essence of sports.
Dutee Chand is already a winner.
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177
REFERENCES
To hell and back: Dutee Chand amazing story as she attempts to
conquer Rio
Dutee Chands extraordinary journey
Dutee Chand | The woman who stood the test of biological racism
Hard works pays for Dutee Chand
09/08/2016
From being a daily wage earner to qualifying for the quarter-final of
the Mens Single Sculls in Rio 2016, Indias lone Olympic rower Dattu
Baban Bhokanal personifies grit. As he competes today, it will not be
easy to carry the burden of a countrys hopes along with concerns for his
mothers health. But Dattu knows how to wade through the tough times,
one problem at a time.
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WHAT
What has Dattu Babban Bhokanal achieved?
If you compare Dattu with the many
medal winning athletes in Rio, Dattu
has achieved nothing significant
yet. But if there was a way to factor
in the context and the struggles of
the athletes in their performances,
Dattu would emerge a clear winner.
Perhaps it is understandable that
he does Singles Sculls, for he has
fought all of his many battles all
alone.
Dattu Baban Bhokanal started as a farmer and a well digger (or stone
cutter if you like) in the drought-devastated Talegaon Rohi village of
Nashik in Maharashtra. His familys fortunes were dependent on a
small piece of dry land in that village. Since the land was not enough,
Dattu would break rocks with iron hammers as his father would dig
wells.
As if growing up in difficult, penurious circumstances was not a big
enough problem, destiny handed him his first big test when he was
19. His father was diagnosed with bone cancer. Without money,
without hope, and without any help, Dattu did not break down. He
says, I didnt get any support from my relatives. I realized that it is
my own battle and I will fight it out alone. And I decided to appear for
the army entrance test.
Dattu had no knowledge of armys recruitment process and lacked
written examination skills. Such was his clarity of vision and
determination that he did manage to compensate deficit in the written
test with his physical exam scores. He made it to the Indian Army.
Freshly recruited into Indian Army, Dattu joined the Bombay
Engineering Group division in Pune. Rowing attracted him, but he
had some inhibitions. I used to get scared of everything when my
father was alive. After his death in 2011, I wanted to shed my fears
away. I made sure to do the things first that scared me, he says.
Rio 2016
Dattu is the rower who was scared of water and did not know
swimming. In fact, he found it amusing that people would play sports
on water as his village parched without water for years.
Dattu decided to fight his fear of water as he took to Rowing. His
tryst with water was far from smooth, but he kept rowing and the
results followed.
And here he is the one who had not even heard of the Olympics till
four years ago fighting against the seasoned rowers from across
the world to show us the limits a determined man can reach. What
he lacked in skills, he made up in practice.
When they told me Id qualified for the Olympics and that I was
going to Rio, I didnt even know what it meant, he says.
What is Mens Singles Sculls?

The mens single sculls event has been in the Olympics since the
beginning of the modern Olympic Games in 1896.
A single scull is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing.
It is designed for a single person who propels the boat with two oars,
one in each hand.
The single scull event is about one rower and his ability to synchronise
and efficiently move his scull forward with two oars on either side.
The distance in all rowing events is the standard 2 km.
WHY
Why was Dattus entry into Quarter-Final extra-ordinary?
As an Indian rower single-handedly bringing an unknown sports into
the consciousness of the nation, his win in the first round was special.
No one would have complained had he not qualified for the Quarter
Final, but he chose to fight hard against the best in the water in his
first Olympics. As such, we need to celebrate the likes of Dattu.
However, if we consider the circumstances under which he was
rowing, his win becomes exemplary. Earlier this year, right before
Dattu left for the Olympics trials in Korea, his mother Asha Bhavana
Bhokanal suffered an accident which left her brain-dead. He still
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went for the trials, determined

to qualify to make his mother
happy. Chances were dim that
his mother would be even able
to understand what her son
was about to achieve. Dattu
qualified for Rio.
As he fights his competitors, he
is also fighting his emotions as
his mothers health is reported
to be sinking. The Indian
Express reports that Dattu would even have to sell his house and
start borrowing money to pay for treatment by a specialist in Delhi.
Till now she has been treated in the Army hospital but the conditions
have not improved.
As mere spectators to Dattus story of grit and more grit, it would require
heart of stone to not be touched by the stone-breakers achievement so
far. It must also be admired that he is determined not to be yet another
feel-good Olympic story.
He wants to win. Perhaps more for his ailing mother than for his nation.
WHEN
When did Dattu step into limelight?
Dattu cultivated his interest for rowing when he was stationed at
Bombay Engineer Group & Centre (Khadki) Centre in Pune (2012).
Kusrat Ali, Dattus first coach noticing his physical endurance,
discipline and determination suggested him to shift to Army Rowing
Node (ARN), Pune for better training.
Dattu then practiced under the watchful eyes of the Dronacharya
awardee and chief National rowing coach Ismail Baig at the ARN,
Pune.
Dattu used to represent Services at the Annual National Rowing
Championships. Dattu broke the shackles and emerged as a
National champion in 2014. It was a phenomenal feat to emerge as
a National Champion in a sport that he was introduced to just two
years ago. But the best was yet to come.
Rio 2016
Dattu later went on to finish fifth in the 2014 Asian Games in China.
This brought him the necessary support in the form of the Target
Olympic Podium (TOP) Scheme, which funds Olympic medal
prospects for their training and preparation.
Dattu trained at the Miami Beach Rowing Club Before 2016 Olympics
in Rio.
He qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympics after winning a silver in the
mens single sculls event at the FISA Asian and Oceania Olympic
Qualification Regatta at Chung-ju in South Korea where he clocked
7 minutes and 07.63 seconds.
WHERE
Where can we see resilience and humility in Dattu?
In spite of tasting success,
Dattu still has daunting
problems back home. His
mother is critically ill and his
two younger brothers, Gokul
and Yuvraj, take care of the
household duties, their mother
and grandparents.
Dattu knows his biggest
strength is in not getting
bogged down by lifes harsh realities. I become strong in difficult
times. I dont know what it is termed in psychology, but I remain calm
in adversities. I dread the time when there are too many good things
happening around me. It gives me a sense of fear, he says.
Dattu values all the opportunities that life presents him and makes
the most out of them. Recollecting the time he was newly introduced
to the rowing divison, he says, When I first came to know about
rowing as a sport, I was in shock. People waste so much water,
when they have access to it. It made me extremely emotional. Over
time I became more used to the fact.
Dattu never forgets his past amidst all the fame and glory. He knows
that nothing comes his way for free and he would have to work
consistently and honestly for success. The Chief National Rowing
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Coach, Ismail Baig says He never complains of workload, a very

gritty customer and abundance of natural talent. He can be the major
surprise from India in Rio.
It is his temperament more than his talent that has kept Dattu at the
forefront of Indias Rowing.
WHO
Who is Dattu doing this for?
As we admire his story and watch
him compete for India, let us do
some reality check first. Dattu
still lives in a one-room mud hut
in Talegaon Rohi. His house (if
you can call it that) has no tap, no
refrigerator and no TV set.
And Dattu is still a part-time
farmer. He still tends to his
farms; in fact he appears proud
to be tending to his onion fields.
It was not long ago that Dattus only dream was to be a good farmer
who could provide for his family. He gets a salary of Rs 25,000 from
the Army and, with it, he has to take care of a family of five which
includes an ailing mother.
Here is the real reason he wants to win - I have so many problems at
home. My father is dead, my mother is paralyzed, our fields are dry, were
in debt ... so I need to win, to support my family and have a better life.
When the likes of Shobha De who recently made a fashionable Twitter
remark on why India should not waste resources on the Olympians
who do not win caste aspersions on the intent of the Dattus of India,
they fail to understand that only a handful of Indias Olympians are full-time
sportspersons; the rest have to worry about feeding their families. While
the Olympics brings their stories to the mainstream, they are forgotten for
the four intervening years between Olympics.
This 64 feet tall 25-year-old rower from India the one who never seen a
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river or picked up an oar before 2012 - is rowing his family out of poverty.
Along the way, he is giving his countrymen moments to cherish.
HOW
How good are Dattus chances to move further ahead in Rio
2016?
Dattu will compete in the Quarterfinals of the Single Scull event today.
The single scull event is a race
between a maximum of six rowers
who compete with each other on a
straight of water measured at two
kilometres. There are a series of
heats conducted to determine the
quality of the rower.
Dattu clocked the 2000m race with a timing of 7:21.67s behind Angel
Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba (7:06.89s) and Mexicos Juan Carlos
Cabrera (7:08.27s) in his heats.
The gold medal winner from the 2012 London Olympics was New
Zealands Mahe Drysdale who put in an impressive 6:57.82 to beat
Czech Republics Ondej Synek who clocked a 6:59.47.
Dattu Bhokanals time that won him the Silver in the 16th Asian
Rowing Championships was a 7:07.49 it is clear that he will have
to do so much more than his best to remain in the contention for an
Olympics medal at Rio.
For Dattu Bhokanal to finish with a medal in the event from here on,
hed have to finish in top three of his semifinal heat and finish in the
top three of the final six men lined up to garner an Olympic Medal.
But are we really going to judge Dattu by his ability to bring a medal
back home? Is it not good enough that Dattu exists in this world to make
us realize that all the problems we thought we could never overcome
were actually opportunities?
If he loses, you can expect him to tell us later how this loss was the best
problem he ever faced in his life.
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Because she can
REFERENCES
Dattu adds more weight to his story
The sport of rowing explained: what does Dattu Bhokanal have to do
to win a medal?
Rower Dattu Bhokanal: From farmlands to Rio waters
Because she can
Kristin
13/08/2016
Armstrong made history this Olympics when she accomplished the unprecedented feat of winning her third consecutive gold
medal in the individual time trial cycling event. Defying critics and
stereotypes she showed that a 42 year-old mother with a full time
hospital job could achieve what others considered impossible. Her
glory followed relentless struggle and she hopes women across the
world are inspired by it.
Because she can
Rio 2016
WHAT
What has Kirstin Armstrong achieved?
She became the first cyclist
to win a third consecutive
Olympics gold medal in the
time-trial cycling event on
Wednesday. She turned 43 one
day after she accomplished this
phenomenal feat.
Discouraging weather, cutthroat competition, and a
bleeding nose did not daunt her
spirit as she went on to cover the 29.7 kilometer long hilly course in
44 minutes and 26.42 seconds, 5.55 seconds ahead of the second
fastest cyclist.
In London 2012 Olympics, she had covered 29 kilometers in 37
minutes 34.82 seconds and in 2008, covered a distance of 23.5
kilometers in less than 35 minutes. In both instances, the gold was
hers.
She called her victory in Rio as the most gratifying of her three
individual championships and in the same breath called upon female
athletes worldwide to not allow negativity to erode their potential.
Time trial events in cycling are those in which you literally compete
with yourself. It is known as the race of truth as you have only your
resources to rely on in minimizing aerodynamic drag and maintaining a
consistent high speed. In this race, the participants start at different times
(usually starting time gaps between two participants are 1 minute or 30
seconds) and whoever scales the course in the shortest time duration is
the winner.
WHY
Why is her feat inspiring?
She showed that she can despite all the odds stacked against her.
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Because she can
It is unprecedented in the
history of Olympics. No woman
or man cyclist has bagged three
consecutive gold medals in the
same cycling event.
She competed against cyclists
who had given world class
performances and had the
advantages of a younger body
the oldest among her competitors was seven years younger to
Armstrong.
As a mother and Director of Community Health at St Lukes hospital,
she could only train part-time. But what she lacked in available time,
she made up for with zeal and focus.
Shutting out all forms of skepticism she set her sights on pushing the
limits to her fullest extent and more. She has shown how much can
be achieved by believing in ones dreams and sparing no effort to realize
them.
WHEN
When did her critics want Armstrong out of the team?
She came third in the National
Championships time trial held
in May. The performance
was deemed poor by others.
Carmen Small who finished
first challenged the selection of
Armstrong and Evelyn Stevens
who were chosen to compete in
the road race and time trial.
Even earlier to this competition
critics had a variety of concerns.
Her lower level of participation in international races since her return
angered rivals and was challenged by critics.
Because she can
Rio 2016
Some raised the issue of bias as her coach Jim Miller is USA Cyclings
Vice-President of athletics. Though he had formally detached himself
from the selection process, his role in developing the initial criteria
fuelled suspicions.
Some questioned her credibility as a team player in the road race
which was to be held just three days earlier. Armstrong proved them
wrong here too, by biking with all her might to provide all the help to
her team-mates for the final push.
Yet others wrote her off as too old to put up a promising show in Rio.
WHERE
Where does she stand out among all athletes?
She is the living exemplar who livens the message, You are never too old
to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
Her training since 2015, following
a three-year gap, tasked every
fibre in her body. Each intense
session took a long time to recover
from. When asked why she went
through the punishing schedule
and come back despite having a
good career, her succinct reply,
Because I can conveyed the
most inspirational message for
anyone wanting to succeed.
Her balance on and off the bike is to be celebrated. She excels in
all her roles cyclist, community health director and Mom and
tremendously enjoys each one of them.
She embraces challenges with eagerness and proves that conquering
them can be fun.
She takes motivation from criticism. Her husband Joe Savola,
speaking of her win as an answer to critics who felt she could not give
a worthy performance, said, That was part of Kristins motivation
today, is for her to come out and say, yeah, I am the oldest. I was
the oldest in London, and now I am the oldest. And I am the best.
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Because she can
WHO
Who can learn from her incredible story?
Those who hesitate to set
new goals out of fear of
failure. Osteoarthritis at 27
made Armstrong shift gears
from being a triathlete to
being a cyclist. The late
start in the sport did not
prevent her from aiming for
the highest.
Women and mothers who
believe its too late to
achieve new milestones.
Her
achievement
is
concrete evidence against this belief.
Those who ask What is the point? when they are presented with
newer opportunities and discourage others who dare to dream
further by wielding this argument.
Husbands can learn from Joe Savola, who gives his all and more
to fuel Armstrong on and after her win proudly said, I would say its
unbelievable but with Kristin, it is believable.
HOW
How is her small but strong support system valuable?
Apart from the superfans she takes encouragement from, her inside
circle of supporters have, in different ways, helped her along the steep
path to success.
She says that during her post-retirement trainings, the one constant
dream she held on to, and which woke her up in the most challenging
of mornings was to have her son with her on the podium at Olympics.
And she says being a mother improves her ability to strike a balance
Because she can
Rio 2016
the secret weapon of

her success and stay
super focused.
Her husband races
against
himself
in
getting
her
bikes
ready for her races.
He, like her finds the
challenge fascinating.
His passion is reflected
in the attention he gives
to every micro-detail that would give her an edge. He said, Every
amount of energy that you can remove mechanically from the bike
that she can put into the drive train and into the ground and making
the wheels go faster is an advantage. And after the relentless
work to ensure that his wife has the best bike, he said, Honestly it
probably wont make any difference. Savola adds, But Kristin has
lost races by a second or two, and if I havent done everything that I
can do, then I have nightmares about it.
She found inspiration from her coachs message saying it spurred
her on to a climactic finish. The coach told her that she was going
to be in top three and it was upon her now which colour she
wanted on her medal. She went for gold and got it. She also
said her fantastic support team in the road race event made the
trip to Rio worthwhile. She said she took some inspiration from
teammate Mara Abbot. Abbot who tired late and lost her podium
finish in the road race chose to motivate Armstrong to having a
great finish in the time trial.
Following the hat-trick gold achievement, she now intends to focus her
time and energy on her job as a community health director. She said,
They have given me a 12-week break, which I am grateful for, but its a
dream job, and I really look forward to being back in the hospital setting
and working to better the health around the state of Idaho. She also
affirmed that while this Olympics would be her last, she would continue to
be involved with team Twenty20.
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Because she can
REFERENCES
Because I Can: Cyclist Kristin Armstrong Wins Third Gold Medal At
Age 42
Kristin Armstrong defies critics to win third Olympic gold medal in Rio
Rio Olympics: The incredible story of cyclist Kristin Armstrongs hattrick of gold medals, at 42
Not your average Joe: Kristins husband puts everything into her
bikes
Kristin Armstrong: I want a third gold medal at Rio Olympics
Schooling beats Phelps to

become Singapores first gold
medalist.
Michael Phelps wins back the

200m butterfly gold.
Rio 2016
15/08/2016
Till 2005, she used to compete in marathons barefoot to earn money.
On 13th August 2016, Lalita Shivaji Babar broke the national record to
become the first runner after P T Usha at Los Angeles in 1984 to make
it to a track final at the Olympics. She competes in the 3000m steeplechase against formidable opponents to get India that elusive Rio medal
on Indias Independence Day.
WHAT
What has Lalita achieved?
Lalita Shivaji Babar has qualified for the womens 3000m steeplechase
final in Rio Olympics with a new national record of 9 minutes 19.76
seconds. The final is scheduled for today, Indias Independence Day.
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She finished fourth in her heats

and was the seventh fastest
qualifier overall.
She clipped nearly seven
seconds off the national mark
standing in the name of Sudha
Singh (9:26.55), clocked in
May. Incidentally, Sudha could
not qualify with a timing of
9:43.29.
Lalita started strong and
steady, and also took the lead halfway through the race in spite
of suffering a fall. She held on to the lead for a while but after the
2500-metre mark she started to slip, though she was never very far
from the top three.
The top three from each heat automatically qualified for the final. But
the next six fastest women also moved to the final. Lalita finished
seventh overall. 15 athletes will compete in the final.
What is Steeplechase?
It can be called a long-distance hurdling event, a simulated crosscountry or a human equestrian. And yes, there is a water pit that provides
opportunities for good photographs by inducing crashes.
Simply put, the steeplechase is has four barriers, or hurdles, and a
12-feet long water pit. It is not uncommon for steeplers to fall in the
pit, only to rise again and run.
The event which originated in Ireland - derives its name from the
steeplechase in horse racing. The flagship version of the event is
the 3000 metres steeplechase with 28 barriers and 7 water jumps.
WHY
Why does Lalita deserve the spotlight?
Her entire career has been inspirational.
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Yet again Indias hopes rest on a

sportsperson from rural India who
made her way up struggling against
the kind of odds ordinary people
would give up to.
A young Babar used to run all
the way to her school which was
4 km away from her house in
Mohi, a non-descript droughtsensitive village in Satara,
Maharashtra. Since her father
could not afford to buy shoes for her any kind, not just the running
ones she used to run barefoot.
It was sheer luck that she was spotted by a local coach during a khokho event. She started competing in a variety of events, beginning
with 400m and 800m at the state level. Till 2005 she was still
running without shoes, even as she started winning national level
tournaments.
Babar began running long distances and made her first international
senior level appearance in 2009 when she took part in 3000m race
(not steeplechase) in the Asian Indoor Championships in Hanoi.
She then moved to 3000m steeplechase in 2013 and won a bronze
in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon where she broke the national
record of Sudha Singh.
And then, she broke her own record five more times. Her training
mate Sudha Singh finally broke Babars record during the Diamond
League in Shanghai in May 2016. Now Babar has got her record
back at the biggest of all stages.
Not just for the grit and for the circumstances under which she trained,
Babars story also needs to be celebrated for the consistency with
which she has performed and progressed.
WHEN
When did the turnaround happen?
Lalita was into marathon and 5000m running till 2013, though she
had developed a liking for steeplechase from 2010.
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She quit marathon to pursue

steeplechase in 2013. She
was determined to win medals
in multi-discipline events like
the Asiad and Commonwealth
Games.
This decision to quit Marathon
running for steeplechase, after
winning hat-trick titles in Mumbai
Marathon in the same year baffled
people around her including her coach Nikolai Snesarev.
I knew that if I dont do well, it can affect my finances in the long run.
Now that I have won a medal, I can do a lot with the cash prize that I
will get from the state government. My first priority is to renovate the
house for my parents, she says talking about the decision.
Can it get any more inspirational than this? She won the Mumbai Marathon
thrice for the prize money that will provide for her family and free her to
pursue the event she wanted to compete in the Olympics for.
In the 2015 Asian Athletics Championships, Babar won the Gold
medal, clocking 9:34.13. In doing so, she broke her own personal
record, the National record and the Championships record and, most
importantly, she also qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Incidentally, Babar had also qualified for the Marathon event in Rio
but she chose to participate only in the 3000m steeplechase.
Babar was named as the Sports Person of the Year in the India Sports
Awards 2015 organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce
and Industry (FICCI) and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of India.
She is currently supported by Anglian Medal Hunt Company.
WHERE
Where did Lalita Babar prepare for Rio?
What she achieved in Rios Estadio Olimpico Joao Havelange
stadium, she had practiced many times in her mind and on the roads
of Ooty, where she has been training for more than two years now.
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Her Belarusian coach Dr.

