A couple of weeks ago, I "officially" became Australian. After 6+ years of living in this country, I have now been conferred Australian Citizenship. The Ceremony was simple and was presided by the Mayor of the Moreland Council, Joe Caputo. The function started off with a few words from the distinguished guests and was followed by the Pledge. We all were then invited on stage individually to be given our certificate of Citizensship and a native plant (dunno which one I got, trying to find out yet). My interpretation of being given a native plant is that the plant is a symbol of Australia and as Citizens it is our duty to nurture it and grow with it.
Once all of these formalities were done, it was time for the National Anthem. As much as I love the Australian National Anthem, I had a feeling that singing it was not going to be that special. I proved myself wrong, for when singing "Advance Australia Fair", I had a few goosebumps. Afterall, this is a country where I have spent the last 6+ years of my life. I enjoyed the feeling, knowing very much that I am Indian by heart, by soul and by whatever else. I fell bad though that my India Passport is no longer valid and I am speeding up my OCI application so that I will never have to obtain a visa to travel to India.
A couple of days ago, I was speaking to a colleague and I said "I cant wait for November", and when he asked "Why?", I replied "Because I am going home". He shot back with "Were'nt you at an Australian Citizenship ceremony not long ago?". I expected that question and replied to him "It will take more than just a ceremony to make Australia my home" :)
I am proud of the 46 Olympic medals that Australia won, but I am more proud about the 3 Olympic medals that India won :)
Talking about the Olympics, I did not have the time to blog during week 2 of the action and just for a round-up on that - it was amaing to see India come back with our biggest haul of medals ever. Sushil Kumar and Vijender Kumar deserve Kudos for their efforts. The upward trend - Bronze in Atlanta, Silver in Athens, Gold + 2 bronze in Beijing bodes well for India and we should continue with this trend. The Commonwealth Games in Delhi and London 2012 should be the next targets.
The Olympics in all was Fantabulous and it was 2 weeks of sheer BLISS in front of the TV. Watching champions like Phelps and Bolt perform on the worlds biggest stage was amazing.
I am very tempted to write more about athletics. The hurdles and the batten played villain to many a Olympic hopes. The hurdles saw favourite Lolo Jones and Suzanna Kallur fall and in the mens, Chinas golden boy Liu Xiang got injured and in the Relays US, Great Britain and Jamaica were among the horror upsets. It was great Drama in all, but none greater than the Fairy Tale that is Usain Bolt - 3 Golds in 3 WR times.
I started the Olympics as an Indian Citizen and finished it as an Australian. The olympics was the same, wasnt it? Nothings changed!!!
Showing posts with label olympics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label olympics. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Prolific Phelps and Thundering Bolt!!!!!!
The weekend at Beijing was defined by 2 men who are on top of their respective sports - Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt.
Phelps found a way to where he is all alone, having won 8 Gold medals at the one Olympics. The 100m Butterfly finals was nail biting and defines the man Phelps - he fights to the end and never gives up and on more occasions than not, he comes out on top. Phelps turned at 50m in 7th position and the 8 Gold dream seemed distant at that stage, but he clawed his way back in his trademark style to take the Gold on the touch, from Serbian Milorad Cavic. There was only 1/100th of a second in that win. With that win, having equalled Mark Spitz 1972 record of 7 Golds, he entered the 4X100 medley relay as the butterfly swimmer and swam the crucial lap giving the Americans an unassailable lead and his 8th Gold. What a man!!!
Away from the Water Cube and inside the Birds nest, was another battle that I have been waiting for, for a few months now. The Mens 100m dash. The Semifinals were intersting too and the upset came in the 2nd SF when Tyson Gay failed to qualify for the Finals. That left just Bolt and Powell, the 2 heavyweights battling it in the Finals, or so I thought. The Finals was off to a smooth start and Usain Bolt was quick off the blocks. At half way mark, he was the clear leader. He thundered through the next 30 metres gaining a lead of almost 15m and then switched off, spread his hands and thumped his chest as he cruised to the finish line in World Record Time. It was the most fantastic and the most ridiculous race - at the same time - that I have ever seen. The man was toying with the field and had he not switched off with 20 m to go, he could well have gone 2/10th of a second faster. There was Usian Bolt and there were the rest. Theres more Thunder in store at Beijing. Micheal Johnsons 200m WR of 19.32 secs is very much under threat and there cant be a bigger stage to break that record. Usian Bolt made my weekend. Asafa Powell finished in 5th (just as in Athens). Perhaps the pressure of the Olympics finals got to him. Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tonago took Silver and Walter Dix of US took bronze.
