First and foremost we have to blame ourselves rather than blaming the athletes. The problem which we have is that we compromise for everything. Instead of blaming the athletes blame each and every individual in India, ofcourse I am blaming myself too. We say we are good in studies, cricket, good in this, good in that but still we are a developing country. I read a reply posted by an american and he says we should meat and I believe it is not necessary to eat meat to win a medal and for his kind information the person who won the 110m hurdles(CHN) was a vegetarian and why didn't an american win the 110m hurdle even though he eats brawn and meat anyways that was a stupid reason. We as indians should start thinking about ourselves rather than blamin athletes how many of us are takin interest in sports other than cricket. We say we dont have time but we do have all the time in this world to talk all bullshits about politics and third person in this world. It is high that we should think about this and create interest in ourselves and make India a winnin country in 2008 which always possible. There is nothing impossible in this world. We will prove that we are the best. Wake up people.
As lot of people have pointed out in their messages , this author needs a spank...Our athletes are trying hard and are on the right track. No athlete is crazy to throw it all away after years of practice. Results take time it doesnt happen overnite. You gotta be supportive atleast. Ridiculous article!
I understand that many of the athletes failed at Athens, but such articles will only demoralize the athletes further. It is unfair to ridicule their reasons without being certain. Mental toughness is an area where we are lacking badly and we definitely need to build on that aspect for these big games in fuuture.
We cannot blame the state for everything ! We lack the attitude and sporting culture that many of the Western Nations posess and that which some of our eastern neighbours have cultivated so successfully over the last few decades. Face it...how many of us would take our family out for an adventure / sporting activity on a holiday rather than watch the telly, eat out & watch movies ? Things have to change at the attitudinal level
This is a stupid article and in very bad taste. All the athletes have been quoted out of context.
For example, just 3 days ago rediff carried an article on Anju Bobby John where she said "Tell everyone I am sorry" for not winning a medal. But today you are saying she blamed the pollution.
Sir author : You are talking non sense. medal or no medal a champion is a champion. Fourth place finish in weightlifting is as good as a medal my friend. Even sixth place finish in long jump is fabulous achievement. I mean Anju Geroge smashed the national record in the first attempt. The platinum girls of 4*400 relay semi finals stepped all over the national record and blew it to pieces. Especially the last leg by Kaur. Binu pulverised the national record in 400. They gave it not only their career best but it was the best ever by indian. What is your criteria to criticize them? Any figures? I do not understand. I pity you sir. Medals do not fall from the sky. It takes time. Medals is not everything either. In this olympics our champions have got the experience and confidence. In spite of lack of facilities and lack of encouragement from authors like you.
Champions - Please forgive this author. He knows not what he says. You did your best and made our day. Not all of us might be able to communicate to you and reply to such non sense but please understand that we do respect and admire you. A lot of us.
RE:i pity you author
by blues22 on Aug 31, 2004 01:34 AM
I think the author is absoulely right. There has to be determination and motivation to win medals where our players lacks because ultimately its medals which counts, the END result. Nobody cares for 4th or 6th positions. Look at USA and China teams, they participate to win, no exceptions or excuses. And If our players had problems, why did they go to Athens first of all?
Moreover we should understand that, govt. is investing crores of rupees on their training, I would say its going in trash, Instead stop participating in Olympics and give that money to homeless people in country, at least there will be some positive results to it.
RE:i pity you author
by Sunil on Aug 31, 2004 02:39 AM
I appreciate your message and the spirit behind it. If this time 5 or 6 players have entered finals, with our support and encouragement, many more would enter finals. May be we will see more Rajat-vardhans and Swarn-vardhans in shooting and other sports.
Any baseless criticism would bring down the morale of our sport persons. I think, our Sports Minister is handling the issues nicely and I am sure he would clean-up the dope related issues, streamline the procedure to select the genuine sports person and office bearers and obtain more corporate Sponsorship for sports infrastructure.