Nikolai Snesarev had designed
a training regime for her, which
she has followed strictly. This
also included going to bed
at 6.30 am every morning to
tune her body-clock to the Rio
timings.
Babar has been busy logging
thousands of miles in running,
and breaking national records
on the way. She participated in many races here and there to keep
her body conditioned.
Her target was to finish the race in less than 9 minutes 15 seconds
(she clocked 9:19 in the heats).
She was training with the other two Olympians, Sudha Singh and
OP Jaisha. While Sudha could not qualify for the steeplechase final,
Jaisha finished 89th in the Marathon.
Interestingly and understandably, she wasnt interested in the national
record she broke during the Heats, and instead expressed her
disappointment that she could not finish in the top three.
WHO
Who is Lalita up against in the final today?
Bahrains Ruth Jebet is expected
to win gold in the event; in fact no
one will be surprised if she breaks
the Olympics Record in the final.
Babar has competed against
Jebet earlier. It was Jebet who
won gold when Babar came
third during Asian Games
2014. They were separated
by less than 5 seconds then.
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However, Jebet has improved her timing tremendously in the last

two years and is aiming to clock less than 9 minutes in the final.
The rest of the field is formidable too. In fact, if we look at the records and
timings of other competitors, we should not expect Babar to break into
the top five.
However, let us not underestimate the determination of this shy athlete
from India who wants a medal and would go the distance for it.
When asked if she is overawed by the timing that Ruth Jebet is
capable of, her reply was simple. If Ruth can take a few seconds off
her best timing in the final, so can I.
Lalita Babar will have to break her own national record for the seventh
time today, and this time she has to break it by more than 15 seconds if
she has to climb the podium.
HOW
How should India celebrate Lalita Shivaji Babar?
The same way the country
is celebrating gymnast Dipa
Karmakar not for coming fourth,
but for giving her lifes best
performance in the final of an event
India is neither known for nor has
infrastructure for.
Talking of infrastructure, here are
a few excerpts from an interview
Babar gave to The Hindu in 2015
Where are the competition
tracks here? Those which are here are not up to the international
standards, the one we will get in Rio. But then again, we have to
work within the facilities being provided to us.
Here we do not have proper training tracks; neither do we have
many synthetic tracks. Here we practice by running on roads.
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You see, most of my records have been made outside India, the
facilities outside are really much better. It enhances our performances.
Though she said this in all humility, she captured the very reason
why Indian athletes fail to get medals in spite of giving their best
performances - For your athlete to win an Olympic medal, you ought to
give the best facilities.
Yes, like the rest of the country, even she is aware that she runs on Indias
Independence Day. She told the reporters that she will do her best to get
India a medal today. And the best she will do.
But the nation should go beyond sharing goforgold and makeIndiaproud
messages on Facebook and Whatsapp.
With even some introspection, we will understand that even after 70 years
of independence, India has not truly freed its athletes to pursue their
passion in sports. India needs stadiums not status messages if it has
to truly go for gold in Olympics.
REFERENCES
Lalita Babar in steeplechase final
Lalita Babar named Sports Person of the Year
Tell me what I lack: Lalita asks state
14/08/2016
On Friday, Usain Bolt cruised through the first round with characteristic
entertaining ease amid questions about his ailing hamstring. Its always
to win, he made it clear. Thats what Im here for. He believes that he
must win all three sprinting golds in order to rival Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Pele. Bolt, who has transcended limitations throughout his career, looks to leave his stamp in his last Olympics.
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WHAT
What unravelled in the opening round?
Usain Bolt, who has redefined
our idea of fast, is participating
in his last Olympics in Rio
de Janeiro. Last year, he
had announced that he will
retire after the 2017 world
championships.
Bolt ran only sparingly before
Rio. He dropped hints that he is
not in the best of shapes in Rio
by pulling out of the Jamaican
Olympic trials on July 1 with a slight hamstring injury.
He later qualified for the Games on July 22 by winning a 200 in
London in 19.89 seconds, a performance his coach dubbed as one
of the worst races he has ever run.
The Jamaican who will turn 30 in a week now sports a clean-shaven
head because it makes him look younger.
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On Saturday, he got his party stared in Rio. He got his customary

slow start. After trailing 25 metres before the finish, he sized up
Andrew Fisher, a Jamaican who represents Bahrain. He shifted
gears to breeze past Fisher and win the heat in 10.07 seconds.
You know that when youre in line with Bolt, youre in front of others,
Fisher said.
Very few athletes could infuse so much drama into their performances.
It is for a reason that Bolt considers himself a sprinter and an
entertainer.
I would like him to be an ambassador to track and field because he brings
fun to the sport, his mother, Jennifer Bolt, said, during their recent visit
with the sprinter to inquire about his health.
Justin Gatlin, considered his biggest threat in Rio, too won his heat
and finished with the days best time, 10.01 seconds.
Bolt competes in the 100-meter final on Aug 15. The semi-finals are
scheduled for today. Barring acts of God (or Devil), he is expected
to ease into the finals.
Bolt says he is feeling good. That should scare his competitors.
WHY
Why is Bolt special?
In the course of lifting us, Bolt
transcends the sport. He is
as much as genius as he is a
genetic freak. He was 6-foot-5
when he was 15. His height
lent him the advantage of
covering more ground in fewer
steps than the other. He takes
41 steps to cover 100 metres
as opposed to Tyson Gay,
5-foot-11, who takes 45.
His height also handicaps him at the start of the race as it becomes
harder to manoeuvre his long body and the turns taking him longer
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to reach top speeds. But Bolts fast-twitch muscles and strong hips
compensate for this.
Norman Peart, his manager, reckons that Bolt spends more time in
the air. He soars on tracks, and off it he seems to simultaneously
embrace arrogance and a care-free attitude.
Bolts stories dont reek of dedication. He talks about how he dislikes
training. Even his coaches acknowledge this. But he was always a
prodigy. He won the 2002 junior world champions in the 200 metres,
and in 2004, he was already breaching the 20-second mark.
At the moment he is not as fast as he used to be, but is still faster
than everyone else. He is renowned for reserving his best for the
highest stage and there is no platform higher than Rio 2016.
He already owns the world record of 9.58 and the Olympic record of
9.63. The goal for now is to grab all three sprinting gold medals and
rival Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Pele.
WHEN
When did Bolt rise to fame?
Usain Bolt has run the fastest
100 meters in the history of
humankind!
commentator
and former sprinter Ato Boldon
hollered on TV unable to contain
his excitement. It was 2008,
and Bolt had carved his first
world record. He had clocked
9.72 at the Reebok Grand Prix
meeting in New York beating
his compatriot Asafa Powells
9.74.
After a disastrous run in Athens in 2004 where he was hampered by
back issues and a leg injury, he worked on developing an efficient
stride with Glen Mills, a coach from Jamaica.
In 2007, he won silver at the world championships breaking the
Jamaican record in 200 metres, and hasnt looked back since.
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At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, Jim Hines broke the 10.0 barrier at high
altitude with a 9.95. The record stood for 15 years before Calvin Smith ran
a 9.93 once again set at altitude in 1983.
Over the next three decades, athletes have shattered records at the
100-metre event continually. Ben Johnsons steroid-infused 9.83 in
1987 has alone been chipped away by eight sprinters.
But none of the athletes took the sport by storm like Bolt did. He
soon became the fastest man whos ever lived. He ran a 9.69 in the
Beijing Olympics, and topped it with 9.58 at Berlin in 2009.
WHERE
Where do the doubters get their fodder from?
Im still working with the fact
that he dropped from 10-flat to
9.6 in one year, Carl Lewis, a
former U.S. Olympic champion
told Sports Illustrated after the
2008 Olympics. Lewis himself
has admitted to failing several
doping tests.
A competition that is so simple
in its essence has also become
vulnerable to feats of chemical
engineering and other conspiracies that has tainted the reputation
of the sport.
100-metre record holders from the past - Ben Johnson, Tim
Montgomery, and Justin Gatlin - have been unmasked as cheats.
Of the eight contestants in the 1988 Olympics mens 100-meter final,
only two have not been tainted by doping in their careers.
An anonymous survey by the World Anti-Doping Agency in
2013 revealed that 29 percent of athletes from the 2011 world
championships had indulged in doping in the past year.
Athletes from other countries have often criticised Jamaica for
not having a comprehensive drug testing programme. Several
Jamaicans failed drug test in late-2013, and the head of their anti-
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doping agency admitted to performing only one out-of-competition

test in the six months leading up to the London Olympics.
While the programme has since been overhauled, and Bolt
repeatedly put under the scanner it still becomes hard to insulate
him from suspicion. Lance Armstrong, the worlds most successful
and popular cyclist, who was unmasked as a fictional hero in 2013,
never failed a drug test till after he retired.
Bolts biggest challenger has failed the tests twice in 2001 and
2006 for ADD medication and testosterone levels, for which he was
handed a one-year and four-year bans respectively.
In fact, Bolt is on the verge of losing one of the three gold medals he
won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the A sample of Nesta Carter,
one of his team-mates in the 4x100m event was found to contain
Methylhexanamine, a banned substance.
It is therefore not surprising that doping suspicions hangs there like
a miasma in the world Bolt dominates.
At the centre of it all is the miracle of the Jamaican sprint factory, which
yielded 11 sprint medals of a possible 18 at the London Olympics. It
seems to be too good to be true.
Bolt has not failed a single test and he never fails to state that he wants
his sports to be clean. Athletes like Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt may
be out there in the pool and on the track to restore our belief in excellence
without the substance. May be there is still hope.
WHO
Who said what?
He said Mom, if I wasnt ready, I wouldnt be
here because Im not into the losing thing.
Im ready, said Jennifer Bolt, Usains mother
upon being asked what her son told her about
his fitness.
Winning the 100 meters on Fathers Day will
be one of the most important presents he will
ever give to me, Wellesley Bolt, Usains father
said.
Rio 2016
On the eve of the Olympics well all be debating whether he can win.
And then he will win, American 400 metres great Michael Johnson said.
But what happens when Usain Bolt is no longer in the sport? What
happens then? Campbell, who won Olympic silver in the 200 meters in
2000 and gold in the 4100 in 2004, added.
Earlier this year, Carl Lewis didnt conceal his suspicion over Jamaican
sprinters. Im proud of America right now because we have the best
random and most comprehensive drug testing program. Countries like
Jamaica do not have a random program, so they can go months without
being tested. Im not saying anyone is on anything, but everyone needs to
be on a level playing field, he said.
Without him, it should be really boring, was another matter-of-fact
statement from Usain Bolts mother.
Jennifer is right. Bolt does not have a successor in performance, nor does
he have one in entertainment.
HOW
How will Bolt sign off?
If Bolt calls it quits in Rio (and
he has already indicated he
will), he would go down as the
greatest sprinter ever.
He is already the first person
to bag the 100- and 200-meter
Olympic gold medals twice,
and he would like to do it one
more time. One last time. One great time. To seal his greatness.
Bolt tends to summon his best for the biggest of occasions, and
this isnt a feat beyond his reach. Many opine that he would ease
gloriously through the finish.
However, last year Bolt was plagued by an injury and had to undergo
a surgery on his left foot, and since then he hasnt seemed as
invincible as he used to be.
Some go as far to say that if Bolt doesnt return from Rio with medals,
it would be a blemish on his otherwise stellar resume.
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In Beijing, he beat the silver medallist by 0.20 sec for gold, but
he could beat Justin Gatlin by only 0.01 sec at the 2015 World
Championships. But this is still considered to be his greatest race
for how well he held his nerve.
Perhaps this is what makes him different. He lives and breathes in the
excitement, and draws energy from people watching him. This is what
Bolt has always been about transcending limitations, even his own.
Usains parents still live in a modest one-story home in Trelawney, Jamaica,
within the comforts of their friends circle. He draws a huge crowd who
just get close to him every time he visits his hometown. After he hangs
his boots next year, his parents expect the crowds to just let him be.
Let him be whatever he wants to be after Rio. He remains great forever.
REFERENCES
Rio: Bolt wins first-round 100 heat
Bolts parents feeling good about worlds fastest son
Rio 2016
15/08/2016
A dramatic tumble almost cost him his dreams of a third Olympics gold
in the 10km event claimed a teary-eyed Team GB field athlete Mo Farah

as he clutched his hard earned gold medal with utmost pride. Knappily looks at the rise to stardom of a man almost synonymous with the
10,000m track and one of Britains greatest runners Mo Farah.
WHAT
What unravelled on Day 8?
Brazil fired 2 unanswered goals, including a stunning free kick from
Neymar, past Colombia to book their place in the last 4 of the mens
football event.
Denmarks Pernille Blume (womens 50m freestyle swimming), New
Zealands Mahe Drysdale (mens singles sculls rowing), Australias
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Kim Brennan (womens singles

sculls rowing), Germanys
Christoph
Harting
(mens
discus throw) and Puerto Ricos
Monica Puig were amongst the
athletes who bagged gold.
Of these, Monica Puig was the
most celebrated story, having
won Puerto Ricos first ever
gold medal in the countrys
Olympics history.
The headlines were, however, turned to the track event later on
day 8, when Britains legendary runner Mo Farah ran his way to
defending his 10,000m gold, winning his third of all time.
He became the only British field and track athlete to win three gold
medals, and is part of a rare group of individuals who have won gold
in consecutive Olympics.
WHY
Why was the story so ground-breaking?
Farah started the race in
good form, gaining an early
advantage in the 25-lap event.
He was comfortably ahead of
the crowd by the 10th lap, and
even gave his family in the
crowd a wave.
Almost
immediately
after
this, while changing tracks
during his run, he collided with
American runner Galen Rupp,
lost his balance and collapsed onto the ground. Soon after this, he
was also trudged upon by another runner.
Farah immediately dusted himself off, gave a dramatic roll, got back
on his feet, and began the herculean task of regaining his lead. He
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was helped in this endeavour by Rupp, who ensured Farahs safety

at the cost of his own race.
As the story was bound to go, Farah raced away to the finish line, this
time a lot more cagily than he would care to experience, engaged in
a last-gasp sprint against Kenyas Paul Tanui.
The camera flashes clicked away and the world bore witness to
Farahs famous grin and his celebratory Mobot pose, as the British
athlete had scripted an almost movie-like story.
WHEN
When did Farah rise to stardom?
Years before this larger-than-life story,
a young Somalian native named Farah
expressed his desire to become a runner
at the age of 13, when he entered and
finished ninth in an English schools contest,
before winning it the following year.
Farah, aged 18, won his first major
event, 5k at the European Athletics
Juniors, and 4 years later moved in with
Kenyan runners including Micah Kogo
and Australian Craig Mottram.
He was constantly inspired to do his best being surrounded by
the worlds top runners, and his ambition was always to be in that
bracket. In 2006, at age 23, Farah clocked 139.4 at the 5k to
become Britains second fastest runner, and two years later claimed
UKs fastest ever mens time at a 10k.
In 2009, Farah broke a British record twice the second being his
own previous record at Glasgow and Birmingham. In 2010, he
beat world 10k record holder, friend and mentor Kogo at the 2010
London 10,000.
He won 2 golds at the 2012 London Olympics, after which he was
appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
He aims to be the only athlete after Lasse Viren to defend both the
5k and the 10k golds, when he runs the former event in a few days
time at Rio 2016.
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WHERE
Where does his ability come from?
Coached by Alberto Salazar, Farah has in his trainer one of the
strongest tactical minds in the field events world. Having also led
Galen Rupp to several tournaments successfully, Salazar has been
an influential figure in Farahs
success.
Farah attributes a lot of his
success to his competitors,
friends and fellow runners
who have been part of his life,
like Kogo and Mottram. They
sleep, eat, train and rest, thats
all they do but as an athlete
you have to do all those things.
Running with Craig made me
feel more positive, Farah
said.
Apart from his mental and psychological inspiration, Farah puts
himself on a tactical ledge, giving himself a physical advantage with
the way he runs.
Described as bouncy, Farahs style of running is a very energetic
one that requires special emphasis on the thighs and calves, more
so than a regular runner.
He now looks to trade in this high-energy running pattern for a more
efficient stride that allows him to save more energy for a last-minute
sprint if needed.
WHO
Who is Farah off the track?
Farah, born in Mogadishu, Somalia, moved to England at the age
of 8 when he barely spoke a word of English, to join his father who
was a British citizen.
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A father of four and a husband

to his long-time girlfriend Tania
Nell, Farah sources a lot of
his inspiration from his twin
daughters Aisha and Amani,
whom he once dedicated a
double gold to.
He is what can be called fairly
active on social media, with
half a million followers on
Facebook and twice as many
on Twitter.
A devout Muslim, Mohamed Jama Mo Farah proclaims to read dua
before stepping out onto the track. The Quransays that you must
work hard in whatever you do, so I work hard in training and thats
got a lot to do with being successful, he says.
Farah is an ardent fan of Arsenal FC, and he stated his interest in
becoming a fitness coach for the Gunners after retirement.
HOW
How does Farah view the sport?
When I fell I was just thinking try
and get back as fast as I can;
I had promised my daughter a
medal, and I wasnt going to let
her down. on his tumble at the
10k on Saturday
Obviously I believe in clean sport
and weve got to do what we can,
but at the same time you can
only control yourself. on allegations of involvement with coaches
accused of substance abuse.
Dont dream of winning it; train for it. on ambition and hard work.
What you put into it is what you get out of it. on results
I fast as soon as I have finished my season on fasting for Ramzan.
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REFERENCES
He gets knocked down ... but Mo Farah gets back up again to win
10,000m gold
Mo Farah warns Olympic rivals hes in prime condition
What does Mo Farah do to stay on top
09/08/2016
When Majlinda Kelmendi sank to her knees in tears, it was redemption
not just for the judo star who was forced to compete for another country
last Olympics, but also for the 1.8 million people of Kosovo, which is
participating in its first Olympics. Eight years after it declared independence from Serbia, Kosovo shed tears of joy to see its flag raised on the
biggest sporting stage.
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WHAT
What has Kelmendi achieved for her country?
Majlinda
Kelmendi
made
history at the Rio Games on
7th August as she took gold in
judo to become the first athlete
from Kosovo to win an Olympic
medal.
Kelmendi, 25, overpowered
Italys Odette Giuffrida with a
yuko to claim victory.
There is no money in the
world, no millions in the world
which can make me feel how I feel today, she said.
Rio marks the first Olympics at which athletes are competing under
the flag of Kosovo, which proclaimed independence from Serbia
in 2008. It was accepted as a member of International Olympic
Committee in 2014.
I have lived four years for this day, for this moment, and I felt so happy
there at the podium when I saw my flag and when I heard my anthem,
said an exhilarated Kelmendi.
WHY
Why is this win special for Kelmendi?
When Majlinda Kelmendi sank to her knees in tears at the Olympics
as she won gold, it was not just the typical reaction of an Olympic gold
medalist overwhelmed by the achievement. It was also a defining moment
for Kosovos 1.8 million people.
Eight years after its unilateral declaration of independence from
Serbia, Kosovo has its first Olympic champion and its flag has been
raised on the biggest sporting stage.
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To pursue their careers before,

many athletes from Kosovo
had to leave their hometowns
to participate under another
countrys flag.
Kelmendi is no rookie in
Judo. She is a two-time world
champion, who competed in
the 52kg category, representing
Albania at the London Games
in 2012 but went home without a medal that time.
But this year, Kelmendi refused many offers to compete for other
countries because she had always wanted to represent Kosovo.
She proudly carried the Kosovo flag at the opening ceremony.
I have always wanted to show the world that Kosovo is not just a country
that has gone through war, Kelmendi said, with her nations flag draped
around her shoulders.
It must be noted that Serbia has directed all its Olympians to never be on
the same podium as a Kosovo athlete. It is highly unlikely however that
Serbia and Kosovo would share the same podium or play against each
other because of the nature of their participation.
WHEN
When did Kosovo declare independence?
Kosovo declared independence
from Serbia on 17 February, 2008
as the Republic of Kosovo. The
legality of the declaration has been
disputed.
Serbia sought international
validation and support for its
stance that the declaration was
illegal, and in October 2008
requested an advisory opinion
from the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
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The Court determined that the declaration did not violate international
law.
However, it has not been seated at the United Nations (UN), as it is
generally believed that any application for UN membership would be
vetoed by Russia.
As of 8 July 2016, 109 UN states recognize the independence of
Kosovo and it has become a member country of the IMF and World
Bank as the Republic of Kosovo.
Its independence remains unrecognised by more than 80 UN
member states, including China, India, Russia and, the host nation
of this years Olympics, Brazil.
The UN Security Council remains divided on the question. Of the
five members with veto power, USA, UK, and France recognised the
declaration of independence, and the Peoples Republic of China
has expressed concern, while Russia considers it illegal.
As a result of the ICJ decision, a joint Serbia-EU resolution was passed
in the United Nations General Assembly which called for an EU-facilitated
dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia to promote cooperation, achieve
progress on the path to the European Union and improve the lives of the
people. The dialogue resulted in the 2013 Brussels deal between Serbia
and Kosovo which abolished all of the Republic of Serbias institutions in
Kosovo.
WHERE
Where are the roots of the Serbia-Kosovo conflict?
Kosovo was the last of the former
Yugoslavian groups to declare its
independence.
Even as part of Yugoslavia, Kosovo
received special treatment within
the Yugoslav government. It was
being treated as an autonomous
province, but still a part of Serbia.
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While under the rule of Josip Tito, the ruler of Yugoslavia for much
of the Cold War, this was not a major issue. Tito worked to give the
Kosovars special privileges, such as the fact that they essentially
governed themselves.
However, with the rise of Slobodan Miloevi, a Serbian nationalist,
as the leader of Yugoslavia, other Federal Republics began to
declare their independence, such as Croatia and Bosnia. As part of
his efforts to present a strong Serbia, Miloevi began to limit the
rights of Kosovars, especially with regards to self-government.
In 1989, Milosevic engineered changes in the Serbian constitution
that vastly reduced the provincial autonomy Kosovo had enjoyed
since 1974.
Other measures put tens of thousands of Kosovar Albanians out
of work and restricted the activities of their cultural organizations.
Rioting and protests by Kosovo Albanians ensued.
Over the next few years, resistance was put up by Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA), which led to the Kosovo War in 1998-99. In 2008, Kosovo
declared independence but has not been recognized by Serbia.
WHO
Who are the other sporting federations to recognize Kosovo?
Kosovo has been accepted as
member of world governing body
FIFA (Fdration Internationale
de Football Association) and
European governing body UEFA
(Union of European Football
Associations).
Within three months of
Kosovos
secession
from
Serbia, the Football Federation
of Kosovo applied for membership of FIFA. That application was
initially rejected, on the grounds that the region did not fulfil FIFAs
criteria of being an independent state recognised by the international
community.
Rio 2016
Gradually, however, the federation has gained more ground. In 2012,

it was allowed to organise friendly matches against FIFA members, a
permission which was revoked after strong protests from Serbia, but
reinstated in 2014 on the condition that Kosovos playing kit could
not contain national symbols and a Kosovar national anthem could
not be played.
In order to be in FIFA, it must first be in UEFA. Early this year, UEFA
finally rubber-stamped Kosovos full membership in the European
football family. This paved the way for FIFA membership for Kosovo.
These opportunities to take part in global competitions are a tool by which
the territory could gain wider legitimacy.
HOW
How inclusive is Rio Olympics?
The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious
development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society
concerned with the preservation of human dignity, reads one of the
fundamental principles of Olympism, also known as the philosophy of
the Olympic games. Time and again, the Olympic Games have served to
reflect and even amplify this spirit.
It has allowed people to represent their countries even if they werent
officially recognized by their neighbors or members of the United Nations.
For instance, this year Kosovo, still officially part of Serbia, makes
its Olympic debut with eight athletes after the IOC recognized its bid
for independent status.
Chinese Taipei, a nation more traditionally known as Taiwan, will
participate in Rio with 59 athletes under a cloud of controversy.
Palestine, which has been a member of the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) since 1995, is bringing six athletes to Brazil.
The Olympics also lets athletes participate despite the mistakes of their
home country.
In Rio, for instance, swimmer Faye Sultan, a native of Kuwait, will
participate as an independent athlete after her country was banned
by the IOC.
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But this summer, one groups

participation will doubtless
outshine even Kosovos historic
inclusion. The first ever refugee
team is participating at the
games in Rio, representing not
a country, but the 65 million
people displaced (internally, or
outside their country) by war
and persecution.
The ten athletes represent
Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC).
Despite overcoming unimaginable hardships on their way to Rio, all
of the athletes share an ardent desire that their refugee status not
define them.
We still are humans, said Yusra Mardini, 18, a heroic swimmer
from Syria who last year helped drag a sinking boat full of fellow
refugees to safety. We are not only refugees, we are like everyone
in the world. Yusra won the hearts of everyone by winning her Heat
(qualifier) in the Butterfly event. She did not qualify for the final, but
has since become a social media celebrity, with many saluting her
courage and triumph at passing the first stage of the competition.
Like everyone else competing in Rio, these are strong, high achieving
individuals who wont let anything stop them not violence, not a lack of
means, not even war.
REFERENCES
Judo: Kelmendi makes history with gold for Kosovo
Fifa: Kosovo and Gibraltar become members of world governing
body
The Rio Olympics finally represents the whole world, including
millions with no country
Kosovo Declaration of Independence
Ethiopian runner wins over the

