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| London Olympics Few Hour Away - Clocks Ticking Faster ! |
Have
you ever wondered how the Olympics started? In Olympia, Greece the
Olympic Games were held every four years. First Olympic game was
recorded in 776 BC; that was about 3,000 years ago. At that time this
great festival took place to honor the Greek gods. Olympics were held
during the great festival. The Olympics were called Olympiad in Greece.
London is all set to dazzle the world with a grand opening ceremony to
launch the greatest show on earth featuring over 10,000 athletes over
the next fortnight, a spectacle that has seen the cost escalating to
£9.3 billion ($14.5 billion).
Eighty-one athletes in London will form the largest Indian contingent ever to march at the Olympic Games. But if numbers could turn into
Olympic success, a country of 1.2 billion should have grabbed at least
1000 qualifications and maybe 100 medals. If not that, then what’s the
reason for India hoping to come home with a medals kitty heavier than
ever before?
Sixteen years ago in Atlanta, which was 16 years after India’s
last Olympic medal and 44 years after the last individual medal, Leander Paes changed India’s ‘participation-matters’ outlook. An athlete has to
soak in the pride, the honour to represent the country before he could
mount the podium with the five rings and the national anthem sends a
tear rolling down the cheek. That’s how Leander won that bronze and made
every Indian believe: “It’s not beyond us.”
Armed with a new-found self-belief, India's top athletes will seek to
script a fresh chapter in the country's Olympic history as they go into
the 30th edition of the sporting extravaganza from tomorrow with a
realistic chance of winning medals.
Never before has an Indian contingent raised so much expectations and
London could just be the launching pad for a new sporting era.
Five moments that will make Olympic history at the London Games:-
USAIN BOLT - If Bolt can overcome in-form fellow
Jamaican Yohan Blake, he will become the first man to achieve the 100m
and 200m Olympic sprint double twice.
MICHAEL PHELPS - Needing only two medals to equal the record of 18 held by Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, Phelps will have plenty of chances.
BRAZIL FOOTBALL TEAM - Despite being the most successful team in World Cup history with five titles, Brazil have never won Olympic gold.
OSCAR PISTORIUS - South Africa's "blade runner" is set
to be the first double amputee athlete to compete at the Olympics after
being selected for the 4x400m relay.
SAUDI WOMEN - For the first time in Olympic history,
every country represented at the Games will include female athletes
after Saudi Arabia agreed to send two women to compete.
One of the most telling images in the
past 30 years of sports television was the moment at the Opening
Ceremony of the 1996 Olympic Games when Muhammad Ali, shaking from the
growing effects of Parkinson’s disease, courageously lifted the torch
and sent a flame up to the Olympic cauldron.
Viewers from world wide are awaiting the most comprehensive coverage of an Olympic Games ever. Settle back and enjoy it !