The 4X100 relay is a mouth watering prospect, with 3 of the 4 Jamaicans featuring in the 100m Finals - Powell, Bolt and Michael Frater(who broke the 10 sec barrier for the first time in the finals).
The story for the Indians has not been as good, since Abhinav Bindras Gold. Lee and Hesh lost the Doubles QFs to Roger Federer and Stainislas Wawrinka, who went on to take Gold. I think Roger Federer was very upset that he lost the Singles and wanted to make sure he goes home with a Gold. Good on him!! As I write, Nadal is leading by a set in the Finals of the Mens tennis.
Bajranglal Thakar finished 3rd is the D category final of the Mens Sculls and was not good enough for a medal. Well done to him though. The only hope for India now is the Pugilist - Akhil Kumar in the Bantam weight boxing. He beat the reigning champion to progress. His fight is tomorrow. Two other boxers have made it to the QFs.
The Indian womens Heptatheletes disappointed with a below par performance. Pramila Ganapathy, Shobha Javur and Susmita Roy finished 28th , 30th and 33rd respectively. What disappoints me most is that the Indian athletes never put up a Personal Best (PB) at the highest level. They may not be medal hopes, but coming up with a PB at least is the way to go.
Hopefully the others can do that.
Week 2 at Beijing ........bring it on!!!!!
Phelps found a way to where he is all alone, having won 8 Gold medals at the one Olympics. The 100m Butterfly finals was nail biting and defines the man Phelps - he fights to the end and never gives up and on more occasions than not, he comes out on top. Phelps turned at 50m in 7th position and the 8 Gold dream seemed distant at that stage, but he clawed his way back in his trademark style to take the Gold on the touch, from Serbian Milorad Cavic. There was only 1/100th of a second in that win. With that win, having equalled Mark Spitz 1972 record of 7 Golds, he entered the 4X100 medley relay as the butterfly swimmer and swam the crucial lap giving the Americans an unassailable lead and his 8th Gold. What a man!!!
Away from the Water Cube and inside the Birds nest, was another battle that I have been waiting for, for a few months now. The Mens 100m dash. The Semifinals were intersting too and the upset came in the 2nd SF when Tyson Gay failed to qualify for the Finals. That left just Bolt and Powell, the 2 heavyweights battling it in the Finals, or so I thought. The Finals was off to a smooth start and Usain Bolt was quick off the blocks. At half way mark, he was the clear leader. He thundered through the next 30 metres gaining a lead of almost 15m and then switched off, spread his hands and thumped his chest as he cruised to the finish line in World Record Time. It was the most fantastic and the most ridiculous race - at the same time - that I have ever seen. The man was toying with the field and had he not switched off with 20 m to go, he could well have gone 2/10th of a second faster. There was Usian Bolt and there were the rest. Theres more Thunder in store at Beijing. Micheal Johnsons 200m WR of 19.32 secs is very much under threat and there cant be a bigger stage to break that record. Usian Bolt made my weekend. Asafa Powell finished in 5th (just as in Athens). Perhaps the pressure of the Olympics finals got to him. Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tonago took Silver and Walter Dix of US took bronze.
The 4X100 relay is a mouth watering prospect, with 3 of the 4 Jamaicans featuring in the 100m Finals - Powell, Bolt and Michael Frater(who broke the 10 sec barrier for the first time in the finals).
The story for the Indians has not been as good, since Abhinav Bindras Gold. Lee and Hesh lost the Doubles QFs to Roger Federer and Stainislas Wawrinka, who went on to take Gold. I think Roger Federer was very upset that he lost the Singles and wanted to make sure he goes home with a Gold. Good on him!! As I write, Nadal is leading by a set in the Finals of the Mens tennis.
Bajranglal Thakar finished 3rd is the D category final of the Mens Sculls and was not good enough for a medal. Well done to him though. The only hope for India now is the Pugilist - Akhil Kumar in the Bantam weight boxing. He beat the reigning champion to progress. His fight is tomorrow. Two other boxers have made it to the QFs.
The Indian womens Heptatheletes disappointed with a below par performance. Pramila Ganapathy, Shobha Javur and Susmita Roy finished 28th , 30th and 33rd respectively. What disappoints me most is that the Indian athletes never put up a Personal Best (PB) at the highest level. They may not be medal hopes, but coming up with a PB at least is the way to go.
Hopefully the others can do that.