audience by refusing to give up.
Rio 2016
Be the change you want to see in

the world.
18/08/2016
She wasnt even supposed to be in Rio. For years, with all her promise,
she played number two to Indias most famous female wrestler Geeta
Phogat. When she got one chance this May, she grabbed it with both
hands to qualify for the Olympics. Today, Sakshi Malik, known for her
aggressive style of wrestling, fought five bouts to win Indias first medal
a bronze - at Rio 2016.
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WHAT
What unraveled during the momentous day?
Sakshi defeated Swedens Malin Johanna Mattson 5-4 in the
Womens Freestyle 58 kg qualification match. She fought back from
0-4 down to a 5-4 win.
Malik then defeated Mariana Cherdivara Esanu of Republic of
Moldova and advanced into the quarters.
She then lost 9-2 to Valeria Koblova of Russia in the quarter-final.
Malik led for some time, and stayed true to her attacking style of
play. However, the Russian made a firm move around Maliks neck,
using two legs.
But repechage was still a possibility.
Rio 2016
What if you were unlucky

enough to get to wrestle with the
top wrestler in the early rounds?
The repechage system deals
with this scenario by providing
every wrestler who has been
defeated by the two eventual
finalists during the knockouts,
a chance to participate in the
repechage rounds with two
bronze medals, one for each finalists best rival up for grabs.
And repechage happened for Sakshi Malik.
Sakshi looked in total control and at her attacking best as she
thrashed Mongolias Orkhon Purevdorj by 12-3 in the first her first
bout of Repechage. The next bout, if won, would give her the bronze
and India its first medal.
Sakshi Malik became Indias first decorated Olympian at Rio after
coming from behind in the Bronze medal match against Aisuluu
Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan.
WHY
Why is Sakshis achievement extraordinary?
The context: India was going without a medal in this Olympics. The
stars who were supposed to win medals falling short of their potential.
Vinesh Phogat, Indias biggest medal hope in womens wrestling
was in prime form, but she got injured and exited the competition.
Sakshi had to fight five bouts during the day to get on the podium.
The match was going away: In the Bronze medal match, Sakshi was
trailing 5-0 and the Kyrgyz wrestler seemed to be in control and heading
for a win. It seemed like India would again have to contend with a fourth
position. In her qualifying round, Sakshi had come back from 0-4 to win it
5-4. Could she do the same in her final match?
She did it: At the end of a grueling day, she should have been
exhausted. With the match slipping away from her, she should
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have become desperate. But

this tenacious wrestler from
Haryana summoned an extra
reserve of strength from deep
within her. How she did it will
take time to understand but
she put up one last stand.
From then on, Sakshi attacked.
She made it 4-5. Then 5-5.
And then, right in the closing
seconds, she made it 8-5 to
win it. She had taken 8 consecutive points to make a remarkable
comeback. Kyrgyz wrestler protested against the points, and there
were a few tense moments as the judges had a relook at the moves.
The result remained unchanged. Her coach lifted her and carried
her around.
She had become only the fourth woman sportsperson from India to win
an Olympic medal after weightlifter Karnam Malleshwari (2000, Sydney),
boxer MC Mary Kom (2012, London) and badminton ace Saina Nehwal
(2012, London).
But most importantly, she became the first Indian Olympian in Rio to win
a medal. It almost seemed that she had single-handedly taken up the
responsibility to end the wait.
She got the national flag, wrapped herself in it, kneeled down and sank
her head into the very floor she had just conquered.
WHEN
When had Sakshi qualified for Rio 2016?
Sakshi competes in the 58kg freestyle category which has been
dominated in India by Geeta Phogat, the illustrious wrestler from the
first family of Indian women wrestling.
Though Sakshi was winning consistently, she was known as the
wrestler who was second best to Geeta, who, in 2012, became the
countrys first woman wrestler to win a world championship medal
Rio 2016
and qualify for the London

Olympics.
In December 2015, Sakshi
defeated Geeta in the Pro
Wrestling League and then at
the national trials in April 2016,
she dominated Geeta 8-1 to
be part of the Asian Olympic
qualifier team for Astana.
Geeta was still to be sent for the qualifier; however, for reasons not
clear, she chose to not turn up for a bronze medal match in another
Olympic qualifying tournament. For this indiscipline she was
replaced by Sakshi. Joining the team as a last-minute replacement,
Sakshi this was one chance Sakshi could not have missed.
Sakshi put up an impressive show to clinch the silver medal, secure
a quota for India for the Rio Games, along the way beating the 2012
world champion Lan Zhang of China.
Prior to this, Sakshi had won a silver medal at the Commonwealth
Games in Glasgow (2014) and Bronze medal in the Asian
Championships (2015).
WHERE
Where does Sakshi come from?
Sakshi comes from Mokha
village near Rohtak, Haryana
and started the sport at Chotu
Ram
Stadium
Wrestling
Academy, Rohtak.
She started wrestling in 2004
when she was 12. Since there
were not enough girls to train
with, certainly not the ones of
her caliber and motivation, she
used to train with the boys.
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Sakshis coach Ishwar Dahiya says that there was some opposition
to girls and boys training together initially, but that went away as
Sakshi started winning medals. There was some opposition here
at Rohtak but the players supported that and all the girls would train
along with boys.
After her win, the coach was elated. Whenever Sakshi would win, the
boys here would also bring sweets for Sakshi and we all celebrated
this. On Thursday morning also, we will celebrate it and all the boys
and girls wrestlers will be elated, shared the coach.
WHO
Who is she inspired by?
Sakshi had been inspired
by Sunil Kumar and
Yogeshwar Dutt. Ever
since Sushil and Yogeshwar
bagged medals in 2008
Beijing Olympics and 2012
London Olympics - India has
built a reputation of being a
wrestling power. Everyone
takes us seriously now.
She is especially fond of
Sushil. Sushil Kumar is
a champion wrestler and he is my idol. He is a very humble
person and boosts my confidence always. While Sushil could
not qualify for Rio Olympics, he should take heart from the fact
that he has done the best he could to inspire Indias next set
of champions.
Who does she do this for?

Sakshi is never able to describe what she feels when she wins in a
tournament away from India and Indias national anthem is played.
Recollecting her feelings when she first won an international tournament,
she says, Words are not enough to describe how I felt standing on the
Rio 2016
podium. I literally got goosebumps after hearing the national anthem. I will
never forget that day.
In an interview to Sportskeeda, earlier this year, she had told Singing the
national anthem in a stadium outside India is the proudest feeling one can
ever have. Be it personal goals, milestones, achievements, everything
else takes a back seat.
There is nothing like winning a medal there for your country.
And here she is, winning a medal for India at the highest of all stages,
when India needed it the most.
HOW
How is Sakshis win even more special?
Sakshi and the other two female wrestlers in Indias Rio team, Vinesh and
Babita (cousins), hail from Haryana, a conservative state when it comes
to letting women venture outside household chores.
Sakshi recalls how boys would remind her that she should not be
taking up wrestling. It hurt a little and I wondered why people said
such mean things, especially when I was so young, and made me
doubt myself, she had said in an interview before arriving in Rio.
The state had a culture for wrestling, but womens participation was
limited and remained uncelebrated till Geeta Phogat, Babitas elder sister,
won gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and became the first Indian
woman wrestler to qualify for an Olympics two years later.
The Phogat females Geeta, Babita and Vinesh - credit their
success to their ex-wrestler father and uncle, Mahavir Singh Phogat,
who was determined to make them tougher than any of their male
counterparts. Even Mahavir had to face taunts. It wasnt easy given
Haryanas culture. Villagers shamed me and disowned me. Even my
own parents criticised me every day, he once said.
A Bollywood movie based on their story, featuring Amir Khan, is in
production.
Sakshi, who trained under a different coach, became a local celebrity only
after winning silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Its so weird to
see how people can change so suddenly, how they take interest in me
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now that Im rising to the top,

yet didnt support me when I
was starting out, she said in
an interview after qualifying for
Rio 2016.
There is one benefit that both
the Phogats and Sakshi
had. It was the benefit of their
parents support to pursue their
dreams.
It could have been anyone
winning the first medal for India. But it is better that Sakshi has won it.
Now, with her win, India will go crazy on social media for a few days.
But when the news feeds have died down and the celebrations are over,
Sakshi would go back to Haryana to inspire the next set of Olympians.
REFERENCES
Sakshi Malik wins bronze
Sakshi chose wrestling over academics
Sindhu storms into Rio final, assured

of silver
19/08/2016
PV Sindhu advanced to the final of womens badminton in style as she
completely outplayed Japans Nozomi Okuhara, defeating her in straight

sets 21-19, 21-10. She is now assured of a silver medal, a feat no other
Indian woman has achieved in any edition of Olympics. She will face
Spains Carolina Marin in the final. Seven Indian badminton players arrived in Rio and Sindhu is the last shuttler standing.
Rio 2016
WHAT
What has Sindhus campaign in Rio been like?
Sindhu stormed into the final
defeating Japans Nozomi
Okuhara in straight sets 2119, 21-10 in a contest that was
largely one-sided.
She is now assured of a silver
medal and will face Spains
Carolina Marin for a shot at the
coveted Gold.
After Sakshi Maliks historic
wrestling bronze medal, Sindhu has made history by bagging a
silver in her maiden Olympic appearance.
Sindhu might be ranked 10th, but she has earned a reputation in
producing upsets. Not one to be overawed by the stature of her
opponents, she has thus far displayed a rich vein of form at Rio.
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Sindhu had the full measure of Tai Tzu in pre quarters. The Indian
made the Taiwanese, considered to be one of the most talented in
the circuit, look ordinary.
But she saved her best for Yihan, the 2012 world champion, silver
medallist at the London games and number two seed. In a tightlyfought contest that lasted for 54 minutes, Sindhu defeated Wang
22-20, 21-19.
WHY
Why was Sindhus win special for India?
Sindhu was still in her
teens when she saw
Saina Nehwal bag bronze
at the 2012 Games.
For Sindhu to surpass
the feat in her maiden
Olympics is a staggering
achievement.
On Tuesday, Sindhu
exacted revenge on
Yihan Wang who slayed
Saina in the semifinal 21-13 and 21-13 to advance to the final. In
doing so, Sindhu also denied China their customary medal.
She deserves credit for reigniting Indias medal hopes, which
appeared to be dwindling as the favourites were getting knockedout one after the other across all events for the first 11 days. A day
after her win over Wang, Sakshi Malik opened Indias account with
a bronze medal in womens wrestling.
On Thursday, Sindhu had to surpass Japans Nozomi Okuhara to
have a shot at the gold medal.
Okuhara is four places above Sindhu in the world rankings, and had
peaked right in time before the Olympics. She had a 3-1 win record
against Sindhu in head-to-head, all of which were three games
encounters. The history was in Okuharas favour, but the form was
with Sindhu.
Rio 2016
She has now given sports romantics back home a reason to

emotionally invest in the rest of the Games.
WHEN
When did Sindhu begin her tryst with destiny?
Her parents, Vijaya and P.V.
Ramana spotted talent in
Sindhu early on. It became
apparent to them that she was
meant for big things when she
started playing badminton
with the other children in her
neighbourhood when she was
8. It must be noted that both
her parents were volleyball
players of repute.
Her passion for badminton kept oozing out as she kept on playing.
Her father then took her to a local coaching centre in Secunderabad.
Early in her career, Sindhu has been under the tutelage of Mehboob
Ali, Dronacharya Award winner, S. M. Arif and the Sports Authority
of A.P coach, Goverdhan Reddy.
I took her to the Gopichand Academy, said Ramana in an interview
with the Mint. It was the happiest day of her life. She was so excited
about being at an academy.
When she was only 12, Sindhu was considered Indias best hope
for womens badminton. She was one of the success stories of
badminton at the sub-junior national level.
As an aspiring shuttler, Sindhu used to travel 56 kilometres every
morning to Pullela Gopichands academy to train four hours every
day. Her ability to weather long rallies (she has won most of the long
rallies in Rio) and fiery smashes are a testament to the hours of
effort she has spent working on her fitness.
In 2013, she became the first Indian woman to win a singles medal
at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships in
Guangzhou.
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WHERE
Where were the challenges?
Her physique is something the
Chinese would be wishing they
could clone. The lanky 510 girl
has a knack for drop shots,
rallies which she typically caps
off with precise smashes. On
Tuesday, she earned most of
the points at the net.
But her height is also a doubleedged sword as her rivals revel in making her bend.
Her height also made her work doubly hard on her footwork. She
had to constantly readjust her footwork as she outgrew the striding
pattern until she reached her maximum height at 20.
After the awkward growth phase, she found more consistency in her
movement and reach.
Sindhu had a special insole fitted into her shoes to support her flat
feet. Flat feet is a condition in which the arch of the foot is depressed
and the sole of the foot is almost completely in contact with the
ground. Having flat feet makes it difficult to run or walk because of
the stress placed on the ankles.
WHO
Who is behind Sindhus success?
Despite having worked with legendary coaches, the turning point in
Sindhus career arrived when she joined the Gopichand Badminton
Academy.
Pullela Gopichand was a failed engineer who was encouraged to
pursue sports. At the age of 27, he became the second Indian after
Prakash Padukone (in 1980), to win the All England title.
Rio 2016
Despite his recent fallout

with Saina Nehwal, who now
trains with U. Vimal Kumar at
the Padukone Academy, it is
universally acknowledged that
Gopichand can turn badminton
rookies into champions.
Gopi sirs academy turns down
at least 25 requests every day.
They all have only one thing in
mind turn my child into the next
Saina Nehwal.
His students can be seen scrambling for returns to Gopichands
volleys at 4:30 AM. Sindhu, P Kashyap and K Srikanth have all toiled
in this very session before senior players like Saina arrive.
They are all shielded from internet, social media, and even television
for the most part. The 4:30 AM routines also keeps them from
venturing out late at night.
In a profile of Sindhu in 2008, The Hindu wrote, Many such child prodigies
lose their way in India in the absence of proper facilities, coaching and
support from the family. But, Sindhu found a mentor at a young age,
Gopichand, and parents her father is an Arjuna awardee who were
willing to go to any extent to help her realise her dream.
HOW
How is Sindhu poised?
In her career so far, she has constantly veered from beating the best
one day to be knocked out in the very next round. But she has also
shown the penchant to raise the bar as the occasion gets bigger.
In a way, Sindhu was lucky to have been facing a far less imposing
Okuhara as the two-time world champion Carolina Marin from Spain
and the defending Olympic champion Li Xuerui from China battled it
out in the other semifinal.
She still has to overcome Carolina Marin the other finalist. But
Sindhu has beaten her in the past and she enters the final in
devastating some would say unstoppable form.
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The men are back
She has already become Indias

second womens badminton
player to win an Olympic medal
after Saina won bronze in the
London Games. In fact, no other
woman sportsperson from India
has gone beyond bronze in
Olympics. Sindhu is assured of
a silver.
She has approached the
Olympics with admirable mental strength and maturity. She has
been able to tailor her strategies according to the opponents. This
made her a favourite against Okuhara despite trailing head-to-head.
She has occasionally found it difficult to shake out the end-match
nerves. With victory in size, Sindhu has frozen multiple times giving
her opponents reprieves. This did not show up in the semi-final. If
she could keep her nerves under control, Sindhu could lay her hands
on the coveted gold medal.
REFERENCES
PV Sindhu enters the final
What keeps badminton icon Pullela Gopichands champions going?
PV Sindhu ready to stoop and conquer at Rio Games 2016
PV Sindhu One Win Away From Gold Medal
The men are back
11/08/2016
They dont run around the field celebrating their goals; they dont mourn
a loss in the final 3 seconds; they convert their corners; they fight till the
end and defend with their lives. They dont just want to qualify for the
quarters, they want to top their Pool and go the distance. And if you have
seen India mens hockey team in action in Rio, you know they can.
The men are back
Rio 2016
WHAT
What has been the performance of the team so far?
India Mens hockey team has
played three of the five pool
matches so far. They have won
two and lost one.
The first kill was tentative.
India took a lead of 2-0 against
Ireland but ended up with a 32 win and disappointing last
quarter play. Rupinder Pal
Singh converted two penalty
corners to prove why he may
be the best specialist in Rio city now. It was obvious that India were
more concerned about winning the match than about the margin of
win. This was Indias first win in the Olympics in 12 years. Though
Ireland may not be the best team in the Pool in fact it may very well
be the last it is capable of springing surprise wins. The Irish have
lost all three matches so far.
India lost the second game but won the hearts of its fans. They lost
2-1 against Germany, the defending Olympics champion. They held
on to 1-1 till the last 3 seconds. In fact, they outplayed Germany for
most of the match. Indias defence, except for the last fatal glitch,
was solid. This is one aspect on which the team and the coach have
worked relentlessly on. India have been notorious in conceding late
goals. This goal did not hurt their chances much, but it would have
triggered a fair deal of analysis which came handy in the next match.
India won against Argentina for the first time since 2009. Yet again,
in the final quarter India was stretched to the limit by a relentless
and ferocious opposition. Only this time, Indians defended bravely
and skillfully and sealed the game with a 2-1 win. The play was fast
and India could match the pace with Argentina. This is a different
kind of team, the one which does not get tired of running, hitting
and attacking (and defending). Indias captain and goalkeeper made
three brilliant saves to redeem his confidence from the lapse in the
last match.
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WHY
Why is India doing well?
The new format: In 2014,
the
International
Hockey
Federation (FIH) changed
the match format, reducing
from two 35-minute halves
to four 15-minute quarters,
with 2 minutes rest after each
period, and 15 at halftime. This
effectively means that stamina
would count for less in Rio. Indians, who generally were found to be
slower in the second half, tired from running and lacking in fitness,
would get more breaks to refresh and energize themselves. The
teams performance has improved since the change.
Quarterfinal format in Rio: Unlike in the previous editions, the top four
teams from each of the two Pools will qualify to play quarters in Rio.
Earlier, the top two would directly play the Semis. This effectively
means less pressure in the initial stages. That they shared the pool
with the relatively weaker teams from Ireland and Canada would
have soothed the nerves of Team India.
Hockey India League: Beginning in 2013, the league has helped
discover some of the brightest Indian hockey talent, who improved
their game by playing alongside some of the best players and
previous Olympic medalists.
The Coach: India experimented with foreign coaches that was
not the problem. The problem was that the coaches were changed
rapidly and frequently. Terry Walsh made way for Paul van Ass, and
finally, the fortunes of the team were placed in the hands of Hockey
Indias High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans. Oltmans has
often been criticized for being paranoid with defence. It is credit
to him that the team has finally started believing in his coaching
mantra of good attacks can win you games, but good defences win
you a tournament. Oltmans must also be credited with building a
The men are back
Rio 2016
real team that shares the glory and the gloom together. He takes
every tournament, one match at a time. Rio is no different. He is also
notorious for keeping the hopes of the fans low. No chest thumping
till the job is done.
WHEN
When will the knock-outs
start?
Teams are divided into two
groups (pools) of six nations,
playing every team in their
group once. Three points
are awarded for a victory,
one for a draw. The top four
teams per group qualify for
the quarter-finals. India are
placed in Group B alongside
Argentina, Canada, Germany, Ireland, and the defending champions
Netherlands.
The Pool matches will get over on August 12. After having played
Ireland on August 6, Germany on August 8 and Argentina on August
9, India will play Netherlands today before concluding the group
stage against Canada on August 12.
Rules for qualification for the quarters will follow these priorities:
1) Points 2) Goal difference 3) Goals scored and 4) Head-to-head
result.
As of now, India is ranked third in Pool B, which is topped by Germany
and the Netherlands is second while Argentina is fourth. Pool B is
topped by Belgium, followed by Spain and Australia. New Zealand
is fourth.
The only incentive for the pool topper is that it will play the fourth
ranked team in the other pool during the Quarters.
The quarter-finals will be conducted on 14th August, Semis on 16th
August and the final (and the Bronze play off) on 18th August.
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WHERE
Where does India need to improve?
The last quarter problem:
In spite of the format being
suitable, India still has gaps to
cover in the last quarter. In all
the previous three matches,
India has struggled in the last
15 minutes. Imagine the heartbreak a goal in the last few
seconds can cause if it were to
come in the elimination stage.
The last quarter is where India
has conceded most of its goals in the tournament.
The margins: In case two teams are tied on points, the pool rankings
will be decided on the basis of goal differences. India has won by
thin margins 3-2 against Ireland and 2-1 against Argentina. Though
India already has one foot in the quarter-final, it would not want to go
there placed third or fourth in Pool B. That would mean India facing
one of the top two teams from the other pool earlier than it would
want to.
WHO
Who is India playing today?
India face the Netherlands in a critical encounter in the group stage
of the mens hockey tournament at Rio 2016.
India will be through to the quarters even if it draws this match. But
India must try to win against the team which seems to have found its
dominating ways in Rio. If India can beat the Netherlands, it could
even go to the top of the pool, rewarding itself with an easier quarterfinal.
The Dutch, ranked number two in the world, drew their first match
against Argentina and then obliterated two teams, winning 5-0
against Ireland and routing Canada 7-0.
The men are back
Rio 2016
India faces its toughest test today

and it has the best help it could
have asked for.
India Coach Oltmans was in
charge of the first Dutch team
to win the mens hockey gold
in Atlanta 20 years ago. He
knows most of the tricks the
Dutch would use today, and yet,
he knows it will not be easy for
India to win today. Its a strong
team, and they have shown that by winning their last two matches
5-0 (against Ireland) and 7-0 (against Canada), so it is up to us to
find a strategy to get closer to them or maybe even beat them.
Indias goalkeeper PR Sreejesh will face a barrage of attacks and
he has to show the same skills and guts he showed in the match
against Argentina.
Rupinder Pal Singh will have to muster all his power (and power
he has displayed in his shots so far) and cunningness to convert
penalty corners for India. For Sardar Singh, this is the best match
to show why he is the best playmaker India has seen in a long time.
The Dutch have the services of the best hockey player in the world,
the FIH World Player of the Year and Dutch captain Robert Van Der
Horst.
HOW
How is Indias performance rekindling hopes of redemption?
The Dutch start as the favorites but India are no underdogs anymore. In
fact, this is a team hungry to devour the champions that have emerged in
the period it was hibernating. In fact, the nation has been starving for 36
years to see a team as hungry as this one.
Indian team was capable of magic till the 1980s.
The team has 8 Gold Medals in the Olympics, including six consecutive
medals from 1928 to 1956, an era in which they remained unbeaten
in the Olympics.
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Then came the fall and the

painful wait.
Since 1980, where the
team last won gold in a
depleted field, the team
had seen more lows than
highs.
After finishing a lowly
seventh in the games in
2000 and 2004, the team
fell to its lowest stand
point after they failed to
qualify for the Beijing Games and finished in 12th position at London.
And now the rise has begun. This is a classic turn-around story. But let us
not celebrate yet.
REFERENCES
India take on the Netherlands today
India face the tough Dutch test
10/08/2016
The International Paralympics Committee (IPC) came down hard on
the Russian government after the McLarens report confirmed state-perpetrated doping of Russian athletes. IPC disqualified all 267 Russia para-athletes from participating in the Rio Paralympics, a move contrasted
with the IOCs. Those chagrined by the medals over morals approach
contend with those who believe that the ban robs innocent athletes of
their opportunity and singles Russia out.
Rio 2016
WHAT
What has the IPC decided?
The International Paralympics Committee (IPC) has decided to ban
Russias participation in the Rio Paralympics 2016 following a detailed
investigation that uncovered a state-sponsored doping scandal.
None of the 267 Russian athletes will be allowed to participate in
any of the events that begin on 7 September.
Sir Philip Craven, IPC president, said that the decision to ban
Russia in this manner was a difficult one made all the more so as
in this instance it was the Russian government that let its paraathletes down. He however stood by the decision saying it reflected
IPCs staunch commitment to the well-being of sport. He scathingly
condemned the unscrupulous medals over morals approach taken
by the Russian government even at the cost of the health of their
athletes.
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The Russian Parliamentary

Committee is expected to
appeal against the ban to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
(CAS) and has three weeks to
do so.
If the ban is carried through,
it would be the first time an
entire country is barred from
the games, according to Wall
Street Journal.
Russias Paralympic team had
achieved the second highest medal count in London.
Russias response:
Dmitry Babich, political analyst for Russian broadcaster, Sputnik
International termed the ban as baseless and cruel and said that
Craven was being hypocritical in his justification that the ban was
a move against the Russian Paralympic Committee when the only
people affected were the Russian athletes. He was also unsatisfied
with the evidence.
Russias sports minister, Vitaly Mutko said the ban is beyond common
sense and that he did not understand what it was based on. He
promised full support for the Russian Paralympic Committee.
WHY
Why has Russia been banned?
IPC said it had decided to ban
Russia because the Russian
Paralympic Committee failed to
comply with and enforce the IPC
anti-doping code and the world
anti-doping code within their
national domain thereby failing
to fulfill a necessary and crucial
responsibility. This disqualified
them from being an IPC member.
Rio 2016
The charges made by the IPC were based on the findings of an

investigation by Canadian Law Professor Richard McLaren into
Russias alleged doping scandal. The report said that the Sports
Ministry was deeply involved in fabricating doping tests so as to
push the doped athletes into the Olympic and Paralympic events.
The report detailed that the ministry manipulated urine samples its
athletes had provided between 2011 and 2015 to achieve its purpose
and identified 27 samples relating to eight Para-sports.
The IPC is also said to have unearthed evidence of swapped samples
during the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympic Games held in Russia and
planned to reanalyze every Russian sample from Sochi.
Bustle reported that according to USA Today, the Paralympics
allowed for retesting of athletes before issuing a blanket ban but
Craven finally made the decision to go ahead.
Why is this decision being questioned?