If we cannot help our sports persons fincially, atleast we should be liberal enough to appreciate hardwork, sincerity and efforts put by them.
I do not think, we should criticize our sports persons just for the sake of it. I do not remember seeing as many athletes/shooters getting into finals before.
I think, it will be better to be constructive ans responsible while passing comments on our players.
RE:The Great Indian Excuses return
by raju on Sep 01, 2004 06:28 AM
dir blues22 : you are talking china and america. see how they respect their champions. see how understanding they are if the athletes have a off day. their runners came 2nd , 20th and 40th in marathon and they respected all of them equally. they do not 'demand' any results by the way. even when baton exchanges cost them medals they r tolerant and supportive. when ireland had a self goal in world cup the players involved got tonnes of e-mail in support. about money : if u r saying usa nd america then they are spending much more on athletes than us. in any case it does not take money to appreciate champions. try that. we do not win medals because of combination of many reasons : physique, diet of centuries, lack of sports culture etc etc etc, too much cricket, poor country, climate, relative isolation frm the world etc etc etc. no need to blame the athletes sir.
champions - forgive these folks. all we want is for you to be happy and dance in closing ceremony.
RE:The Great Indian Excuses return.. reply to Sameer
by Sunil on Aug 31, 2004 05:31 PM
Sammer,
And I am sure the attitude like yours would not lead India anywhere. Though you are in Australia, I do not think, your useless feedback has helped in Australia in being #4 in medal list. You can be anywhere in the world (Australia very much included), still you can be irresponsible and useless.
I am in US which is #1 in medal list, still I am very much an INDIAN, care for my country's sports persons and aspire to see more of them on the podium.
RE:The Great Indian Excuses return
by Samir on Aug 31, 2004 12:07 PM
Its attitude like yours will keep us INDIANS a bunch of lossers. I am currently in Australia, 4th on the medal tally and they are seriously unkind and uncharitable to ppl who lost, like Sally Roberts who stopped rowing due to physical fatigue and collapsed and lost the country a medal. Its chalta hai attidued that makes us loosers and u just supporting it. At this rate i guess u could wait for a gold all your life
Essentially, Indians are proving to the world that they are sub-human scum ("Untermenschen") by their poor showing at the olympics despite having the world's second highest population.
What can you say about one billion people not able to salvage even a sliver of self respect ?
One billion people -> One Silver Medal -> (HAH!)
No Army involvement will help. India needs to put a stop to the undue importance given to cricket in your country and popularize sports played at the Olympics all over India. But will Indians reform after the humiliation they suffered. I doubt they will. This people has no self respect.
Cricket is the Anaconda which is constricting Indian sports to death.
If you can have 7 IITs and 6 IIMS then why not 10 IISAs Indian Institute of Sports and Athletics which turn out olympians ?
Also please put a stop to this idiotic habit of vegetarianism for once and start eating meat and fibre.
RE:Sub-Humans
by An Indian on Aug 31, 2004 03:16 AM
Apparently it is not only Beef and Brawn but even stupidity and racism that go along with them. (Mind you i am not a vegetarian).
And as far as cricket and indian sports are concerned frankly it is none of your business if you cannot even speak respectfully.
It is one thing to advise on deficiencies and another to slander. Before an american can throw stones at other coutries, he should look at the policies of his own country.
RE:Sub-Humans
by another indian on Sep 01, 2004 05:38 AM
mr. American,
not doing well in olympics deosnt make us the sub-humans.and topping the medals tally doesnt give you the rights to badmouth the other countries.
some facts that you need to know about indians. We Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America, even faring better than the whites and the natives. There are 3.22 millions of Indians in USA (1.5% of population). YET, 38% of doctors in USA are Indians. 12% scientists in USA are Indians. 36% of NASA scientists are Indians. 34% of Microsoft employees are Indians. 28% of IBM employees are Indians. 17% of INTEL scientists are Indians. 13% of XEROX employees are Indians.
