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| Tokyo 2020 closing ceremony (Source: Olympics.com) |
One of the reasons I didn't blog for almost a month was the Olympics. I wasn't checking blogs either during that time.
I was totally engrossed in the live telecast of so many events, both in which India was participating and those in which India wasn't.
SIMULTANEOUS LIVE FEEDS
Sony was the official broadcast partner for India, and they did a really good job. There were separate live feeds of almost all the events. There was a separate channel for events in which India was participating.
Every evening, I picked the events that I wanted to watch the next day and made sure I kept myself free, as far as possible. With so many events being telecast live simultaneously, I had to constantly toggle the channels!
The official Olympics website and app were also good with live updates of all the events. I used to keep a watch on that as well so I could switch when an event became interesting.
The only constraint was the timing. Japan is three and a half hours ahead of India. So on some days, it was a bit of a struggle to wake up early after a late night at work.
RISE AND FALL OF HOCKEY
The only game in which India was good at in the Olympics was field hockey. India won its first Olympic medal in 1928 when its hockey team won the gold. It remained unbeaten winning six gold medals consecutively till 1956.
#ThrowbackThursday
— Team India (@WeAreTeamIndia) January 31, 2019
The year was 1952, Games of the XV Olympiad in Helsinki. Uncertainty loomed over India's 5th gold in a row on the turf, but stalwart likes of captain K. D. Singh, @BalbirSenior and team ensured that #TeamIndia remained unbeaten at the @Olympics #Champions 🏑🥇 pic.twitter.com/UHN8QiE7zg
Then it was silver in 1960, gold in 1964, bronze in 1968 and 1972, nil in 1976 and gold in 1980. All in hockey. Then onwards India hasn't done well in the game.
RISE OF OTHER SPORTS AND GAMES
India had to wait till 1996 when other sportspersons began making their presence felt and began picking up medals.
1996
Leander Paes - bronze - tennis
2000
Karnam Malleswari - bronze - weightlifting
2004
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore - silver - shooting
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| Abhinav Bindra. (Source: India Today) |
Abhinav Bindra - gold - shooting
Vijendra Singh - bronze - boxing
Sushil Kumar - bronze - wrestling
2012
Vijay Kumar - silver - shooting
Sushil Kumar - silver - wrestling
Gagan Narang - bronze - shooting
Saina Nehwal - bronze - badminton
Mary Kom - bronze - boxing
Yogeshwar Dutt - bronze - wrestling
2016
P V Sindhu - silver - badminton
Sakshi Malik - bronze - wrestling
THE BEST SO FAR
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| Neeraj Chopra (Source: Sportstar) |
This year was the best so far. Compared to all previous years, India competed in the most number of events (18), sent the most number athletes (70 men and 54 women), and got the most number of medals (7).
Neeraj Chopra - gold - javelin throw
Mirabai Chanu - silver - weightlifting
Lovlina Borgohain - bronze - boxing
P V Sindhu - bronze - badminton
Ravi Kumar Dahiya - silver - wrestling
Bajrang Punia - bronze - wrestling
Team - bronze - men's hockey
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteOh yes, and it can only reflect well on the country as a whole. Such positivity is much needed for Bharat-Ma these days! Now I'm looking forward to the Paralympics!!! YAM xx
Hi Yamini - Yes, though there were a few heart-breaking narrow misses, generally we all felt good about the games, and the way the boys and girls fared.
Delete3 1/2 hour difference isn't much. You weren't able to DVR things that you could watch later? I used to do a lot of that, fast forwarding through things I wasn't terribly interested in, but this year I just didn't keep up with it. Too many sports, too many channels, and too busy with work.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you enjoyed it. India did well.
Hi Liz,
DeleteYa, three and a half hours isn't much of a difference for events from around 11 or 12 o'clock onwards. That would be like around 8 - 8.30 here.
But some of the events used to start much earlier. Like some of the hockey matches started at 7 am IST.
On the last day of golf, when the young Indian prodigy Aditi was doing very well, some of my golf enthusiasts woke up at 4 am to follow the live telecast!
Considering I go to bed only around 2 am (unless it's a holiday), waking up before 8 becomes a bit of a problem. Still, I did on a few days!
For my television, I have Amazon Fire TV Stick (which works via Wi-Fi), and I don't have the DVR option. A few service providers here who offer access to TV channels via dish antennae, do provide the DVR option.
First the good news. Now I have started to receive info about your blog post from both of your sources – feedburner and follow.it. Interesting to read about Indian medals at the Olympics. Looks like you have OD’d on Olympics. Wish you had included India's Flying Sikh in the "Narrow Misses" category.
ReplyDeleteHi Rajan, yes, it was a bit of an enjoyable overdose!
DeleteThe narrow misses were only for this Olympics.
But of course, Milkha Singh missed bronze in the 1960 Rome Olympics, and much later PT Usha missed bronze more narrowly in 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Hi Pradeep - so pleased you were able to indulge ... and that India did really well - especially bearing in mind the pandemic. Laender Paes ... I've known about for years on the tennis circuit - a great character, as well as a spectacular tennis player.
ReplyDeleteI saw a fair amount this year - but get overloaded with so much so often, and ours were repeat - because the time difference. See in the morning, but repeated throughout the day - overload!
Great you had fun and India achieved - cheers Hilary
That's a pretty impressive run of medals. Plus you got a field hockey medal again. I hope the next Olympics go as well for you.
ReplyDeleteHi Jeanne - Yes, getting an Olympic medal in hockey after so many years was something. In fact, hockey is India's National Game. So, you can imagine the excitement it created in the country!
DeleteI was very interested in your information in the blog re: India and Olympics...performance in varying sports. I may have told you once before in a blog I have great interest in India and Indian friends. So, always love to read something I can talk about.
ReplyDeleteHi Katie - That's interesting! :-) Thanks.
DeleteA refreshing post. The athletes are a true inspiration.
ReplyDeleteGreat to have a resume of the Olympics Games, as I was away from the TV almost all the time. Just coming back home, and visiting online!
ReplyDeleteAgree...this is the first time i had watched Olympics in so much detail and with a choice to watch what I want, thanks to Sony!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed watching the Olympics. The hockey medal was so heartening!
ReplyDeleteyes, the best is yet to come and it will. Seems that you were keen much for the Olympic sports and observed tings in the proper pathway. A useful analysis,Pradeep.
ReplyDelete