Shooting Star

There is something about the Olympics that I find very inspiring. The motto “Citius Altius Fortius” goads all of us to be faster, higher and stronger. The dream that has inspired humans to go past their humanness and achieve what makes each sportsperson believe that they too have a shot at inspiring the six billion. When Nadia Comenici hit the perfect ten in gymnastics at the Olympics many years back, the scoreboard read 0 because beyond 9 the scoreboards again went back to a zero. It was not thought to be humanly possible to score ten. Well she certainly proved that perfection was achievable after all. Nadia had like every medal winner proved that it was possible to go beyond what even four years back was celebrated as the ultimate feat a human being was capable of. But winning is not about being logical. It is about dreaming of the unachievable and then training the body to redefine the limits of human endurance.Sportspeople train for years, nations prepare for years to host it and even pay back the costs for years. After all Montreal has only recently finished paying for the Olympics that they hosted decades back. The training and dreaming for years finally culminates in a tiny window of opportunity when the world watches. Spoilt for choice, the world focuses on the best athletes, boxers, swimmers, gymnasts and more from every nation who test their mettle against the very best the world has to offer. Each of the Olympics has produced its share of legends. Tales of how people fought poverty, handicaps, religious barriers and even political regimes to burnout for that moment when they can stand up on the podium and get the gold. The band plays the national anthem of the winner’s country. What a moment that can be.Abhinav Bindra experienced that moment when at age 26 he gave the nation of a billion people the first individual gold medal at the Olympics. We shall celebrate. The winner however was poker faced even in victory. A billion people celebrated his win and breathed a sigh of relief as they wiped out the sentence that has haunted them for years – ‘why can a nation of a billion people not win a single individual gold at the Olympics’. Abhinav edged past Zhu Qinan, the Chinese shooter to the top spot at the podium. While Zhu wept in joyous celebration of getting the silver, our 26 year old shooting star kept a composed look broken only by a slight wave to a nation of a billion who wept, danced (or should I say Bhangra’d because that is now the national dance of India, really) and celebrated at being able to finally see at least one gold medal attributed to India when the medal tally flashes every day during the Beijing Olympics. For a change, cricket did not matter. Even Kapil Dev said that “Abhinav’s win is a thousand times better than the World Cup victory in 1983”. In a country where cricket is religion, that we lost the third test and the series to Sri Lanka 1-2 did not matter. A billion people had tasted gold. The media was already thinking of headlines – Golden Boy, Right on Target, Golden Gun, Gold Finger… or Shooting Star (!!)Abhinav’s father said dramatically on national TV that he had put every penny in his pocket in supporting his son’s dream. Before you go “Awwww…” let me add the Papa is not a poor struggling dad, starving himself to support his child’s passion. He is a wealthy businessman from Panchkula who is building Abhinav Inn and Hotel in Dehradun and has already announced a Rs200 crore hotel in Chandigarh called Olympian. There is nothing wrong in being rich or having rich parents. Had it not been for the rich Dad, Abhinav would have had to depend on the limited resources that we ration out in India under the name of sports infrastructure. Abhinav would not have had the private air-conditioned shooting range, computerized target transportation system, seven rifles (including the Walther PPK Rifle that James Bond has brought to our collective awareness) and all that is necessary to create a world class winner. It is true that we have had marathon winners from poor nations who have run barefoot and got the Olympic gold but sports such as shooting requires investment in creating conditions under which the person will ultimately compete. Take a look at the Shooting Range in Worli, Mumbai and you will realize why average equipment will only produce average shooters. In a sport where person and machine collaborate, no matter how brilliant and gifted the shooter is, the equipment will also play a part. Abhinav has been given a cash reward of Rs 10 lakhs by the Maharashtra government. I wish they had given that money to the shooting range instead for renovation. Not because AB does not deserve it, but because he does not need it. The President Pratibha Patil (what an alliteration!) has spoken. She hopes Abhinav’s win “should be an inspiration for our youth to take up sports as a full-time career.” Can we have all the cash awards being offered by the state governments to Abhinav (already totaling up to a few crores) to be invested in improving sports infrastructure of that state instead so that this gold medal does not remain only a shooting star, a moment that we clutch on to for the next sixty years of Independent India.I am not taking away Abhinav’s stupendous achievement. It really deserves the admiration of a billion people. More than the win, I admire the personal qualities Abhinav has displayed in abundance. Above all, his determination and grit, making him a modern day Arjun, like the legendary marksman of the epic Mahabharat. With minus 4 vision in both eyes, this spectacled lad came seventh in Athens, had a spinal injury in 2006 that made it difficult for him to lift the 5kg rifle. Unfazed by setbacks, he worked on a grueling physiotherapy routine and kept his eye on the target. Even in victory, he has maintained the same equanimity that he probably displayed when he did not win in the last Olympics. He deserves to bask in the glory and limelight that follows only cricketers in this country. Just watch the pot-bellied officials, shamelessly basking in reflected glory, jostle each other to appear in the TV frame when the camera reaches out to Abhinav. Abhinav will be the favored name for all new born males in India for a while. Reality shows will invite him to pronounce judgment on bump and grind routines being done by 10 year olds. Mahesh Bhatt or somebody from Bollywood will announce a film that chronicles Abhinav’s life story – complete with a Rakhi Sawant doing an item number in the last scene when the hero wins a gold medal at the Olympics. And why not? Unlike countries like China, US, Japan, Korea and so many of the East European countries, we have it easy. After all we do not have 30 gold medal winners, 40 silver and 52 bronze medal winners in every Olympics to celebrate. Our sports heroes have been PT Usha and Milkha Singh who missed the medal at the Olympics. For a nation that had gotten used to having masala chai with sugar substitutes, for once they can sip tea with the real thing now. Let the games begin!!