Concerns have been raised for singling out Russia when participants
from other countries too might intentionally or unintentionally have
failed to comply with anti-doping laws.
An article published in Global Research points out that the timing of
publication of McLarens and other reports implicating Russia raises
the suspicion about the intent of the World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA) which hired McLaren. It further suggests that the way WADA
went about its plan of action points to the motive of expelling Russia
from the games.
A few of those who compared the decision with International Olympic
Committee (IOC)s which had not enforced a blanket ban and let
individual federations decide if Russian competitors were eligible
before a three-person IOC panel took the final call and cleared more
than 270 athletes did so to its disadvantage.
WHEN
When did this doping scandal begin?
In December 2014, German broadcaster ARD aired a documentary
that accused Russian athletes of indulging in doping practices
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regularly. WADA set

up
an
independent
commission to investigate
the allegations and the
International Association
of Athletics Federations
(IAAF)s treasurer and
marketing
consultant
resigned.
In August 2015, ARD
broadcast its second
documentary that made
new allegations against Russian and Kenyan athletes based on
leaked records of 12,000 blood tests that showed alarming levels of
doping.
In November 2015, the then President of IAAF, Lamine Diack was
arrested on charges of corruption. WADAs report called for Russias
track and field teams ban from all international competitions including
Rio Olympics and Rio Paralympics till the state-ordained doping was
thoroughly eliminated. The IAAF suspended the Russian athletics
team and WADA suspended Russias anti-doping organization
RUSADA.
In May 2016, Grigory Rodchenkov, former head of Moscows antidoping laboratory who was exiled, detailed a co-ordinated doping
racket involving the sports ministry, the FSB security service
and at least 15 Sochi medalists. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly
Mutko dismissed the account as absurd only to say after three
days that he was ashamed and sorry.
Following another ARD programme, the IAAF extended the ban on
the Russian athletics federation, but offered a chance for athletes
training outside it to compete as neutrals.
In July 2016, barely two weeks before the Rio Olympic Games the
McLaren report was released to WADA. McLaren said he would
release supplementary findings by the end of September, confirmed
WADAs research and concluded that state-sponsored doping indeed
happened before and after Sochi Olympics. WADA recommended
blanket ban of Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
Rio 2016
WHERE
Where have various reactions to IPCs decision come from?
Strong support, strong opposition
and mixed reactions came from
different groups and people who
voiced their thoughts.
WADA lauded the decision and
said it reflected a commitment
to preserve the integrity of sport
and US Anti-Doping agency
concurred.
The
British
Paralympic
Association hailed the decision
as a brave and progressive
stand. Richard Whitehead, British Paralympic gold medalist and
world champion, saw the move as a positive stand that he hoped
would be emulated by other sporting bodies.
The International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) expressed
disappointment at the decision and said that individual international
federations should be vested with the autonomy to back their clean
athletes. World Archery too expressed displeasure at the ban. It was
also unhappy that IPC hadnt clarified which sports were implicated
in McLarens report and is discussing the ban with other federations.
Twitter users expressed views that ranged from sympathetic to those
Paralympic athletes who had not cheated to dubious of the different
stands take by IOC and IPC to praise for the IPC.
Russias Paralympic Committee chief asserted that most of those
athletes who were to compete in the next months games were not
under the influence of doping and said that he was ready to provide
evidence that the Russian team had trained under a rigorous antidoping programme.
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, a former British wheelchair racer, a
parliamentarian and a television presenter analyzed several facets of the
situation. Snippets from her response are quoted below:
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I think the IPC has taken a really strong stance, where the IOC has
slightly passed the buck.
I dont think it will have the same political statement that it would if
the Olympic athletes were banned.
As much as you want to protect innocent athletes and over the years
there have been so many innocent athletes who have not had their
moment in the sun, won medals and had sponsorship and media
coverage they would have done because of cheating athletes.
The bit that is unfair is that everything is being pinpointed on Russia.
They are not the only country to have problems and not the only
group of athletes that are maybe competing in Rio at the Olympics
or Paralympics who might have banned substances in their blood.
WHO
Who are the elite para-athletes losing out?
Margarita Goncharova mainly
competes in the category T38
sprint events. She won two
bronze medals at Beijing 2008
and one silver and three golds
at London 2012.
Evgenii Shvetsov won three
golds in the T36 category at
London and silver in 2015.
Olesya Vladikina, a competition
swimmer who participates
mainly in SB8 events, won a gold medal at Beijing though she had
resumed training only five months before on recovering from an
injury and one gold and silver at London.
Valeriia Shabalina who participates in S14 swimming events won
three golds at the recent IPC Swimming Euros in Portugal and set
two world records there.
DaryaStukalova won a silver medal and three bronze medals in her
Olympic debut at London in the S12 and SM12 swimming events. She
Rio 2016
won five gold medals and a silver medal at the 2013 IPC Swimming
World Championships.
Also, the report only implicates a small percentage of Paralympians.
Those who have put in genuine effort end up at an unfair disadvantage.
HOW
How did the London Paralympics make an impact?
The London Paralympics was
marked as the most successful
Paralympic event that had ever
happened. Crowded stadiums
and uniformly packed stadiums
following an advance sale of more
than 2.4 million tickets provided
a sense of exuberance and
optimism. But did the enthusiastic
audience translate to a sensitized
environment for the disabled?
A survey one year later for the
BBC programme Newsround reported that more than half of eightto-twelve year olds were more inspired by the Paralympics than
Olympics and almost 70 percent said that their attitude towards
disabled people underwent a change post Paralympics. Also the
Parasport website that enables people to find disability sports clubs
witnessed 800 more clubs registering and a spike in traffic of 300
percent.
But disability groups and disabled viewers and Paralympians revealed
a disturbing facet. A 2013 poll by the charity Scope found that 81
percent of the disabled people had not found a positive attitude shift
in how their able counterparts viewed them and 84 percent said that
the tone adopted in debates on disabled people and benefits had,
according to them, led to a negative shift in public attitude.
Sophie Christiansen, triple gold medalist in London Paralympics,
opined that the way public perceived paralympians and they did
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other disabled people had created a huge gap between the two
perceptions. Also the focus on Paralympians sporting prowess
caused their disability to be relegated and that gave a glamorous
view that could capture peoples attention only during the Olympics.
She also pointed out how people wanted to watch more paralympians
in action but the media only covered popular sports. Thus the gap
between perceived awareness and reality also increased. She added
that paralympians speaking and coming out to create awareness on
their disabilities would go a long way in reducing the gap.
Baroness Grey-Thompson while acknowledging that there is a
greater expectation that Paralympians need to politicize their sport
and status said, Part of me thinks I would love to politicise a whole
pile of Paralympic athletes, educate them in the social model of
disability, but thats not what their job is. Their job is to be really good
at sport, nothing else.
In terms of more disabled people taking up sport, though they had
been inspired and longed to, a lot of ground hurdles like recruiting
staff in mainstream schools and training them to coach the disabled,
and skepticism about cost and time involved in making sports more
inclusive need to be overcome.
As Sport and Recreation Alliance Chairman Andy Reed said, We can get
excited about the explosion of interest the Paralympics caused, but for
many the effect has yet to filter through.
REFERENCES
Rio Paralympics 2016: Russian athletes banned after doping scandal
Entire Russian Team Banned From Participating In Paralympic
Games
Russian Olympic Doping Scandal: McLaren Report Sexed up,
implicated Clean Athletes
Timeline of Russian doping scandal
Why Was Russia Banned From The Paralympics? Rio 2016 Will
Feature No Athletes From The Country
Paralympics legacy fails to shift attitudes to disabled people
Zika is no zoke
Rio 2016
Zika is no zoke
245
11/08/2016
Because of her sarcastic tweet on the Zika virus, Hope Solo, the goal-
keeper of the U.S. womens soccer team, was booed every time she
touched the ball against New Zealand. Though Rio Olympics is so far
unscathed by Zika, it is unfair to mock the athletes for being worried
about Zika, which can cause birth defects in babies born to infected
mothers. Knappily revisits the mysterious virus.
WHAT
What has the angry Brazilians resorted to?
After months of dire predictions from abroad about the mosquitoborne Zika virus, some Brazilian fans are doing some stinging of
their own: Theyre booing U.S. athletes and taunting them over the
fears that kept some competitors at home.
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Zika is no zoke
From the beach volleyball

arena to the soccer stadium,
noisy Brazilian fans are having
fun with what had been one of
the biggest concerns heading
into South Americas first
Olympics.
The mockery began during the
first game by the U.S. womens
soccer team, when veteran
goalkeeper Hope Solo was
greeted by chants of Zika!
Zika! every time she touched
the ball. The jeers were heard
again Saturday during a 1-0 U.S. victory over France.
Solo, who angered Brazilians before coming to the Olympics by
tweeting a photo of herself wearing a hat with mosquito netting and
sporting a giant bottle of bug repellent, has become the favourite
target, though she is not the only one to be targeted.
Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Sweat got rousing jeers of Zika from
fans in bright green and yellow Brazilian jerseys every time they
served against Poland in Beach Volleyball.
Brazilian fans generally celebrate sports and sportspersons, but
when they are disappointed and want to make fun of someone,
they are relentless. However, not every American is getting booed.
On Sunday, crowds cheered loudly for gymnast Simone Biles. Or
perhaps they are aware that Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast of
our time, would not get distracted by either the mosquito or taunts on
mosquito. She has not won 13 consecutive international tournaments
by getting distracted.
WHY
Why do the fans feel justified in mocking those who feared
Zika?
With as many as one million people expected to attend the Olympics,
half of them foreigners, Rio de Janeiro has not turned out to be the Zika
Zika is no zoke
Rio 2016
factory some athletes

and visitors feared as the
virus wreaked havoc in
Brazil earlier this year.
Zika fears prompted
dozens
of
athletes,
including golfer Rory
McIlroy and basketball
player Stephen Curry,
to pull out of the Rio
Olympics.
The fears persisted despite assurances that the danger of being
infected had been greatly reduced because the Olympics were
taking place during Brazils winter. Despite some hot days,
swings back to cooler temperatures in Brazils winter mean that
the population of the mosquito responsible for spreading the virus
has dwindled.
The South Korean Olympic squad unveiled uniforms that cover them
from neck to toe. The Australian athletes were provided with Zikafree condoms.
Tourists in Rio have been bombarded with free bottles and cans
of mosquito repellent, courtesy of SC Johnsons OFF! Brand, an
official sponsor at the games.
And Rio itself never endured an epidemic as grave as many scientists
had feared early this year. Even with thousands of reported cases
of Zika during hot months, Rio was not hit as hard by the virus as
Brazils northeast, for reasons that scientists and the government do
not yet understand.
But the subject has died down among athletes. Ive not even heard
anybody talk about it, said Helen Glover, a British rower who was a
2012 gold medallist, noting the low-level of concern.
Im really not concerned, said Dutch beach volleyball player
Alexander Brouwar after a match in the towering metal arena set up
for the sport on Rios famed Copacabana beach. I havent seen one
mosquito, he added.
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Zika is no zoke
WHEN
When did the Zika epidemic start?
The outbreak began in
early 2015 in Brazil, then
spread to other parts of
South and North America;
it is now also affecting
several islands in the
Pacific.
In January 2016, the
World Health Organization
(WHO) said the virus was
likely to spread throughout
most of the Americas by the end of the year.
In February 2016, WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health
Emergency of International Concern as evidence grew that Zika can
cause birth defects as well as neurological problems.
Prior to this outbreak, Zika was considered a mild infection, as
most Zika virus infections are asymptomatic, making it difficult to
determine precise estimates of the number of cases.
The virus is spread mainly by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is
commonly found throughout the tropical and subtropical Americas. It
can also be spread by the Aedes albopictus (Asian tiger) mosquito,
which is distributed as far north as the Great Lakes region in North
America.
The Zika virus was first isolated in 1947, in a rhesus monkey
in a forest near Entebbe, Uganda. Although serologic evidence
indicated additional human exposure during subsequent decades
in parts of Africa and Asia, before the 2007 Yap Islands Zika virus
outbreak, only 14 cases of human Zika virus disease had been
documented.
Researchers generally believe the virus was brought to Brazil by
an infected traveller who had been exposed to the virus in French
Polynesia, who was then bitten by a mosquito that then infected
others.
Zika is no zoke
Rio 2016
WHERE
Where are the Brazilian fans wrong in mocking the American
athletes?
The
ongoing
Zika
outbreak
was
first
detected last year in
Brazil, where it has been
linked to more than 1,700
cases of microcephaly
a birth defect marked
by small head size
in babies of infected
mothers.
The virus is still spreading globally and has affected at least
54 countries, according to the World Health Organization. That
includes the United States, where authorities on Monday said they
were investigating a new case of local transmission in Florida.
Any sustained increase in temperature, though not expected until
the local summer approaches later this year, could cause a rebound
in mosquito populations. And those who get the virus normally do so
within days of being bitten by a mosquito infected with Zika.
But with very few cases of Zika reported in Rio in recent weeks, the
mosquitoes themselves, if they appear, have few sources of even
picking it up. Aedes aegypti, the mosquito primarily responsible for
spreading Zika, transmits it by biting an infected person and then
moving on to another.
Compared with January, when more than 7,700 cases of Zika were
reported in Rio, only about 140 cases were reported during the
month of July, according to municipal figures through July 28, the
latest available.
While everyone is hoping that Zika does not spread to the athletes, it
may be unfair to mock those who choose to take precautions against
the disease. Also, it is too soon to know if the Zika has struck Rio
Olympics. The disease is notorious for going undetected for days
after impact.
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Zika is no zoke
WHO
Who are developing the Zika vaccine?
About a year ago, before the
Zika virus grabbed global
attention, there were no
vaccines for it in development.
Today, according to the World
Health Organization, there are
30.
But a vaccine is likely still
several years off, and there are
indications the wait could be lengthened by a complication that has
little to do with the science of vaccine development: The worlds toptier pharmaceutical companies are largely hanging back, reluctant
to get into the race for a vaccine.
Of the vaccines under development, only two projects involve major
manufacturers, and in one of those cases a partnership between
GlaxoSmithKline and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases the approach planned is new, untested, and not likely
to race to market.
For now, vaccine development seems like a risky venture for
manufacturers that have recently taken part in a string of emerging
diseases combat, from SARS and Ebola to the West Nile virus and
the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Those efforts have required significant
investments on the part of major pharmaceutical companies, and
have yielded either modest or no financial return.
Uncertainty over US government funding for Zika is also making it
harder to entice the big companies to pursue a vaccine. Congress
recessed for the summer without approving emergency funds
requested by the Obama administration in late February. Government
agencies like the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the
NIH, and BARDA have been using money borrowed from Ebola
response coffers. But it is running out.
Experts feel demand for a Zika vaccine will remain strong because
of the fact the virus can trigger devastating birth defects when a
Zika is no zoke
Rio 2016
foetus is infected in the womb. But the sheer unpredictability of Zika

is another huge hurdle for vaccine development.
Nobody really knows right now if this is going to be an endemic
virus like is seen with dengue and yellow fever or if its going to
be an epidemic virus that spreads through a population and leaves
everyone immune like chikungunya.
GSK has what it hopes is a solution to the difficulty of creating
vaccines to respond to new disease threats. It is developing a type
of messenger RNA vaccine platform that harnesses the mechanics
of human cells, prompting them teach the immune system to see
Zika as a threat.
HOW
How is the situation in the United States?
There were 16 cases
of mosquito-transmitted
Zika reported in the
mainland U.S. as of
August 5th, and health
officials have traced most
to a square-mile area
north of downtown Miami,
Florida.
The vast majority of
the 1,825 Zika cases in the U.S. have involved travellers to more
severely affected countries.
With the Florida outbreak, business executives are hoping the Zikacaused slowdown in other regions wont come to the U.S. as well.
Business and government leaders are hoping the Florida cases wont
morph into the kind of epidemic seen in South and Central America,
where thousands of infections have occurred, leaving hundreds of
babies with severe birth defects.
The threat of a wider epidemic looms over public health and
businesses. Hotel chain Marriott International Inc.s second-quarter
revenue per available room - a key measure of rates and occupancy
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The Bahrain drain
- dropped 2.6 per cent in the Caribbean and Latin America from a
year earlier.
Concerns about the viruss spread in Brazil have also hurt results
from Hyatt Hotels Corp. in Rio de Janeiro.
American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and United
Continental Holdings Inc. have all seen yields, the average fare per
mile, to and from Latin America drop to 2009 lows amid contraction
and Zika fears in the region.
REFERENCES
Stinging criticism: Brazilians taunt US athletes over Zika
201516 Zika virus epidemic
The Olympics Isnt The Zika Virus Nightmare Experts Thought It
Would Be
The race for a Zika vaccine is intense. But it may be missing the
most important players
Florida Shudders as Zika Spread Forces Miami Shops to Close
The Bahrain drain
19/08/2016
Kenyans make great long distance runners. Hundreds of foreign run-
ners train at Kenyas high-altitude camps in the hope that some of the
nations long distance-running magic will rub off on them, thinking, if
you cant beat them, join them. The tiny Gulf island of Bahrain has also
sought to replicate the Kenyan success story, but with a radically different strategy: If you cant beat them, naturalize them.
The Bahrain drain
Rio 2016
WHAT
What is Bahrain busy buying?
Countries like Bahrain and
Qatar have been spending
millions of dollars to buy
top African athletes and win
Olympic medals.
Bahrains recruitment efforts
imitated those of Qatar, which
had been importing athletes
for years mostly that special
breed of Kenyans from the Rift
Valley highlands.
A Kenyan-born track athlete, accused of being bought by Bahrain,
has now won Bahrain its first-ever gold medal.
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The Bahrain drain
Bahrain stands accused of naturalizing athletes for the express

purpose of having them represent the country. Bahrains 35-strong
2016 Olympic squad includes athletes from Bahrain, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Morocco, Russia and Nigeria.
The nation has won a total of three Olympic medals, all by athletes of
African origins. The first Bahraini Olympic medal was a 1,500-meter
bronze won by Ethiopian-born Maryam Jamal.
More than 30 Kenyan-born runners are competing for other nations
at Rio, according to Kenyas Standard newspaper, with most
representing Bahrain and Turkey.
In Kenya, such deals have at times proved controversial. Some
Kenyan athletes have called it exploitation, while others rue the
brawn drain from the East African nation.
WHY
Why are the African athletes switching their allegiance?
Switching nationalities is nothing
new in the world of athletics. Many
reasons are given for the switch in
allegiance.
One of them is the stiff
competition at home that has
seen many athletes opt to
find an opportunity elsewhere,
where they are also duly recognized and rewarded by their adopted
nations. The East African countries of Kenya and Ethiopia have
historically been very successful when it comes to long-distance
running at the Olympics. In modern times, Kenya has dominated
the 3,000m steeplechase event while Ethiopia has dominated the
5,000m and 10,000m running events.
How the sport is managed locally is another biggest cause of
endless exodus. Because of the clumsiness and endemic corruption
of federations like Athletics Kenya, as well as the difficulties Olympic
The Bahrain drain
Rio 2016
athletes (particularly female athletes) have getting paid, the athletes

are unquestionably better off for switching over.
For athletes who either cant make their home countrys Olympic
teams or who need the payday, moving to another team seems like
a no-brainer. They get paid and they get to compete in the Olympics.
The amount of individual bonuses a country pays is another reason
for athletes switching allegiance, with the oil-rich Middle East
countries being the greatest beneficiaries.
WHEN
When can we empathise with the athletes who quit their countries?
In many African countries, the
sports industry is beleaguered
by
poor
management,
inefficiency, corruption and
discrimination.
In Nigeria, for instance, athletes
have not only complained about
second-rate training facilities
but also expressed frustration
at lack of after-injury support. One high-profile example was Francis
Obikwelu after he got injured competing for his country Nigeria at
the Sydney Olympic in 2000. Neglected by the Nigerian athletics
body, Obikwelu switched nationalities in favor of Portugal. Coming
from an injury, he went on to win a silver medal for Portugal at the
2004 Athens Olympic, setting a European record of 9.86 seconds.
More recently, Nigerian athletes had been asked to find their own
private means to Rio, but the Athletics Federation of Nigeria later
backtracked after a social media backlash.
Nigerias Femi Seun Ogunode (the current holder of the Asian 100m
record) termed his move to Qatar as the best career decision he
ever made after facing frustration back home by acts of nepotism
and corruption in Nigerian athletics.
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The Bahrain drain
In Ethiopia, cases of discrimination along ethnic lines have surfaced

in the athletics administration. More recently, iconic athlete Haile
Gebrselassie the winner of two Olympic gold medals in 10,000
metres and four World Championship titles in the event - decried
the poor management of the countrys athletics federation in the
selection of a team that would represent the nation in Rio Olympics.
Some athletes have even dumped their born country to avoid
persecution by the government of the day on accusations of
spreading propaganda or conspiring against the state.
With Ethiopia continuing to see human rights abuses, many athletes,
especially from the Oromo ethnic group often report being arrested
and persecuted by officials on suspicion of supporting the Oromo
Liberation Front.
Kenya has recently been fighting off a string of corruption scandals
and allegations of attempting to subvert an anti-doping control
process. The IAAFs ethics commission would later suspend three
top officials in the interests of the integrity of the sport.
WHERE
Where are these athletes being sourced from?
The Bahraini team has 6
Ethiopian-born runners, 6
Kenyan-born
runners,
3
Nigerians, and no native
Bahrainis.
Qatar also bought themselves a
team of Bulgarian weightlifters
and their 2016 team features
runners from Egypt, Sudan,
Nigeria, and Morocco.
Financial difficulties faced by
talented African athletes are
turning into a blessing for Gulf states like Bahrain.
Oil-rich Bahrain has been luring poor but talented young runners
with offers of school and financial rewards if they switch national
allegiance from Kenya.
The Bahrain drain
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Unless African nations improve their financial incentives to their athletics

stars, Gulf nations will easily entice the talent from Africa. There are in
fact talent management companies set up in Kenya which identify and
transfer Kenyan talent to Bahrain.
WHO
Who have won medals for Bahrain in Rio?
Bahrain has a total of three
Olympic medals, all earned by East
African runners who switched their
nationalities to compete for Bahrain.
Their first Olympic medal, a bronze
in the womens 1500 meters run,
by the former Ethiopian Maryam
Yusuf Jamal came in the 2012
London Summer Olympics.
Teenager Ruth Jebet won Bahrains first ever Olympic gold medal, blowing
away the competition in the womens 3,000 metres steeplechase at Rio
Olympics. Jebet timed an Asian record of 8min 59.75sec, missing out on
the world record by less than a second.
After winning in Rio, Jebet was asked if she has had any regrets
about switching allegiances. No. Im happy, she said. Im Bahraini
and Im proud of it.
Kenyans were heartbroken to see one of their own doing what
Kenyans do best win in a one of the toughest events in Olympics
but carrying the flag of Bahrain thereafter.
Jebet is as Kenyan as one can get. She was born and brought up in
Kenya. She still lives and trains in the country, but runs for Bahrain.
It may not be difficult to the Kenyans to forgive their own daughter
for running under a different flag. Jebet will immediately receive
$500,000 from the King of Bahrain and other incentives will follow.
This means she can focus on her career in peace, her familys needs
being taken care of.
Kenya born Bahraini Eunice Kirwa clinched a silver medal for Bahrain in
the womens Olympic marathon.
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The Bahrain drain
The gold went to a Kenyan athlete who competed for Kenya. In fact,
this was the first time Kenya won gold in Womens marathon event.
It was a touching sight when the gold medallist Jemima Jelagat
Sumgong of Kenya (for Kenya), held hands afterward and ran to
acknowledge the crowd with the silver medallist, Eunice Jepkirui
Kirwa of Bahrain (but from Kenya).
HOW
How unethical is this practice of buying athletes?
Buying athletes is not illegal as of now but buying athletes like commodities is
humiliating for the countries, and some
would say, even for the athletes (though
most of them know what they are doing
trading the honor of wearing national
colors for a lifetime of economic security).
Legally, it cant be stopped because
this is a matter of sovereignty. If an
athlete can change nationality, there seems to be no reason why
she cannot compete under the new flag.
The current rules make it incredibly easy to buy Olympic athletes,
and theres nothing the International Olympics Committee (IOC) can
do to stop it unless they change the rules opening itself up to a
discussion of why an organization itself with a history pay for play
is suddenly so concerned about someone else also offering their
services to the highest bidder.
Paul Mutwii, senior vice chairman of Athletics Kenya (AK) federation,
said the scale of defections has slowed and the practice has become
more accepted in Kenya as it ultimately benefits the country. These
athletes are just Bahraini by name but for all practical purposes are
Kenyans. They live and train with us and win big bucks out there to
come and invest in Kenya, he said.
The athletes who switched their allegiance were being ignored and
humiliated in their native countries too. Stories abound on African athletes
being mistreated by their governments in Rio.
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259
It is indeed a tribute to the stamina and talent of these athletes that

countries like Bahrain with all the oil money cannot even imagine
producing a native champion who can defeat the East Africans. Bahrain
takes the easy way out offering the African athletes a way out of the
difficult circumstances.
REFERENCES
Bahraini overtures to Kenya-born runners attract medals, controversy
More African athletes will shine in Rio, but they wont all be doing so
for African countries
How some Middle East countries are buying Olympic medals
21/08/2016
Twins Anna and Lisa Hahner captured media attention when they held
hands while racing across the finishing line as the 81st and 82nd participants in the womens marathon event at Rio. Backlash from authorities and
support on social media for finishing the way they did polarized reactions to
what the twins called a spontaneous decision. Anja Scherl, the other German athlete, finished 44th but was overshadowed by the Hahners.
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WHAT
What did the Hahners do?
On Sunday, the womens
marathon
event
of
Rio
Olympics had 157 participants.
Only 133 of them could reach
the finishing line. Among them
were the Hahner twins Anna
and Lisa they finished in the
81st and 82nd place. They
crossed the line holding hands.
According to Anna, after 40
kilometers, she realized that
she could catch up with her sister and gave her entire best. She
arrived next to her sister 300 m from the finishing line and their
decision to finish in the style they did was a spontaneous one.
The twins have stood by their spontaneous decision saying that
self promotion and publicity are a big deal to them as their website
shows. They have said that they receive zero euros from the German
Athletics Association.
Authorities have spoken out strongly against the twins for losing the
way they did, while some observers have defended their action.
WHY
Why has this hand-holding triggered debate?
A casual poll by Germanys
Sport1 website reported that the
participants were split in judging the
hand-hold.
The twins fell way short of their
personal best performances (by
more than 15 minutes). Thomas
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Kurschilgen, director of the German Athletics Federation accused

them of putting media attention and publicity before performance.
He said, Victory and medals are not the only goal. Still, every athlete
in the Olympic competitions should be motivated to demonstrate his
or her best performance and aim for the best possible result. Their
main aim was to generate media attention. That is what we criticize.
Mary Wittenberg, former director of the New York City marathon and
spectator at the Rio Olympics had a different take. She pointed out
that Olympism in Olympics when athletes show their passion for
the sport or sportsmanship other than the routine tenacity as they
aim for medals is what appeals to the masses the most and the
Hahners exemplified the emotional facet of that.
Newspaper columnist Lars Wallrodt criticized the attitude of the
twins in treating the race as if it were a fun event. The twins were
also blamed for stealing the space of Anja Scherl, the other German
who finished 44th.
Social media supporters while cheering the spirit of losing pointed
out that given the twins had no chance of making a phenomenal
finish at that stage, to finish the marathon itself was a big deal and
they deserve to make the most of the moment by finishing in style.
WHEN
When did sportswomanship shine in Rio?
The event was a qualifying
heat of the womens 5,000
metres. The exemplars of
sportsmanship were Nikki
Hamblin, athlete from New
Zealand and Abbey DAgostino
from US.
Following a collision, both
athletes fell down. DAgostino
got up but Hamblin seemed to
have lost hope and remained
lying on the track. DAgostino,
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about 2,000 metres away from the finish line, reached out to physically
help her competitor to get up and motivated her to get back.
Hamblin returned the favor when she realized DAgostino had
difficulty with her ankle and offered encouragement. She moved
on to finish at 29th place and waited for DAgostino who finished
right after her. The new friends embraced at that instant and then
DAgostino was helped away in a wheelchair.
Said Hamblin of DAgostino, That girl is the Olympic spirit right there,
Ive never met her before. Like I never met this girl before. And isnt
that just so amazing. Such an amazing woman. Olympics officials
decided both ladies would be given slots in the final.
WHERE
Where are the critics wrong?
One supporter pointed out that
when it had been determined
that the Hahners had more
than half of the participant
athletes running ahead of
them, it only mattered that they
should finish. To do so as a
team and race across the line
together made the moment
even more memorable and
did not deserve reprimands.
Others noted the emotional
connect in that instantaneous decision and were touched by it.
Yet others pointed out that the twins had given their best and been
a source of inspiration by celebrating their finish of an event that
would leave one overwhelmingly drained in a cheerful manner.
Some hailed the fun-embracing spirit of the twins and their showstealing finish which showed that enjoying the event to the last
held its own place in peoples hearts.
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WHO
Who have inspired though they lost medals in Olympics?
Dipa Karmakar defied numerous
challenges and took on the lifethreatening Produnova feat that
propelled her into the finals,
became a beacon of inspiration
though she finished fourth.
Derek Redmond, in 1992, tore
his hamstring (a posterior thigh
muscle) but insisted on continuing
the 400m semifinal race. His
father came onto the track and
assisted a hobbling Redmond across the finishing line. Redmond
was disqualified for receiving outside aid but his determination left a
strong imprint in the hearts and minds of fans and others.
Eric Moussambani swam at the 2000 Olympics only months after
beginning to train and never having seen an Olympic-sized pool.
He had been allotted a place among those reserved for athletes
who were from developing countries and lacked adequate training
facilities. He lost very badly but his fighting spirit and focus earned
widespread appreciation.
Lawrence Lemieuxset sail in 1988 Olympics with victory in mind. He
disqualified himself on noticing that two competitor sailors were in
danger and helped them instead. He resumed the race after handing
the sailors to a rescue crew and came 21st out of 32.
Four men from Jamaica had never seen snow, and didnt even own
a sled but went onto form the bobsled team in 1988 Olympics. Their
sled crashed and they walked to the finishing line earning cheers
and admiration from fans across the world.
All the women and men who worked their way through the most
trying of challenges and made it so far.
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HOW
How does one criticism of the Hahner twins feel right?
The best that can be said for
the twins is they need not
be reprimanded and can be
appreciated for having finished
with a smile. Given their already
existing PR profile writing
a book, attending seminars,
website, runners club, social
media accounts, TV show
visits etc. this action of holding
hands is just another addition. That they finished on a grueling
day deserves to be acknowledged. But in addition to focusing the
entire spotlight on themselves, they could have, as pointed out by a
commenter on Facebook, congratulated Anja Scherl, the one other
competitor from Germany who bested them.
Anja who has been called an amateur athlete by the media runs for
a hobby, has a family and job and still achieves a performance that
exceeds the Hahners who are full-time athletes. She too was ten
minutes further from her personal best but finished 44th. Worse, she
was completely overshadowed by the twins and media who were
either focused on lionizing or condemning the twins.
As Best The News, which puts this perspective forward points out,
she finished eight minutes ahead of Anna and Lisa only to earn a
couple of lines in articles where most of the coverage was on the
twins.
Sabrina Mockenhaupt, a marathoner, who missed the Olympics
because of injury commented, Im sad that Anja Scherl completely
perished in this production. It makes you wonder whether honesty
and a fighting spirit in todays society is at all worthwhile. While,
many may disagree with Sabrina, the media and the Hahners
could have acknowledged Anjas performance in a more deserving
manner.
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265
REFERENCES
Rio Olympics 2016: German twins hand-hold divides nation
Twins Finish Marathon Hand in Hand, but Their Country Says They
Crossed a Line
Runners Help Each Other After Fall: Get Up. We Have to Finish
This.
The 25 Most Inspiring Olympic Moments of All Time
Olympic Runners And Family Ties: The twins should have
congratulated Anja Scherl
12/08/2016
Indian columnist Shobhaa De reacted to Indias failure to win medals by

deriding the athletes and calling Indias investment on them a waste of
resources. Several sportspersons among others challenged her statement
in a mature manner. Des tweet highlighted the attitude of Indians to sports
and sportspersons which is part of the root cause of the problems eroding
our sports system. Knappily investigates this bipolar mindset about
medals.
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WHAT
What is the debate triggered by Shobhaa De?
Medals or Mettle How should we
evaluate Indias standing in sports?
We need a comparative analysis
of how conducive our environment
is to identify the right attitudes
and aptitudes, bring in potential
sportspersons and sustain talent in
sports before we decide on which
side of the debate to take.
Justified expectation or bragging rights Did we expect too much from
our athletes without taking their circumstances into consideration?
When we occasionally witness an Indian sportsperson achieving
international acclaim, we are quick to erect a pedestal and place
them on it. Once that is done, we get back to routine. We remember
some of them from time to time but its only to excessively lionize
them without examining why it is an exception rather than a norm for
our athletes to excel at the international level.
Pride or prestige Those of us claiming to feel pride when we see
Indian athletes win a medal need to look at the Australian approach
to cultivating a culture of sport that strives to be inclusive. While we
cannot and need not adopt their zeal, it would help us acknowledge
the difference between pride and perceptions of pride. Those of
us admitting its a matter of prestige need to confront the barriers
that prevent our talent pool from earning medals and see if we are
equipping our athletes to achieve the purpose.
Educated or impulsive How, as a country, have we reacted to
Indias performance at the Olympics and Shobhaa Des theatrics on
Twitter.
WHY
Why we need to do more than slam Shobha De?
Her tweet has been liked and retweeted though it wasnt defended after
the backlash that came fast enough. Indian fans reactions after a victory
Rio 2016
or defeat in a cricket match is

proof enough to show that they
either idolize or trample. While
other games are not followed
as much as cricket, the extreme
polarities that arise from viewing
a sport only in terms of winning
and losing characterize the
Indian fans mindset.
The medias build-up of Indian
athletes before the Olympics did
create some awareness about non-cricket sports that Indians could
excel in. At the same time, it fuelled the craze for gold by portraying our
athletes as invincible. Predictions were frequently made and the potential
gold medalists were frequently popularized and avidly discussed. The
media does this because it knows that Indians are vulnerable.
Also, while we are awed by the challenges personal and professional
overcome by athletes to achieve excellence, we dont wonder loud
enough and frequent enough about how fundamental obstacles like
abysmal training facilities, lack or absence of infrastructure can be
addressed. We expect our athletes to perform heroic feats but are
indifferent to their environment that is anything but conducive.
We cannot pretend unawareness because to some extent it is
knowledge of how sportspersons are treated in India that causes
parents to actively scorn their childrens ambitions to make sports a
career. As Anirudh Krishna and Eric Haglund point out, Olympians
are drawn, not from the entire population of a country, but only from the
share that is effectively participating. And effectively participating
means a lot more than staying glued to the TV or tablet during highprofile events and expecting medals to rain upon Indians.
WHEN
When would more participants not translate into better performances?
One side of the debate has it that increased selection of Indian
athletes for Olympics from 56 for the 2008 Beijing Olympics to 83 for
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London to 118 for Rio and in

novel disciplines like swimming
and gymnastics is a reflection
of perseverance against all
odds by a higher number of
sportspersons and that in itself
is a positive indicator.
While the athletes must indeed
be applauded for their refusal
to acknowledge failure in the
toughest of times, another
facet of the debate also points out that the increased strength also
masks deep-rooted problems in Indias sports system.
Marketing mere participation as an unimaginable accomplishment
allows those who manage this system to get away with negligence
and indifference to the problems that that hamper our athletes
performance and thrive in malpractices that continue to wreak havoc
in the system.
When issues like disproportionately low investment in the best of
Indian athletes take a backseat, we cannot expect participation to
magically translate into expected performance.
So while we should definitely laud our athletes for struggling through
mire after mire to get to the qualification level, we cannot afford to turn
a blind eye on deep-seated maladies that are a severe deterrent to their
excellence.
WHERE
Where is the gap between beauty and brutality a hairs breadth?
Rios narrowest misses and hit
showed us.
Athletes grappled under the
most intense of pressure
following situations where one
arrow, a 0.1 score or three
seconds seal their opportunities
for the next four years or forever.
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Apart from contending with the personal trauma of shattered efforts

and dreams, they also In most situations face the wrath of media
and a disappointed public that either fails to understand or chooses
to remain indifferent to their situation and hastens to brand them
worthless.
To add fuel, everyone else seems to have an opinion on how the twist
could have happened the other way around and unleash their thoughts
through various outlets.
Abhinav Bindra who faced the brutal edge of the sport in his last
Olympics proved that qualities other than medal-winning enshrined
a great sportsperson. The elan with which he gave his best and then
detached himself from the past is an inspiration for sportspersons
and Indians as well.
Dipa Karmakar fought and won a near miss and vaulted her way into
the finals. Instead of pressurizing her to clinch a medal, we need
now to reflect on the beauty of that chance which made her struggle
worthwhile.
Jitu Rai, who never fails to thank Indian Army for the opportunities
given to him, finished 12th in the qualification round of the 50m
pistol. One of his shots had to be taken against strong wind and
he faltered. That one shot meant that Rai, who was one of Indias
biggest medal hopes, would not compete in the final. This fighter of
a shooter exited the shooting range with tears in his eyes. He said,
I have let my country down. He added, It feels like I have deceived
my nation. But what caused a man who tried his best for four years
and gave it all during the event to feel that he let his country down?
Compared to last Olympics the media and public are reported to have
displayed their maturity this time in celebrating Dipa and Bindra. This
should also extend to other athletes and occasions.
Where are the obstacles hindering our athletes?
It was a near-miss for Dipa Karmakar due to delayed funding.

This despite overcoming barriers of outdated equipment and
discrimination.
Luge athlete Shiva Keshavan is so far the best Indian Winter
Olympian. He has had to adopt the most dangerous of training
practices due to lack of funding from government and private bodies.
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He represented India five times in the Olympics but had no financial

backers and had to resort to crowd-funding his ticket for the Winter
Olympics 2018.
The above are samples of the all-pervading problems in non-cricket
sports for which we by our unhealthy attitude to sports are significantly
accountable.
Even the contention that the best of athletes are given only the best
of everything that makes them perform their best seems lame. It has
been reported that the Indian hockey contingent did not get their kits
on time and it was up to their coach to take it on himself to procure
their equipment on the eve of the match against Germany.
Indian athletes are said to have traveled economy-class unlike Indian
sports officials. The 23-hour journey is a severe drain on those who
need to stay at their fittest in order to perform. UK and Australia are
noted for leaving no stone unturned to ensure that their athletes are
equipped with the best of facilities.
WHO
Who criticized Des tweet in a mature yet firm manner?
Unlike responses that were sexist
or overtly personal, a few people
showed that one could challenge a
view without a hint of malice.
Abhinav Bindras response:
Thats a tad unfair. You should
be proud of your athletes
perusing human excellence
against the whole world.
This resonated widely and
reproached what De had said
in a mature tone.
Two-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist Jwala Guttas
response: Maybe things will change when the attitude of people
like urself change. This without being a personal attack on De
Rio 2016
highlighted that the problem lay with the general view on sport in
India.
Sachin Tendulkar highlighted that this was the time the nation should
unite to actively support its Olympians.
Shooter Heena Sidhu re-affirmed that she would pursue excellence in
her field beyond the Olympics and highlighted the need for collective
introspection of the failure.
HOW
How can the debate be resolved?
By stepping out of the bipolar
mindset about medals that
they mean everything or they
mean nothing. While medals
are going to be an essential
part of excellence in sports,
we need to first get the
infrastructure and planning
correct. Only then can we justly
expect stellar performances
from our athletes.
We need a model that imbibes the advantages of inclusivity and
efficiency in training and marketing, and has as its tenets a wellfounded plan and a disciplined and methodical training system. We
also need an independent body to solely attend to the needs of our
athletes. The government should refrain from interfering with the
functioning of the system but place an effective monitoring committee
to ensure that athletes receive the best of facilities.
Theres no easy solution because the debate of giving all those who
are passionate about sport the facilities to excel in it vs. choosing a
select few athletes in disciplines that assure our excellence and give
them the best of training to directly translate to an increased medal
count also needs to be dealt with.
For now, the focus should be on supporting our Rio Olympians, having
conversations on sport that show promise of translating into concrete action.
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REFERENCES
Shobhaa De, get this: Even taking selfies at Rio Olympics is a right
earned
WHY DOES INDIA PERFORM SO POORLY AT THE OLYMPICS?
Why are Australians so good at sport?
Rio Olympics 2016: From archery to hockey, near misses show the
beauty, and brutality, of sport
Indias 100-strong contingent at Rio Olympics is nothing to gloat over
Question not Shobhaa De but Indias sports ministry, federations for
Rio show
23/08/2016
When the news about India fielding a 118-member contingent at the
Rio Olympics, its highest ever, did the rounds, there was a reason to
believe that a bigger medal haul than 2012 was in the offing. But as Rio
bid an emotional farewell to athletes around the world on Sunday, India
only had two medals to show. Knappily investigates why India keeps
punching well below its weight.
Rio 2016
WHAT
What was the build-up to Rio?
India came back home from
London in 2012 with six medals two silver and four bronze. Sushil
Kumar, MC Mary Kom, Saina
Nehwal, Vijay Kumar, Yogeshwar
Dutt and Gagan Narang took
baby steps in putting India on
the world sports map.
In Rio, India fielded its largest
contingent ever - 118 athletes, 34 more than 2012 - spread across
15 disciplines.
Burnishing their form, fine-tuning their skills, almost each one of
these athletes had been training for this event over the last two years
with the hope of bagging an Olympic medal, if not more.
While not many of them were tagged as favourites to win a medal,
India was expected to do well in particular sports in which they have
fared well in the last 5-6 years such as wrestling, badminton and
shooting.
The hype surrounding fielding the highest contingent, and the
interest some of the athletes performances had elicited in recent
multinational events made a double digit medal haul seem like a
possibility.
WHY
Why is the result frustrating?
On Sunday, when the International Olympic Committee president
Thomas Bach signalled the official end of the 16-day sporting
spectacle, India had just two medals to show and none of them
glittered like gold.
Indias disproportionate success is befuddling on many accounts. The
sprawling nation of 130 crore people is placed below the likes of Lithuania
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and Venezuela, countries that are

mired in severe crisis and have
populations less than certain
cities of India. India has constantly
been outperformed by Kenya,
North Korea, Ethiopia, and other
countries in the throes of poverty.
So the argument of India only
being a developing county wont
count for much.
India finished their Olympic campaign on the 67th position. Shuttler
PV Sindhu (silver) and wrestler Sakshi Malik (bronze) saved India
from returning empty-handed for the first time since the Barcelona
1992 Olympic Games.
Even as the support system for the athletes were widely criticised,
Indias Sports Minister Vijay Goel embarked on a jaunt with eight
of his cronies. The Organising Committee dubbed his behaviour
as rude, and even threatened to cancel his accreditation. He
was reprimanded for attempting to throw his weight to bring nonaccredited people to the accredited areas of venues.
Dipa Karmakar who came tantalisingly close to winning a medal
was denied a physiotherapist until she qualified for the final.
As the Olympics was coming to a close, two states Telangana and
Andhra Pradesh are competing to own silver-medallist PV Sindhu.
The government in an attempt to gain political mileage is splurging
prize money on the medallists without directing efforts at the
grassroots level.
Of course, the Sports Minister has declared that India will straightaway start preparing for Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
WHEN
When did the most inspirational moments arrive?
Competing in 64kg, Manoj Kumar shocked ex-Olympic bronze
medalist Evaldas Petrauskas to enter the pre-quarters before he
was knocked out by Uzbekistans Fazliddin Gaibnazarov.
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A resilient womens hockey

team led by Sushila Chanu
came back after conceding two
goals to Japan, courtesy goals
from Rani Rampal and Lilima
Minz, to draw level against a
higher-ranked opponent.
Lalita Barbar became the first
woman athlete after PT Usha
in 1984 to qualify for the final
after she finished fourth in a
Heat of the 3000m steeplechase event with a timing of 9:19.76.
Amidst their heart-breaking losses in the final minutes, Indian mens
hockey team secured a close 3-2 win over Ireland in their opening
match, and a 2-1 win against Argentina.
Against all odds, Sakshi Malik came back in the last three minutes
after trailing by 5 points to overturn the deficit and score a lead to
seal a bronze, and open Indias account.
The ninth-seeded Sindhu upset World No.2 Wang Yihan to enter
the semifinal. She won three consecutive matches against higher
ranked opponents without losing a single game.
When did the heart-breaking moments arrive?

Vinesh Phogats medal chances culminated in the worst possible
way. Considered one of Indias medal prospects, the 21-year-old
suffered an injury during a bout in the freestyle 48 kg against Chinas
Sun Yanan.
Dipa Karmakar scored 15.066 in the eight-woman Vault final of the
Artistic Gymnastics event missing out bronze by a fraction. The
22-year-olds first vault fetched her 14.866 points and the Produnova
gave her 15.266.
World No.3 Jitu Rai shocked by finishing eighth in mens 10m air
pistol final.
The Narsingh Yadav-Sushil Kumar saga reached its ugly climax
when the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) slapped a four-year
ban on Narsingh days before his bout.
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In the 10m air rifle event, Abhinav Bindra finished fourth missing out
on a medal by an extremely narrow margin.
Battling a knee injury, Saina Nehwal lost her second group stage
encounter 18-21, 19-21 to World No 61 Ukraines Maria Ulitina.
Yogeshwar Dutt, the 2012 bronze medallist in wrestling, and one of
Indias biggest prospects got knocked out in the first round on the
final day of the Games.
WHERE
Where is the problem?
Less than 15% of Indias
population are exposed to
sports. So the argument of 130
crore people does not hold.
It is shameful that sports is not
the first career choice even
for most of the sportspersons
of India. It is just a stepping
stone to a government job.
Indias talent pool is limited
because of no mechanism at
the grass-roots to identify early talent. Even the bench strength is
weak.
Going by the governments own estimates, as mentioned in the
concept note prepared in 2013 for a Long Term Plan for Development
of Talent for Olympic Sports, India spends only 3 paise per person
per day on sports. In comparison, the UK spends 17 times as much
while the US is way ahead, spending 750 times more per day per
person on sports.
There is little investment done on diet, training, and improving
facilities on non-cricket sports. Most athletes refrain from pursuing
sports because of lack of facilities, high risk and low rewards. Mired
in a system that crushes merit, most of our athletes will never even
know how good they could have been!
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The problem lies in viewing sports in isolation from health and

education. To build a sporting culture, the three must be integrated.
The sports ministry, barring a few ministers like Ajay Maken
(in the previous government), have only contributed to Indias
embarrassment. It has played a huge role in the unprofessionalism
that exists in the system, and has stymied the progress in sports.
The matter is as much of intent as it is of investment, which will go
up in the coming years. In the current fiscal year, the Ministry of
Youth Affairs and Sports got a hike of around Rs 384 crore in the
budget for 2015-16, with a total allocation of Rs 1389.48 crore.
WHO
Who redeemed Indias spirits?
For a country that is unable to
escape the clutches of patriarchy,
the best performances at the
Olympics came from its women.
Dipa Karmakar became the
first Indian gymnast to qualify
for the final. In the final, her
resolve won billions of hearts
as she landed the Produnova,
dubbed as the death vault, with
precision to finish fourth.
PV Sindhu stunned London Games silver medallist Wang Yihan in
the quarters to reignite Indias medal hopes.
A day later, Sakshi Malik squeezed out points from Kyrgyzstans
Aisuluu Tynybekova as time was running out to open Indias account.
Sindhu followed it up with a comprehensive win over Japans Nozomi
Okuhara to be guaranteed of a silver. Spains Carolina Marin had
the better of her in the final, but Sindhu emerged from Rio with her
reputation enhanced.
Aditi Ashok deserves a special mention here. At 18, she was the
youngest in the fray in womens golf at the Olympic Games at
Rio. She put up a spectacular performance on the first two days,
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frequently featuring among the Top Three in the field. Though she
lost ground in the final two days, finishing a modest 52nd, she gave
enough hint of what she is capable of. With her father as her caddie,
this young girl from Bangalore will go places in the coming years.
Sakshis father recalled his friends questioning his choice to let her
daughter pursue wrestling. Will girls also wrestle now? he was asked.
The success of these women have not just earned them adulation, that
they arrived across three different sports that tests strength and endurance
should help tear down a good number of stereotypes about women.
HOW
How can India turn things around?
It is no secret that India doesnt
have a sporting culture that
breeds champions.
An aspiring athlete must be
supported with the right kind of
infrastructure and diet. She must
be provided with the option of
deemphasizing school for a few
years and still have a decent
shot at a middle-class life.
Indias space mission took off in the 1960s under the watch of Dr
Vikram Sarabhai and Dr Homi Bhabha. But it was the governments
decision to dedicate its efforts toward the space mission that has
made ISRO what it is today. Whether it is performing patent-worthy
research or bagging medals, it is going to take consistent efforts at
the grassroots.
Since there is no incentive for private bodies to work on the grassroots,
the onus falls on the government.
Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi who shed light on Indias lack of
sanitation and has since then set out to improve it must direct a part of his
efforts to sports especially the ones where India is likely to succeed in the
immediate future.
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India has the potential to do well in sports such as badminton,

shooting, and gymnastics. Non-cricket sports are gradually gaining
acceptance amongst people. Let us hope that the anguish at Indias
poor performance in Rio goes deeper than social media feeds.
Investing in sports facilities in schools and stadiums across cities
would be a good place to start.
REFERENCE
10 most unforgettable moments Rio moments
Why India win so few medals?
Sindhu, Sakshi shine as India end campaign with two medals
They fought like girls
Thank You, Rio
24/08/2016
Rio 2016 was over on Sunday, with the Olympics flag being passed on
to Tokyo, the host city for the 2020 Olympics. Rio, despite the continuous
nail-biting moments and constant doubts, pulled off a great show. Winners
of medals and hearts and memorable moments made Rio a cherishable
success. Knappily reviews the Games and captures the spirit of Rio 2016
with a video tribute (in the References).
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Thank You, Rio
WHAT
What does the final medal tally of Rio Olympics look like?
The United States (121 medals
46 golds), Great Britain (67 medals
27 golds), China (70 medals
26 golds), Russia (19 golds) and
Germany (17 golds) are the top
five medal clinchers.
Great Britains medal count
created a new record the first
ex-host country to have achieved a higher medal count than it did
when competing at home. Training for long-term, funding despite
straining the public finances, a merciless focus on sports that can
win more medals for the country, an uncompromising killer instinct
and team spirit are said to have earned the exceptional players
representing Great Britain their medals.
Team USA too earned more medals than it had in non-boycotted
games in the past and crossed a special milestone by pushing its
total Olympics medal count beyond 1000. Australia and China did
not perform up to their expectations; Australia targeting a rank within
top-five finished tenth and China, wanting to finish second were
pushed one place below. Brazil finished 13th, outside of its target of
within the top 10.
India stood 67th out of the 78 countries that won at least one medal.
Sakshi Mallik and P.V. Sindhu names that were far down in the list
of potential medal winners clinched a bronze and silver. In terms
of medals won per unit of GDP, India ranks last among the countries
that won at least one medal.
WHY
Why can Rio Games be considered successful?
Despite early controversies and complaints, the event was carried
out till the end without any great mishap.
Thank You, Rio
Rio 2016
Memorable moments that went

beyond winning and losing were
made and these celebrated the
Olympian spirit.
Brazil, in the midst of its worst
economic
recession
since
1930s still could afford to hold
its head high as a host nation
when the event ended. As Nivea
Araujo, a Rio resident attending
the closing ceremony said, Even with all our problems we pulled
off a good Olympics. Nothing too bad happened and Id say it was
better than expected.
Brazilians put all their problems that made daily living miserable
aside and with their passion for sports made a fantastic audience
that fuelled the sporting spirit.
The sight of unprocessed sewage flowing into the ocean which was
to be a competing arena for some sportspersons and the looming
threat of Zika raised the odds in favour of a mid-way collapse.
However, the virus did not show up and problems were navigated
through to bring relief to one and all involved in the hosting.
Enthusiastic spectators wholeheartedly participated in the cheering
and made up for conspicuously empty spectator seats.
WHEN
When did these Games find some of their best moments?
We have recreated the best moments of Rio in our tribute to these Games.
You can either click the video above or go to the References to get inspired
and feel more human.
The Games became great When the refugee team of 10 athletes five from South Sudan, two
from Syria, two from DR Congo, and one from Ethiopia walked into
the opening ceremony and were given a standing ovation. The Rio
Games became the first to feature a refugee team.
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When Fu Yuanhui, Chinese swimmer became much-admired and

much-adored more for smashing the periods taboo and teaching us
that it was great to be expressive to let enjoyment and sorrow take
hold of you and move on. She won one bronze. And she won many
hearts.
When Rafaela Silva, Brazilian judo champion emerged victorious after
a combat against poverty, prejudice, resentment and competition.
After a humiliating disqualification at London followed by shameless
name calling from Internet users, she gathered herself together and
won the gold in Rio.
When Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand and Abbey DAgostino of the
USA set aside competition to help one another finish their heat of
the womens 5000 m despite injury.
When Fiji won their first-ever Olympic medal the gold by defeating
Great Britain in rugby (43-7).
When Lee Eun-ju of South Korea and Hong Un-jong of North
Koreaset aside the bitter rivalry between their nations and posed
together for a selfie.
When Rami Anis a swimmer for the refugee team was given
a standing ovation for beating his best performance in the 100 m
freestyle. He had fled Syria in 2015 and then travelled by sea to
Turkey.
WHERE
Where did some of the controversies come from?
U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo insulted the Swedish team after they
defeated the top-ranking Americans. She called the Swedish team a
bunch of cowards and remained defiant and non-apologetic despite
backlash.
Spectators booed Frances Renauld Lavillenie during the pole vault
final where he faced Brazils Thiago Braz da Silva.
The diving pool waters color transformed from aquatic blue to a
cloudy green overnight and Rio organizers blamed algae at first. It
was later found that the water treatment process had not used the
required chemicals as they were not available.
Thank You, Rio
Rio 2016
Egypts Islam El Shehaby came

under fire from spectators and
the International Olympics
Committee for refusing to
shake hands with Israels Or
Sasson after a judo match.
Narsingh
Yadav,
Indian
wrestler was debarred from
Rio Olympics and banned for
four years after WADA won
an appeal that accused him of
doping.
Ryan Lochte, Jimmy Feigen and Jack Congercreated a controversy
by making up an account of being mugged which resulted in a frenzy
of investigations and then apologies. Lochte has now lost all of his
major sponsors as a result of his lies. That an Olympic champion
had to go through this validates that there is more to the Olympian
spirit than mere medals.
WHO
Who were among the stand-out achievers?
Simone Biles, 19 year old
American artistic gymnast won
four golds and a bronze for the
USA. She was chosen to carry
her country flag at the closing
ceremony and was widely and
deservedly appreciated.
Mo Farah, distance runner
from Britain ended his Olympic
career by taking home two
golds. He completed the
double double, winning golds
in both 5000m and 10,000m in successive Olympics.
Kate Richardson-Walsh was chosen as flag bearer for Great Britain
at the closing ceremony as she led her hockey team to win the gold
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Thank You, Rio
medal. This victory was all the more special for the captain of 13
years who retired after it because it was her wife and team-mate
Helen Richardson-Walsh who scored a penalty stroke that helped
seal the victory.
Michael Phelps, establishing that he was the best made this Olympics
more special because he retired the way he wanted in style and in
love with his sport once again. He bagged 5 golds and one silver to
take his Olympics tally to 23 Golds. Kings never die.
Usain Bolt the Lightning sprinter from Jamaica gave a farewell
performance at Rio that only he can surpass. The greatest sprinter
of all time as he is widely known clinched three gold medals in Rio to
complete the triple triple, 3 Golds in each of the 3 sprinting events
in 3 successive Olympics.
HOW
How does Tokyo take it from here?
The
spectacular
closing
ceremony where athletes and
those involved were treated
to the best of Brazilian music,
dance and art also witnessed
the Olympic flag transferred to
Tokyo and gave off some hints
on what one could expect at
Tokyo 2020.
Japans PM Shinzo Abe was a
show stealer in his Super Mario
costume. Super Mario is a fictional character in the widely popular
Mario video game franchise, a Nintendo creation. Apart from Mario,
Doraemon and Hello Kitty characters emerged too in a preview
video.
Requests on social media included roping in Studio Ghibli
Japans most famous film studio known for its fantastical tales and
spellbinding animation for the opening ceremony, possibility of
including Pokemon Go in sport and a 100 percent robot staff.
Thank You, Rio
Rio 2016
As the games have been reported to have the aim of conveying

that Japan is capable of an economic revival, the ambitious project
has given rise to expectations of man-made meteorite showers,
robot villages and taxis that provide an unprecedented futuristic
experience.
1964s Olympics gave Japan a chance to prove that it had shed
its war-prone image and was in every sense a team player and
with 2020 it is said that Tokyo Olympics committee aims to foster a
message of hope and categorically state that the esteem with which
Japan is held as a technology and safety leader is undisputed.
REFERENCES
Thank you, Rio
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Rio 2016
08/09/2016
The moment has arrived and despite tensions plaguing Rios atmo-
sphere, the verdict is that Rio Paralympics has been launched in a

spectacular yet touching opening ceremony. The theme this time is
The heart knows no limits; everybody has a heart and para athletes
have already demonstrated it through their performances to inspire
those around them. Knappily hopes this Paralympics has a wider social
impact than its predecessor.
WHAT
What was the Opening Ceremony like?
The opening ceremony of the 15th Summer Paralympics was held at
the famous Maracana stadium where 4,350 athletes from over 170
nations lived up to the theme: The heart knows no limits; everybody
has a heart.
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Rio 2016
Aaron Wheelz Fotheringham

executed
a
daredevil
wheelchair somersault through
a giant O on the stadium floor
in the opening act. Aaron is
an extreme wheelchair athlete
the first in the world - who
performs tricks adapted from
skateboarding and BMX.
International
Paralympic
Committee (IPC) President Philip Craven used the theme in his
address to remind Brazilians of their own problems and suggest they
follow the lead of the Paralympians whom he said would surprise,
excite, inspire and most of all change Brazilians. He also dwelt on
the theme of inclusion.
Brazilian para swimmer Clodaldo Silva lit the symbolic cauldron.
Marcia Malsar, former Brazilian Paralympic medalist and a torch
bearer fell once as she crossed the floor holding the torch with a
cane. She got back up with some help, was greeted by a thunderous
applause of encouragement and finished her turn successfully.
Amy Purdy, American snowboarder was greatly applauded for her
dance with a robotic arm to represent unison with technology.
Purdy had to have her spleen, kidney and both legs removed
since 19. Purdy has not let her crippling disability prevent her from
pursuing her passion for dance. She was a contestant on season
18 of Dancing with the Stars, the first double amputee to do so. She
finished runner-up in the show.
The athletes will compete in over 20 sports. China has sent the
largest team of 307 athletes.
From India there are 19 para athletes 16 men and 3 women.
This is Indias largest delegation in Paralympic games. Devendra
Jhajharia, a gold medalist in 2004 Summer Paralympics was Indias
flag bearer.
Despite the air being thick with tension for the authorities, it is said
the organizers hope Rio Paralympics the first Paralympic event in
Latin America will hasten social change. Ricardo Gonzalez, cofounder of Beach For Everyone said to Al Jazeera, The Paralympic
Games will touch the sensibility of the people. To see that people
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with a disability can do everything, this attitude has to be stimulated.

So the Paralympic Games is a great moment.
WHY
Why should Paralympians be treated as they are?
Lack of awareness seems to cause
viewers of Paralympians in action
to either take a sympathetic
stand or think of Paralympians
as Olympians.
Paralympic athletes have the
same drive and commitment to
shining in their chosen field as
Olympic athletes do. But not
recognizing the importance of
para on field can influence
perceptions at the societal level as well.
As Para-swimmer Prue Watt puts it, I think it is imperative for
Paralympic athletes to be true to themselves and authentically
represent the values of the Paralympic movement rather than be
incorrectly portrayed as an Olympian. In her experience, she has
had to regularly correct people who refer to her as an Olympian.
Watt adds that being identified as a Paralympian is a positive
recognition by viewers of the different journey treaded by such
athletes and overcome unique challenges along the way. It also
suggests an appreciation of the adaptability and tenacity used to fight
misconceptions of inability in disability. In her words, To represent
our country at the highest level in our sport, Paralympians play an
important role in transforming societal attitudes towards people with
disabilities and promoting a more inclusive society. Being called an
Olympian does not align to this role or the values of the Paralympic
movement and so its misrepresentative of Paralympic athletes.
Australian Paralympic teammate and Javelin thrower, Madeline
Hogan feels the general tendency to avoid the word Paralympian
stems from a feeling of discomfort in using it and believes this will
change for the better with time.
Rio 2016
Wheelchair sprinter from Australia, Annie Ballard emphasizes the

importance to distinguish Paralympics from Olympics as the two
are treated in a vastly different way in terms of resources, support,
interest, pathways and recognition. Even as she acknowledged the
common will to put in effort and compete at the world class level
shared by Paralympians and Olympians, she said, Its fantastic
when people understand and support all Australian athletes, but if you
want to see me race its important that you tune into the Paralympics
not the Olympics.
There is every chance that the views presented above may not be shared
by Paralympian athletes of other countries. The essence of presenting
this perspective is to caution us from assuming too soon.
WHEN
When did the Paralympics begin?
While sport for disabled
athletes possibly dates back to
more than 100 years, disability
sport was popularized after
World War II. The intent was
to rehabilitate injured war
veterans and civilians.
Dr Ludwig Guttmann is
credited as facilitating the
first step towards a fullfledged Paralympic event.
In 1944 his newly opened
spinal injuries centre at Stoke
Mandeville Hospital in Great Britain enabled introduction of sports
in the rehabilitation programme. Rehabilitation sport widened into
recreational sport and went further to competitive sport. Guttmanns
first competition for wheelchair athletes, known as the Stoke
Mandeville Games witnessed 16 injured servicemen and women
participants. The event, recognized as an important occasion in
Paralympics history, happened on 29 July 1948 the day of the
opening ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games.
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With Dutch ex-servicemen entering the Movement, the name was

changed to International Stoke Mandeville Gamesin 1952. The term
Paralympic Games was first used for the 1960 Games in Rome.
The every-four-years pattern was set off and in 1976, Sweden held
the first ever Winter Paralympic Games; since then the four-yearpattern has been repeated here too. Venue-sharing with Olympics
began in 1988 for Summer Games and 1992 for Winter Games.
Groundwork began in 1960 for the creation of International Sport
Organisation for the Disabled (IOSD) in 1964. This facilitated
opportunities for athlete with other disabilities: visually impaired,
amputees, persons with cerebral palsy and paraplegics. Other
specific disability-oriented international organizations were formed
and in 1982 the need of coordinating the Games resulted in
International Co-coordinating Committee Sports for the Disabled in
the World (ICC) in 1982.
As more organizations joined the demand for regional and national
presence in ICC increased. On 22 September 1989, the International
Paralympic Committee came into existence as the global governing
body of the Paralympic Movement.
Para implies parallel to the Olympics and depicts how the two coexist.
WHERE
Where are concerns being expressed?
Superficiality from all sides is likely
to worsen the experience and the
effects.
Fears of classification cheating
that athletes may exaggerate
their disabilities to gain an edge
over competitors are taking
hold, and all the more so for
para-swimming.
Rio 2016
Authorities claim ticket sales of 1.5 million. But transfer of most of

these Games way too far from the city could lead to a low turnout.
Also, if Brazilians have been motivated by pity or guilt it belittles the
principle of Paralympics.
Fewer volunteers and venues, less transport and an atmosphere
that seemed to suggest Paralympics is a burden rather than an
attention-deserving event were all brought upon due to using up
of financial resources set aside for Paralympics to salvage local
authorities priorities and International Olympics Committee (IOC).
Miserable infrastructure in the city that is callously disabled-unfriendly.
A poll cited in Irish Examiner is said to have found around 80 percent
of people with disabilities in Brazil felt disrespected, just 2% and 7%
of millions of disabled people of working age were employed and
had completed any form of higher education. Paralympics will not
translate to a better situation.
The benefit cuts for disabled people which we should account for
but choose to be oblivious to show how much we actually take back
from events like Paralympics.
WHO
Who celebrated the Paralympics in the spirit it deserves?
London 2012 Paralympics is
remembered for many positive
firsts showcasing world class
performances, an enthusiastic
crowd and a fantastic marketing
campaign.
The advertisement campaign
Meet the Superhumans had
initiated a magnetic effect that
drew people to the Paralympics.
Phenomenal performances in
a variety of events high jump, long jump, swimming, wheelchair
sprinting and cycling held the audience wonderstruck.
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However, the spectacular response died down once the Paralympics

ended with and this clearly meant that the best way of celebration
which embraces inclusivity beyond the Games is yet to come. But
given the conditions at Rio despite Brazilian governments effort
it seems futile to entertain hopes for a better show and a longerlasting positive impact.
HOW
How about media reporting of Paralympics?
In a survey of 30 disabled adults
by the English Federation for
Disability Sport with the intent
of providing a clearer framework
for language used in reporting
Paralympics,
superhuman,
brave, heroes , lucky,
sufferer, confined, impaired,
wheelchair-bound
and
handicapped were responded
to in a negative manner. The
most positive responses were for
inspiring and disabled.
Those surveyed also said that they preferred reports that honestly
and directly addressed the topic of disability. This included clear,
precise terminology to describe the disability instead of taking the
ambiguous approach out of politeness. The style of say it once,
say it clearly, and move on was generally preferred.
Sports journalists and non-disabled adults were also interviewed as
a part of the research. They identified the main hurdles to excellent
reporting of disability sport as lack of a clear sporting calendar for
disabled sport, poor quality press releases and weak relationships
with sports clubs and National Governing Bodies. The research
concluded that addressing these concerns would significantly
incentivize coverage at all levels.
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REFERENCES
The Paralympic Games: why its important to address the disability
in the arena
Paralympics - History of the Movement
Olympic hangover means missed opportunity for Rios Paralympics
Rio Paralympics 2016: When The Superhumans came to London
In Rio, as in Britain, disability rights are under attack again
Media cautioned over use of superhuman, brave and heroes in
Paralympics reporting
Let the Games Begin
10/09/2016
Unlike the Olympics, the Rio Paralympics which began on Septem-
ber 7 do not have any television coverage in India as this event fails to
generate money for the broadcasters. After protests by Paralympians,
Sony will now show the highlights. There is no live coverage, and India
has already missed watching the feat of Mariyappan Thangavelu who
won gold in High Jump. Indias government and its media have let its
disabled athletes down.
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WHAT
What has upset the Paralympians from India?
Para athletes and disabled
rights activists have questioned
the governments decision to
not buy broadcasting rights
for the Rio Paralympics 2016
which began on September 7.
The broadcasting rights of
the Rio Paralympic Games
2016 have not been bought
by any private sports channel or even by the public broadcaster
Doordarshan.
When countries like Iran, parts of Africa and smaller nations like
Latvia can broadcast the Games, why cant India? asked Para
Sports Foundation (PSF) general secretary Pradeep Raj while
demanding its broadcast in India. This is huge discrimination on the
part of the government for the para athletes. We are also citizens of
the same country and when there was no problem in telecasting the
Rio Olympics, where is the hurdle now?Raj said that they will be
forced to take legal recourse if their demand was not fulfilled.
The para athletes have pointed out that at a time when the
government has undertaken Accessible India program and Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has spoken about disability in his radio talk
Mann ki Baat the crucial event would be missed by the country.
The issue has found support from the Indian-origin, official chaplain
of Rio Olympics and Paralympics Zenji Nio. He said, I am personally
offended when people with disabilities are not treated well. This is
nothing but discrimination. We are not here to find faults but to have
a course correction before Tokyo 2020.I will spoonfeed you with all
details. They deserve to be supported and not sympathized.
After all the protest, Indian viewers will finally be able to watch the ongoing
Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. It will, however, not be live as Sony will
show Paralympics highlights through its two sports channels - SIX
and ESPN - in two sessions of one hour each daily.
Rio 2016
WHY
Why is this especially shocking?
India has sent its biggest ever
contingent of 19 including
Athens gold medalist Devendra
Jhajharia but no broadcaster,
including the national network
Doordarshan, showed any
interest to buy rights of the
Paralympics.
The contingent of 19 include
three women this time; up
from 10 in London four years ago when they won a silver courtesy N
Girisha in mens high jump.
While pointing out that paralympics have never been telecast,
disability rights activist Suchandra Ganguly said, But this year was
a very crucial year. The cost of rights didnt rise nearly as much
from London to Rio as it did from Beijing to London so even modest
revenue growth should drive margins. Also, there are benefits of Rio
time zone.
She said, We saw a tweet from the Prime Minister wishing luck to
the para athletes participating in the Games. But how can we cheer
for them till we can see them.
She further said India have a greater medal chances in Paralympics
than in Olympics but it was painful to see there is hardly any media
coverage.
Even as the nation continued to rejoice over the silver medal of
PV Sindhu in Rio Olympics weeks after she won it, Mariyappan
Thangavelu won the gold medal while compatriot Varun Singh Bhati
clinched the bronze in the mens high jump T-42 event on Saturday
at the Rio Paralympics. Their historic feat was not watched live in
their country. As if their medals count for much less than the silver
India won in the Olympics.
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WHEN
Since when has India been participating in Paralympics?
India made its Summer
Paralympic dbut at the
1968 Games, competed
again in 1972, and then
was absent until the 1984
Games. The country has
participated in every
edition of the Summer
Games since then.
In 1972 at the
Heidelberg Games, Murlikant Petkar swam the 50 meter freestyle
in a world record time of 37.331 seconds to give India her first ever
Gold. India finished 24th out of the 42 participating nations.
In 1984, Joginder Singh Bedi won silver at the Mens Shot Put and
followed it up with a pair of bronze winning performances in the
Discus and Javelin throws. Another Indian, Bhimrao Kesarkar, won
the silver medal in the Javelin. India finished 37th out of the 54
participating nations.
India continued to participate in each Paralympic Games thereafter,
but failed to make an impact till the 2004 Summer Paralympics in
Athens when Devendra Jhajharia, Javelin thrower, won gold and
Rajinder Singh won bronze for powerlifting in the 56-kg category.
India finished 53rd out of the 136 nation field.
H. N. Girisha, an Indian athlete born with a disability in the left leg,
won the silver medal in the 2012 Paralympic games held in London
in the mens high jump F-42 category.
Indias 2016 performance is going to be the best ever. It has already
equaled the previous best tally of the 1972 Paralympics (1 Gold and
1 Bronze).
Rio 2016
WHERE
Where is the real problem?
While the problems associated with
Paralympics are widely covered by
the media questioning the officials
and Indian government, there are
few takers for the actual event to
be broadcasted.
This apathy by the Indian media
largely stems from its TRPdriven approach to coverage
of events which has caused
more harm than good to the
thought process, perceptions
and progressive thought that media generally inspires.
What India misses with such an approach is the spectacular
achievements and performance of its players, two of whom have
already won medals within two days of the event. More importantly,
India misses out on treating these athletes like the able-bodied
athlete. By not covering their event, the message to them is blunt
and brutal their efforts count for nothing and their medals count for
less.
Even in 2012, the dispute about the management of Indian Paralympics
overshadowed the achievements of Indian Paralympians at London.
Indians lost the opportunity to support Paralympics in Indian
Television but found out opportunities to talk about the irregularities.
When Girisha won the silver he called me to say no media came to
speak to him. Such was the plight, disability rights activist Suchandra
Ganguly said pointing out the medias comprehensive coverage of
PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik in Rio about a fortnight ago.
Media is considered as one of the pillars of Democracy, the importance
of this fact cant be stressed more. The blind run behind TRP ratings
is diluting the very reason media came into existence: to play a
progressive and unifying role.
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WHO
Who are representing India?
The 19 differently-abled athletes
from India will compete in over
five sports disciplines - athletics,
swimming, shooting, powerlifting
and archery.
Indian athletes have been able
to achieve qualifying standard in
the following athletic events (up
to maximum of 3 athletes in each
event). After trials, the Paralympic Committee of India selected a team
of 13 athletes (12 Men, 1 Women). After suspension of the Russian
Paralympic Committee, India received 2 more quota places (1 Men and 1
Women).
Those participating in High jump include Mariyappan Thangavelu,
Varun Singh Bhati, Sharad Kumar, and Rampal Chahar.
Those participating in Javelin throw include Sundar Singh Gurjar,
Devendra Jhajaria, Rinku, Narender Ranbir, Sandeep, and Virender
Dhankar.
Club throwers Amit Kumar Saroha and Dharambir; shot putter Deepa
Malik, and discus thrower Karamjyoti Dalal are the other participants.
Ankur Dhama has been selected to participate in 1500 m track event.
Non-athletic sports:
The last direct qualifying event for Rio in shooting took place at the
2015 IPC Shooting World Cup in Fort Benning in November.Naresh
Kumar Sharmaearned a qualifying spot for India at this competition
in the R7 - Mens 50m Rifle 3 Positions event.
Indian swimmer Suyash Jadhav finished 1st in final of Mens 50m
Butterfly-S7 category at IWAS World Games 2015 on 1 October
2015 and achieved A mark for Paralympic Games.
Rio 2016
India has secured one berth in power lifting after National champion
Farman Basha has secured place in World Ranking list as of February
29, 2016 in the given qualification period.
India qualified one berth in Women Archery after Pooja secured fifth
place in the World Quota Recurve Women Open in Czech Republic
to secure a continental quota and became first Para Archer from
India to qualify for the Paralympic Games.
HOW
How else has India let down its Paralympians?
In a major embarrassment
before the event started at
Rio, the Indian flag on the
official blazer did not have the
white stripes in the middle.
Furthermore, the track suits
also lacked the countrys name
on the back.
International Paralympic Committee (IPC) had raised objections
over this and other faults that threatened contingents participation
in opening ceremony.
In some of the last minute jugaad, what the officials did was use
tapes and stickers to correct the mistakes. Such is the tragedy that
instead of proudly displaying the Indian flag, they had to try and hide
it on the blazer pockets by trying to procure scarfs last minute.
After these last minute changes to the kit to comply with guidelines,
the Sports Ministry clarified that the corrections had been made and
the team got a go-ahead for the ceremony.
Former Commonwealth Games medalist and now swimming coach with
the paralympics team, Prasanta Karmakar lambasted the officials for their
lackadaisical attitude.
Arjuna awardee and now Para-Badminton official, Ramesh Tikuram too
was disappointed with the turn of events.
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Such things lead to the morale of the team going down. Imagine
going to the Games and not being sure of whether you will march into
the opening ceremony. Officials should be more careful. Its about
the reputation of the country. They only think about themselves.
Even during the 2012 Summer Paralympics it was reported that coaches
and escorts of the Indian Team were denied accommodation in the
Games Village because their permits were being used by officials of
the Paralympic Committee of India.
The Teams 10 athletes were to be assisted by six coaches and
five escorts, but only two escorts were given passes; Paralympic
Committee general Secretary Ratan Singh confirmed that he had
brought his son, that the Committee president had brought his wife,
and the treasurer had brought his wife and daughter.
REFERENCES
India to miss Rio Paralympics 2016 on TV; para athletes protest
Unlike Olympics, no TV coverage for Rio Paralympics in India
India at the Paralympics
Rio Paralympics: India to take part in opening ceremony after changes
to kit
Beyond the noise
12/09/2016
Elite Paralympian Marieke Vervoorts decision to opt for euthanasia
when her spinal condition became unmanageable evoked admiration

when she made it public just before Rio. It also had opponents of assisted suicide for the disabled raising concerns. Euthanasia for the disabled
has stirred strong debate with both sides putting forth points that require
consideration. Stories like Mariekes need to be told because they make
us think.
Beyond the noise
Rio 2016
WHAT?
What has Paralympic medalist Marieke Vervoort revealed?
Marieke Vervoort is a wheelchair
racing champion. Her zest for
new challenges and determination
make her an inspiration.
Marieke, at 37 won the silver
at Rio Paralympics in the T52
final of the 400 metres. It is her
third medal in Paralympics. She
combated unsparing pain that
her incurable spinal condition
which worsens with time to pursue and achieve excellence despite
injuries along the way.
She revealed last week that she had signed euthanasia papers in
2008. Euthanasia is legal in her native Belgium and Vervoort has
been given the freedom to end her life when she chooses.
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She said, Everybody sees me laughing and happy with my medals.

They dont see the other part of me. I can have lots and lots of pain.
I sleep sometimes for only 10 minutes. My funeral, its not going
to be in a church. Its not going to be with coffee and some cake. I
want everybody to have a glass of champagne and to say, Cheers,
Marieke. All the best. You had a good life. Now you are in a better
place.
Her revelation has evoked admiration for frankness in discussing her
suffering and being forthright on assisted dying, despite the stigma
attached to the issue. It has also brought forth opinions from those
opposed to assisted suicide for the disabled.
She clarified she would opt for euthanasia only when pain and
anguish became unbearable for her. She said she had called Rio
Games her last as it enabled her to cross off items on her bucket
list. Her future plans include stunt flying and deriving maximum
fulfillment from what years she has left.
What makes Mariekes story inspiring?

A post on the blog Islandmomma describes the authors experience of
meeting and talking to Marieke. Mariekes motto is Believe you can.
Choosing to not wallow in self-pity. An illness that began when she
was 14 a teen who loved sport caused her to lose control of her
legs. On knowing her life since then would be on a wheelchair, she
began to look around for new challenges and observed she was
lucky to have rehab programs in her hospital.
Her zeal for arduous challenges. Her first foray was wheelchair
basketball an aggressively competitive game - and scuba diving.
Desire for a bigger challenge and illness made her move on to
wheelchair racing. She chose triathlon a sport for the toughest of
the tough and won laurels in 2004 and 2006.
Will to hold on against the worst. In 2007, she participated in the
Ironman Triathlon widely considered one of the most difficult
one-day sporting events in the world. Delay in specialized training
equipment meant she could not prepare for any of the three sections.
Despite disappointment and stress, once her equipment came at the
eleventh hour, she stepped in to give her best and could complete
two sections.
Beyond the noise
Rio 2016
Finding newer goals to fulfill. The Ironman events stress was

accompanied by other symptoms of illness deteriorating eyesight
and epilepsy. Once again in and out of hospital, she realized she had
to focus on shorter distances, the Hawaii Ironman dream had to go.
But her resilience won admirers who were more ready to sponsor
her.
Perseverance in the face of repercussions. Marieke broke a 16-yearold record for 800 m in the European championships. This was after
2013 when doctors told her she could never again make it to the top
in her sport.
Not stopping till she felt otherwise. In 2013, a fall while racing was
followed by a serious operation on her shoulder and arm. She said
at the time, Getting to Rio in absolute top form is my mission now,
whatever it takes. Despite mounting pressure, she made it to Brazil
for what she says is her last Paralympics.
She loves her life. That need not be separately said. Her world
records four till 2015 and the title of Grand Officer of Order
of Crown granted by King Filip in 2013 are a mere fraction of her
romance with life.
WHY
Why does disability raise new concerns in the euthanasia debate?
The way society marginalizes
disabled people raises concerns
on their autonomy in decisions of
assisted suicide. These concerns
make the religious vs. secular
debate around euthanasia much
more complicated. Disability rights
activists highlight the concerns.
Stories of disabled people are
often narrated by and for nondisabled people. This cuts us
off from a disabled persons
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perspective of their life. Even doctors, despite an understanding of

a disabled persons body cannot fully understand what life is like
for such people. When talk of assisted suicide comes up, there is
more likely to be a misguided bias influenced by the largely negative
stereotypes of disabled people presented by the non-disabled.
Repeated accounts of doctors and family members or care takers
opting for euthanasia or assisted suicide without exploring more
viable options increases insecurity among the already vulnerable
disabled population. There are also chances of coercion rather than
choice that cause a disabled person to request for death.
A 2012 report on the Death with Dignity Act, Oregon revealed
the most common reason for disabled people to choose assisted
suicide was to stop or avoid being dependent on others and end
the undignified way of living. This has been referenced by Liz Carr,
an international disability rights activist, wheelchair user, actress
and stand-up comedian who studied law at Nottingham University.
Carr says the report contradicts the common notion that suicide is
chosen mostly for deliverance from pain. The report shows that this
is much less the cause.
Before we campaign for dying with dignity we need an environment
in which disabled and non-disabled people are able to live with
dignity. We just need to look around us to understand how much
disabled people are deprived of opportunities to live with dignity.
When this is the situation, it becomes grossly unfair and indifferent
for us to support dying with dignity for disabled people. Stella Young
and others against assisted suicide for the disabled highlight this
point.
Note: In euthanasia, the physician actively administers the lethal medicine
while in assisted suicide the final step is taken by the patient. In case
of physician-assisted suicide, the physician prescribes the lethal drug.
The arguments made above are same for either euthanasia or assisted
suicide.
Why is Mariekes decision understandable?

She has made it clear she will end her life only as a last resort when
pain makes life a punishment.
Beyond the noise
Rio 2016
Hers seems to be an independent and rational choice. If she reaches

a stage when there is no way her pain can be abated, then she
should have the freedom of choice to take her life.
It would be cruel trying to persuade her how worthwhile life is when
nothing can be done to alleviate her pain.
WHEN
When are laws on euthanasia in Belgium defended?
Belgium is said to have the
worlds most liberal euthanasia
laws. Beyond terminally ill
patients, those with psychiatric
conditions and even children
can request euthanasia.
Tom
Burns,
Melbournebased writer and student of
neuroscience and bioethics
contends the argument that
assisted suicide laws provide
a greater chance for abuse.
He points out that even in countries where assisted suicide is illegal,
it is practiced secretly.
The New England Journal of Medicine published findings in 2013 of
73.7 percent of euthanasia and assisted suicide cases had undergone
palliative care to ease their pain - an increase compared to 2007.
The researchers inferred that there was a stricter assessment of
legal eligibility criteria in 2013.
The Conversation pointed out that controversial cases gaining
media attention were a handful and could not reflect the general
implications of euthanasia and assisted suicide laws. Also, repeated
polls suggest strong public support.
The decision to allow terminally ill children to request for
euthanasia and comply if certain conditions were met sparked
off a stronger debate. Critics questioned the mental ability of
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children to comprehend death. Research by pediatric oncologists,

nurses and palliative care specialists weakens this argument as
experiences of terminally ill children through painful procedures
and interactions with other children provide a pretty good
understanding of their mortality.
A further concern is the tendency of children to defer to those around
them. But the conditions required for euthanasia for children are:
The child must be terminally ill, be conscious and understand the
meaning of death, make multiple requests to die and be in great pain
and distress that no available treatment can alleviate. In addition,
the childs request must be approved by his or her parents and by
members of the medical team, including independent psychologists
attesting to the childs competence to make the request. These
takes strong measures to prevent a child from succumbing to an
adults wishes.
But legal safeguards still leave disabled and elderly people
vulnerable and NEJM also revealed 1.7 percent of euthanasia
and assisted suicide to have been carried out without explicit
request from patient.
There are also those who feel a disabled mentally competent person
should not be discriminated against in the right to die when legal
and medical regulations are complied.
Vervoort says of her experience, It is really difficult to get those papers. You
have to see different doctors for them to see that you have a progressive
disease or a mental disease. You need three different signatures from
doctors and to talk with a psychiatrist to see if it is really what you want.
She said the papers gave her confidence of control and added,
When I didnt have those papers, I would have committed suicide.
She expressed a desire to educate people about euthanasia. In her
opinion, it made people fight harder to live.
She also opined against euthanasia being a danger for the disabled.
In her words, I have a progressive disease. Every year, it is worse.
Every time, I give things away. If you see me years ago, I could draw
beautiful art. Now it is impossible. I see 20%. Whats the next thing
coming? I am really scared.
Beyond the noise
Rio 2016
WHERE
Where has disability hate crime failed to make an impact?
The few examples below intend to
present some context that needs to
be understood before adopting the
freedom of choice argument by
proponents of assisted suicide for
the disabled.
In 2007, years of abuse from
youths and negligence of police
authorities despite at least 33
attempts to draw their attention
drove Fiona Pilkington, 38 to kill
herself and her 18-year-old daughter who had the mentality of a four
year old child. It attracted attention and apology but a 2015 report
concluded that police and prosecutors still failed disabled people.
The Independent reports a 40 percent increase in disability hate
crime convictions in the U.K. While this has been seen as a positive
sign such crimes are being taken more seriously equality rights
campaigners have also highlighted the dangers of underreporting
that still remain and need more attention.
Earlier this year, in Japans Sagamihara stabbings, a former employer
of a disabled care home killed 19 people and injured 26 others, 13 of
them suffered severe injuries. He explained it was better that disabled
people disappear and had earlier presented the state with a detailed
plan of getting rid of such people in stages. In a letter addressed to the
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe he wrote, I envision a world where a person
with multiple disabilities can be euthanized, with an agreement from the
guardians, when it is difficult for the person to carry out household and
social activities.He also wrote that the killings of the disabled would be
for the sake of Japan and world peace as well as to benefit the global
economy and preventWorld War III.
What made the stabbings stand out was public silence following
the incident. In media, the killing was described incomprehensible
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and peoples impression of the killer before the incident as just an

ordinary man was quoted. Bill Peace, disability activist and academic
wrote, I have no doubt he was an ordinary young fellow. That is
what makes ableism - discrimination in favor of able-bodied people
- so frightening. People, typical people, think life with a disability is
worse than death.
WHO
Who is Mariekes indispensable companion?
Zenn, her eight-year-old yellow
Labrador, who started off as
Mariekes pet and in 2009 was
trained as a help-dog. He can
detect when Marieke is about to
have a fainting spell.
Zenn accompanies Marieke to
her events and also to award
ceremonies. She said of her
bond with him, Without him
Im much too dependent on
other people, Zenn makes it possible for me to function completely
independently, but hes also an indispensable companion.
Vervoort faints regularly at home, woken only by Zenn licking her
face.
Marieke has also said Zenns love, along with her quest for exploring
adventure sustains her.
Service Dogs or Help Dogs assist people with a physical disability by
performing tasks that their partner cannot do or has trouble doing. Such tasks
may include picking up dropped items, retrieving objects from tables, turning
light switches on and off, pushing automatic door buttons, tugging doors and
cabinets open, standing and bracing for stability during a transfer, barking on
command for help and getting a cordless phone in an emergency.
That dog is mans best friend is told often. It is best exemplified in the
relationship the Help Dogs share with their partners.
Beyond the noise
Rio 2016
HOW
How should we perceive Paralympics?
Stories like Mariekes need to be told because we get a glimpse
of the real lives of Paralympian athletes and their everyday
struggles.
Whether we call Paralympics a faade or not, the achievements and
drive of Paralympians inspire us. But given the lack of awareness
and indifference to disabled people, we are more likely to judge
non-Paralympians by harsher standards and even be inspired by
Paralympians for the wrong reasons sometimes.
If our admiration translates to inclusiveness and awareness to an
equal platform for the disabled community to excel, it would be a lasting
positive change. This is yet to begin. That said, the achievements
of Paralympians should also fuel us to take Paralympics seriously
and ensure it should not be relegated with respect to the Olympics.
The grassroots level change is made much harder by societal
discrimination and all the more so in poorer countries; but it needs
to happen.
Media coverage for Rio Paralympics was higher than previous
Paralympic events though much less than Olympics. This made it
easier for the disabled to watch people like them perform amazing
feats.
Sam de Leve, dancer, athlete and wheelchair user with EhlersDanlos syndrome says media coverage of Marcia Malsar in the
opening ceremony was a glaring example of inspiration porn. In
Malsars case, just the mere act of getting up after falling down was
glorified and presented as inspirational. This normal act received
applause and admiration whereas her achievements which led to
being chosen as torch bearer and the phenomenal efforts to be
an elite athlete were comparatively glossed over. Others from the
disabled community have expressed concern over inspiration porn
too in the Paralympics ad, presentation of Paralympians taking
up everyday tasks with ease grossly distorted reality and the hostile
environment disabled people live in. The term superhuman and
song Yes I can also evoked criticism.
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REFERENCES
Paralympic Games 2016: Silver salves the pain forMarieke Vervoort
Believe You Can is Marieke Vervoorts Motto: Something We Should
AllRemember!
Disability a fate worse than death?
Separating fact from fiction about euthanasia inBelgium
Can We Talk About that ParalympicsAd?
Opening Ceremony Shows That Paralympic Inspiration Porn Refuses
to Die
Marieke Vervoort: now my fear of death is gone
Jhajharia wins Gold for India at

Javelin F46 Paralympics event.3
Algerias Abdellatif Baka won Gold

in 3 minutes 48 seconds.
Rio 2016
14/09/2016
An unfortunate complication presented itself last Friday at the Paralym-
pic Games in Brazil, when the joyous cheers from the fans in the stands
turned out to be a hindrance to the game being played. Blind football
players of Brazil and Morocco were unable to hear the jingle of the ball
due to the thunderous applause from the home fans. These players
prove that football, after all, is played by spirit.
WHAT
What is blind football?
A sport that is rising in prominence around the world, visually
challenged football, popularly called blind soccer, has become the
center-stage at Paralympic events.
Sight-challenged professionals employ their auditory senses to
pick up on the rattling of the bearings on the custom-made balls to
visualize where it is, and play the game.
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The silence from the crowd

is an almost deafening quiet,
although very important, as the
cheers can cause the players
to lose track of the ball.
Even the players make calls,
usually voy (Im here) or go
or mine when they indicate
that they will be moving away
from or taking the ball. This is
another very important sound-based influence in blind football.
The game lasts 50 mins, and the teams may have a sighted
goalkeeper. The game is also classified into three levels B1, B2
and B3, based on the severity of blindness of the players.
WHT
Why is it gaining in popularity?
Over the last decade, the
sport of blind soccer has
been growing in the public
eye on account of its appeal
and inspirational spirit.
Fans of the game are amazed
by the talent, precision and
most importantly, the will to
play despite the handicap of
the players.
As a player of the game
would attest rather embarrassedly, sight is the most important asset
on the pitch. Take that away and it becomes nearly impossible to
judge the game.
However, these brave blind men and women have taken their
disability into their stride and have trained hard to achieve excellence
in a field that the world never pegged them to achieve in.
Rio 2016
For this reason, the game of blind soccer has become something of
a sensation in many countries around the world, and continues its
march up the fan base ladder.
WHEN
When did the sport take shape?
According to official reports by
the International Blind Sports
Association, the sport
started out as a playground
game for school children in
special schools for the visually
impaired.
It made its full professional
debut
at
a
competitive
tournament as part of the
Athens Paralympics in 2004,
and has since bloomed.
In London 2012, there were no fewer than 64 registered athletes
competing in this sport.
The Brazil Paralympics 2016 is the latest worldwide event to have blind
soccer as one of the competitive sports, with 8 nations split into two
groups vying for gold.
The struggle with boisterously noisy supporters on Friday came at
the Brazil v Morocco Group A game that the former won by 3 goals
to 1, and then supplemented that with a 2-0 win over Turkey to sit
top of their group with a game to go.
Argentina and China are tied for top spot in Group B, with 6 points
each and a table top clash scheduled for the 13th of September.
The rising audience and the bellowed cheers that support the players
and the sport, covered with the coverage that the Summer Paralympics
of 2016 is receiving will serve as a turning point in the history of blind
soccer.
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WHERE
Where do the players source their inspiration from?
Snippets from a 2010 interview with
the English blind football team
Team manager Tony Larkin
I dont see them as blind
players. I see them as
footballers. People are amazed
when they see eight blind
players who dont bump into
each other, are moving the ball
and shooting.
19 year old star Dan English
Playing football has helped with my confidence. Its also improved
my communication because Im part of a team
Team captain David Clarke I see it all in my minds eye. In my mind I can see what I could when
I was young.
Its really important to have good ball control because if you lose
control its very difficult. A lot is about getting your touch right
Theres a lot more dribbling and close control than in a sighted
game. Communication is very important among the players
I think people are finally getting the message that disabled people
arent interested in talking about their disability. They want to get on
with the game.
Were part of the journey to take blind football in the UK to parity with
sighted football and a large part of that will have been completed by
the 2012 Paralympics.
He summarizes it for all the Paralympic athletes when he says, Id love
it if people thought, I want to see an outstanding game of football,
and the blindness was secondary.
Rio 2016
WHO
Who are the stalwarts of the modern game?
England
manager
Tony
Larkin stands atop a list of
great managers of the blind
game,
having
managed
England at seven European
championships and five world
tournaments, leading England
to the fifth rank in the world
standings.
Brazil truly is footballs spiritual
home, and proves that football
requires no senses, just the
spirit to play it. The ongoing Paralympics see a nation celebrate a
team legend in Nonato, who leads their attack.
Ricardinho is another great in the Brazilian line-up, and has already
contributed two goals to the Selecao in their pursuit for Paralympic
gold on home turf.
The blind players of the Spanish side were recently honoured by
their sighted counterparts at FC Barcelona, when the national team
was invited to Catalonia to have a 5v5 blind game. The video created
waves on social networks, furthering the reach of the blind game.
To celebrate the opening of the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Lionel Messi
and his Barcelona team-mates took part in a blind football session
against the Spanish national team. They promoted the video with
#celebrateTHISability.
HOW
How is the game actually played?
The game duration is 50 mins, and the key element is the ball, which
is a custom made object with ball-bearings that make a sound when
moved. This sound allows the players to track the ball at all times.
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The players themselves are

required to call for the passes,
and make general shouts to
ascertain both their position
objectively and in relation to
everyone else on the field.
Both
teams
have
two
guides each, who give
them instructions from the
touchline and from behind their
respective attacking goals.
The game is played with five players in each team, and the goalkeeper
may or may not be blind. The pitches are smaller, and there is no
offside or throw-in.
The coach taps both posts and the crossbar in the event of a penalty,
so as to indicate to the shooting player what his aim should be.
REFERENCES
How do blind people play football so well?
History of blind football
Football 5-a-side
16/09/2016
Hackers allegedly from Russia released 25 more confidential medical
records of athletes, in their second episode of revealing the information hijacked from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The hackers,
avenging the ban on Russias Olympians and Paralympians, are making
a case against Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) granted to the
athletes. The attackers are a group called Fancy Bears which owes
allegiance to Anonymous, the powerful international network of hactivists.
Rio 2016
WHAT
What have the Russians done now?
Hackers allegedly from Russia
have launched the next episode of
their attack against WADA and the
athletes at Rio.
Following their infiltration of
World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA)s
database
and
retrieval of confidential medical
information of athletes, they
began to make these files public.
In this second installment, they have released 25 records which
pertain to Therapeutic Use Exemptions through which WADA
allows athletes to consume specific banned substances if they cite
verified medical needs.
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This group identifies its name as Fancy Bears and its members
are anonymous. The groups revealed stand is that TUEs facilitate
doping and that WADA is corrupt and deceitful.
The group says it will go on exposing the athletes who violate the
principles of fair play by taking doping substances. They may release
the medical records of all 53 athletes from the United Kingdom; they have
already released the records of three-time Tour de France champion Chris
Froome and five-time Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins.
The Bears message to the citizens of the world starts with a warning for
the United States.
We will start with the U.S. team which has disgraced its name by tainted
victories. We will also disclose exclusive information about other national
Olympic teams later. Wait for sensational proof of famous athletes taking
doping substances any time soon.
WHY
Why is this not surprising?
Russia has launched cyberattacks
and spread false propaganda
online by hacking websites in the
past. Russian hacker groups
have exhibited the sophistication
and
creativity
uncommon
even among advanced hacker
groups. The US Intelligence
Communitys 2015 Worldwide
Threat Assessment report placed
Russia and China as the most
sophisticated nation-state actors in
the modern era of cyber warfare. The threat from China is overinflated,
while the threat from Russia is underestimated, said Jeffrey Carr,
head of Web security consultancy Taia Global.
A few past examples
Rio 2016
In 2014, hackers fooled Sonys security system and accessed

thousands of company mails. Carrs company believes Russian
hackers-for-hire conducted this attack. He said, Even after Sony lost
80 percent of its network capability, the hackers were still operating.
That shows an incredibly high level of technical ability.
The Russia-Georgia war combined conventional and cyber warfare
in a fashion that is said to be unprecedented.
A group of Russian click-jackers faced conviction in the US in 2014
for hijacking users of Apples iTunes store, Netflix, the U.S. Internal
Revenue Service, Amazon.com,ESPN.com and the Wall Street
Journalwebsite as well as computers at NASA.
Fancy Bears are among the two hacker groups accused of infiltrating the
Democratic National Committees computer network, though it remains
unproved.
Strong motive
An independent investigation found Russia to be guilty of statesponsored doping. As a result, its athletes paid a heavy price;
more than 100 were banned from Rio and the medal count was
56 against 77 in London. Russia asserted the accusations were
false and deliberate. The Bears may be retaliating against what the
humiliation their country was subjected to.
Why its surprising.
WADA should have expected retaliation in advance as they dont
seem shocked by the attack. Russian whistleblower and former
athletes electronic account had been illegally accessed in August.
WHEN
When can the leak trigger debate?
So far, none of the athletes are revealed guilty of breaking rules.
However, it is likely to bring back the debate on TUEs as a controversial
exception.
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Are TUE policies abused by

athletes? In sports science and
anti-doping circles this topic
is increasingly debated. Ross
Tucker, respected sports scientist
opines that while the policies
were established with good intent
for example, asthmatic athletes
could use TUEs to address health
effects corruption has eroded the current sports culture. He feels
a ban on all TUEs in competition is the solution, but acknowledges
it would have harsh effects on inclusiveness.
Transparency vs. Privacy. Triathlete Jodie Swallow advocates all
TUEs be made public. But concerns of athletes privacy are hard to
surmount. Reasons for taking normally banned drugs could be very
sensitive information like IVF, cancer and hepatitis treatments. To
bring them to everyones knowledge is a violation of privacy.
Is the list of permitted drugs fair? Tucker gives the example of
corticosteroids, which help athletes breathe better but can also boost
performance. These are widely used to accommodate asthmatics.
But this raises the argument that Erythropoietin (EPO) provided to
increase red blood cell production should be legalized as well. The
disgraced seven-time Tour de France winner and cancer survivor
cyclist Lance Armstrong had abused EPO and blood doping for his
victories. He was later stripped of all his titles.
What is the chief concern? Some say the hack has brought the
dangerously vulnerable TUE system to light. Others like highlyesteemed expert Richard Ings differ. In his words, Content of the
FancyBear hack does not trouble me. Standard TUE stuff. What
troubles me is the failure to protect athlete medical records.
Doubts on Serena Williams have been raised about the necessity for
her to take strong medicinessuch as prednisolone, methylprednisolone,
hydromorphone, oxycodone and prednisone. Richard Ings, one of the
most qualified anti-doping experts in the world clarifies there is nothing
out of the ordinary in Serenas prescription.
The media seems divided on whether this is an invasion by hackers or an
expose.
Rio 2016
WHERE
Where are the objections to TUEs?
In 2015, Alberto Salazar was accused
of manipulating the TUEs system to
put his athletes on drugs they were not
prescribed. He is under investigation.
The concern that people can take
advantage which may sometimes
work against the athletes well-being
has been echoed by experts in the
field.
Michele Verroken, founder of
Sporting Integrity has said there is potential for some organizations
to misuse the rules by coaxing athletes to indicate false medical
conditions like asthma or heart trouble. She said, We are in danger
of medicalizing sport performance to get those marginal gains and
thats a really sad fact.
Ross Tucker also concurred with her and on social media analyzed TUE
and the WADA hack.
He asserted that he opposed illegal transparency but drew attention
to the unchecked TUE system the hack had revealed, which he
pointed out was only a reminder to most stakeholders. He said,
Its within the rules is exactly what many have been critical of.
He criticizes the lax regulation that doesnt even require TUE to take
cortisone out of competition. He strongly recommends TUEs with
short time limits OOC (out of competition), none in comp.
WHO
Who are caught in the cross-fire?
Athletes falling under various categories those who manipulated the
system, those who were manipulated by organizations and coaches
greedy for fame and those who adhered to the legal standards all
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suffer. The hackers have so far

revealed only records of those
belonging to the third category.
This was also the situation for
Russian Paralympians the
entire team had to face a ban
including those who were not
guilty and did not bow to state
pressure. In this instance,
the state brought about the
downfall of its athletes.
In case of the hack, the
immediate and most damaging effect has been revealing information
that athletes are entitled to keep private. It has made athletes come
out and talk about their personal health concerns which some have
already done.
US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) President, Travis T.Tygart said the
hackers had attempted to tarnish the image of athletes and portray them
as if they have done something wrong. He rightly pointed out, The
athletes havent. In fact, in each of the situations, the athlete has done
everything right in adhering to the global rules for obtaining permission to
use a needed medication.
HOW?
How have the athletes and the authorities reacted to this?
Authorities
Olivier Niggli, Director General, WADA,
in addition to condemning the attack
and asserting it was an act of revenge
urged Russia to take effective action
and put a stop to the attacks.
Russia for its part asserted it was not
involved, and the Government said it
was ready to help is asked to.
Rio 2016
Niggli apologized to the athletes whose records had been

compromised even as Vitaly Mutko, Russias Sports Minister firmly
denied Russias involvement. How can you prove that they are
hackers from Russia? You blame Russia for everything, Mutko said.
Niggli also warned that the hack would be detrimental to Russias
efforts at reform. Maria Zakharova, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
said it was unfair to connect the two.
International Olympics Committee (IOC)s statement was similar to
WADAs in condemning the act and criticizing the privacy violation
of athletes.
British Cycling said it had a worthy anti-doping culture and condemned
the invasion of athletes privacy. Michael Hask, head of anti-doping,
Denmark, shared the sentiments.
Athletes
Four Olympians - Petra Kvitova, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and
Robert Harting - said it made no difference as their use of medications
was already known widely or they welcomed the openness brought
about by the cyber-attack.
Simon Biles, Olympian gymnast who won four gold medals in Rio,
took to Twitter in response to the attack. She said she was on
medication for ADHD and had WADAs authorization. In her words,
having ADHD and taking medicine for it is nothing to be ashamed of.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a mental disorder
of the neurodevelopmental type. It is characterized by problems
paying attention, excessive activity, or difficulty controlling behavior
which is not appropriate for a persons age.
Venus Williams, tennis champion expressed disappointment at
the release of private information concerning her without prior
permission. She asserted her commitment to the guidelines set
by Wada, USADA (US Anti-Doping Agency), the ITF (International
Tennis Federation) and collectively the Tennis Anti-Doping
Program.
Team USA basketball player Elena Delle Donne, said with a hint
of sarcasm, Id like to thank the hackers for making the world
aware that I legally take a prescription for a condition Ive been
diagnosed with, which WADA granted me an exemption for.
Thanks, guys!
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Statement from Fancy Bears

Well keep on telling the world about doping in elite sports, the
group said Thursday. Stay tuned for new leaks.
Experts
Ings opines the issue is compliance and competence rather than
corruption of the system. He advocates efforts to increase public
awareness by sport and country on the number of TUEs received,
rejected and approved. He also emphasizes the need to have a
structured set of guidelines that details how WADA successfully
implements regulations.
Tucker unhappy with the current state of the system around TUE
agrees. In his words, Imagine if we knew how many swimmers
are asthmatic by country? Or, say, endurance runners? Or which
training groups were all on it? It would help us understand whether
the use of TUEs is getting out of hand.
REFERENCES
Website of Fancy Bears
Wiggins and Froome medical records released by Russian hackers
Russias greatest weapon may be its hackers
Wada hacking scandal: debate turns to the use of powerful legal
drugs
When athletes can take drugs. What are Therapeutic Use Exemptions?
Olympic Athletes Shrug off Medical Data Leaks by Hackers
Wada urges Russian government to help prevent hacking of athletes
medical data
Mind over matter
Rio 2016
Mind over matter
21/09/2016
In a world of duality, there is a perennial dispute between skill and spirit,
between brawn and belief. Nowhere is this contrast more visible than
at the worlds most celebrated sporting event, the Olympics. The grand
quadrennial competition was split into its two halves, the much-covered
Olympics, and its less celebrated brother, the Paralympics. Why, we
ask, do the Paralympics play second fiddle?
WHAT
What is the duality?
A teeming swarm of supporters flocked every arena, ground and
track at the Olympics, with both home fans and people severely
jetlagged from flying over 2000 miles to come to Brazil putting on
their finest display of support.
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Mind over matter
The Paralympics, however,

received no such glamour.
A handful of fans seated
embarrassedly, letting out quiet
screams of exultation as their
less-than-celebrity
sporting
idols achieved the impossible
was the shameful sight we
were greeted with.
The average fan of the
Olympics with access to the
news can name at least ten gold medallists off the top of his/her
head, but struggles to name a single winner at the Paralympics.
The media coverage that the Olympics got was the small matter of a
total of 100,000 hours of digital video content, more than ever before
in the history of the event.
The Paralympics received a mediocre 680 hours of official coverage,
in stark contrast with its superior cousin, the Olympics.
A total of 29.6 billion Brazilian real were invested by public and
private sources, a behemoth compared to the controversy-ridden
USD 8 million cut that the Paralympics faced, resulting in not being
able to fly athletes in from certain parts of Africa and Asia.
WHY
Why does this divide exist?
When all the numbers have been kept aside, the facts mulled over and
the question finally arises why? - several discussions are sparked off.
A possible conclusion, one that humanity would do anything to wash
off their hands, is that people just dont care about the Paralympics
as they do about the Olympics.
Media companies, investors and even professional sports analysts
with their own TV shows cant be held to blame because their job is
to milk out the demand of the general public, and if this is what the
people want, then the agencies of coverage will supply exactly that.
Mind over matter
Rio 2016
The
more
pertinent
idiosyncrasy here is the
staunch bias towards the more
glamorous Olympics, and the
media feeding the world more
and more about this event
only increases its emphasis.
The vicious cycle finds the
Paralympics hopelessly lost in
the eye of the storm.
Today, we are almost compelled
to ask if the main reason people arent watching the Paralympics
is because no one wants to broadcast them. The sinusoid of the
coverage battle has reached its incongruous trough, and only the
world media has the power to fix that.
WHEN
When did the two events commence?
The first ever Olympics were
conducted in the 8th Century
BC, in Olympia, but were
modernized by the formation
of the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) roughly 2700
years hence, in 1894. The IOC
remains the supervisory body
for the Olympics to this day.
With all 204 registered
countries a part of the IOC,
5 nations, namely Australia,
France, Greece, Great Britain
and Switzerland, have competed in all 27 modern Summer Olympics.
Born as a group of British World War II veterans in 1948, the
Paralympics have now grown to become an international event
governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), which
suffers a large budget shortage as compared to the IOC.
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Mind over matter
4,342 athletes came forward for the 2016 Summer Paralympics,

compared to the 11,303 at the Olympics. Still, this edition of the
Paralympics is considered one of the biggest breakthroughs in the
history of the event since Seoul 88, when the Paralympics were first
conducted directly after the Olympics using the same venues and
infrastructure.
WHERE
Where does this inequality put us?
The painful discrimination between
the two events is based on a
completely untrue view point of the
Olympics.
While many people believe
that the Olympics require
superhuman levels of skill,
commitment and training, they
often forget that Paralympians
do all that to merit a place at their
Olympics, but with the added setback of a physical or physiological
disability.
To be able to not only sidestep a physical handicap, but to excel
at activities that primarily require full health and fitness is beyond
extraordinary.
These heroes have put years of mental and emotional instability,
trauma of the handicap, social stigma and jeers from society upon
announcing their intent to be professional sportspersons on the
backburner, to achieve what is virtually impossible.
Watching men and women with only one functioning hand throwing
a javelin beyond 60m, or to see visually impaired individuals
score beautiful goals on the football pitch instils an eerie sense of
respect and humility towards these achievers of legendary status,
who deserve to be merited just as much as the Olympians, if not
more.
Mind over matter
Rio 2016
WHO
Who are some big names at the 2016 Summer Paralympics?
Belarus
visually
impaired
swimming champion Boki Ihar
leads the medals tally with 6
golds and a bronze. In fact, of
the top 20, only 3 medallists are
not swimmers. They are USAs
McFadden Tatyana (4 gold, 2 silver)
and Chinas Zhou Hongzhuan and
Jingjing (3 gold, 1 silver each).
China have absolutely run away
with the country-wise medal tally, standing atop the pile with 239
medals, a solid 92 medals above Great Britain in second.
Hosts Brazil asserted their football dominance by clinching gold in
the mens 5-a-side, bronze in the mens 7-a-side and bronze again
in mens goalball.
Indias Paralympic contingent has outdone its Olympic counterpart at the
worlds largest eclectic sporting event, by bagging 4 medals (2 golds, 1
silver and 1 bronze).
119 Olympians represented India and returned home with 2 medals,
while 19 Paralympians have already bagged 4.
Varun Singh Bhati won bronze in the mens high jump and Deepa
Malik brought home silver for womens shot put. Mariyappan
Thangavelu and Devendra Jhajharia were the undisputed heroes
of the Paralympics however, with their mens high jump and javelin
throw golds respectively.
HOW
How can we rectify this inequality?
In the information age, the world cannot escape with the excuse of
the Paralympics not being televised.
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Mind over matter
The facet of this disparity

that we need to correct is the
lack of a want to follow the
Paralympics, which in itself is
an absurd predicament.
The more the stories of
Paralympic
heroes
are
circulated amongst the citizens
of the world, the more aware
we become of the impossible
feats of strength and character
that these athletes display.
The inspiration that can be gained from hearing about and watching
these athletes in action is immense, and the world would do well to
seek to end this abysmal divide, and all in all, give the Paralympians
the respect they deserve.
The best story from Rio Paralympics
The Paralympic T13 1,500m final witnessed an extra-ordinary
outcome as the top four finishers (visually impaired) achieved
quicker times than the Olympic Games gold medallist of this year.
Algerias Abdellatif Baka won gold with a world record timing of
3mins 48.29secs for victory, more than 1.7 seconds faster than
American athlete Matthew Centrowitz who won gold at the Olympics
last month. Incredibly, even the fourth finish timing of 3:49.84 was
better than that of Centrowitz.
They say that the Paralympics sports are not on the same level as
the Olympics sports. They may be right. These four men proved it
in Rio.
REFERENCES
India in Paralympics
Paralympic Medal Count
What Olympics and Paralympics have done for Rio
Mind over matter
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