Week 2 at Beijing ........bring it on!!!!!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Beijing 2008 rolls on
After the euphoria of Gold that Abhinav Bindra won, it was disappointment at Badminton when Saina Nehwal missed out after a hard fought Quarter Final. She played a wonderful first game to win it, but could not sustain that level of play for the entire match. Shes young and shes determined and I am sure she will improve in the coming months.
Watching the swimming has been a delight. On the one end we have the Legend - Michael Phelps who has won 5 golds (11 in all olympics) and still counting and on the other end we have Australias own glamour girl Stephanie Rice winning 3 Golds. And then there is Frenchman Alain Bernard and Aussie Eamon Sullivan breaking each othrs records in the span of minutes and on the other end there is also Indias young VirDhawal Khade, who competed at the Water Cube (which is a wonderful swimming facility).
It is all happening. I am disappointed by the coverage here though as it is very Australian opriented and the commentary is biased. Sure, you have to cater for local audience and show the Australians performing, but then the Olympics is the biggest stage and you want to watch all the best sporting action, irrespective of nationality. Games such as the olympics present an opportunity for sports like Fencing, Wrestling, Gymnastics, Diving to be showcased, but again, because of the coverage, theres been very little or none of these sports covered on TV. I miss watching DDs coverage, as they covered all sports pretty well.
As I write, BajrangLal Thakar must be taking to the water in his Mens Single Sculls finals. I wish him the best and hope that he comes back with a medal. Just because he does not have long hair like Dhoni, or because Saina nehwal is not as media savvy as Sania Mirza, does not mean that these 2 dont deserve coverage. I was very disappointed with the media - Times Now Tv channel announced that saNIa (not saINa) had entered eth Quarters in Badminton, and Timesofindia.com had BajrangLal s last name as Thakur instead of Thakar. So much for our news agencies love for glamour in sport too!!!!
Lee and Hesh are in the Quarters and in my opinion are a real chance at a medal. From images that I have seem, they seem to be able to put all personal animosities to rest when they are on court representing India. Heres wishing them well and hoping that they return with a medal - Gold would be best!
In the next 2 days the action in the pool builds to a crrescendo, with Phelps chasing 8 golds and the grand finale with all of the exciting Medley relays. As much as I am looking fwd to that, I am more than waiting for action to start on eth track and field. It is a mouth watering prospect - the battle for eth fastest man between Tyson Gay, Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, the sheer dominance and elegance of Blanks Vlasic (High Jump) and Yelena Isimbayeva (Pole vault), the grir and determination of teenager Pamela Jelimo in the 800m, the battle for the quarter mile between compatriots Jeremy Wariner and LaShawn Meritt, the short Stefan Holm in the High jump.............and this is just a preview of whats to come!!!!
Bring it on Beijing!
Watching the swimming has been a delight. On the one end we have the Legend - Michael Phelps who has won 5 golds (11 in all olympics) and still counting and on the other end we have Australias own glamour girl Stephanie Rice winning 3 Golds. And then there is Frenchman Alain Bernard and Aussie Eamon Sullivan breaking each othrs records in the span of minutes and on the other end there is also Indias young VirDhawal Khade, who competed at the Water Cube (which is a wonderful swimming facility).
It is all happening. I am disappointed by the coverage here though as it is very Australian opriented and the commentary is biased. Sure, you have to cater for local audience and show the Australians performing, but then the Olympics is the biggest stage and you want to watch all the best sporting action, irrespective of nationality. Games such as the olympics present an opportunity for sports like Fencing, Wrestling, Gymnastics, Diving to be showcased, but again, because of the coverage, theres been very little or none of these sports covered on TV. I miss watching DDs coverage, as they covered all sports pretty well.
As I write, BajrangLal Thakar must be taking to the water in his Mens Single Sculls finals. I wish him the best and hope that he comes back with a medal. Just because he does not have long hair like Dhoni, or because Saina nehwal is not as media savvy as Sania Mirza, does not mean that these 2 dont deserve coverage. I was very disappointed with the media - Times Now Tv channel announced that saNIa (not saINa) had entered eth Quarters in Badminton, and Timesofindia.com had BajrangLal s last name as Thakur instead of Thakar. So much for our news agencies love for glamour in sport too!!!!
Lee and Hesh are in the Quarters and in my opinion are a real chance at a medal. From images that I have seem, they seem to be able to put all personal animosities to rest when they are on court representing India. Heres wishing them well and hoping that they return with a medal - Gold would be best!
In the next 2 days the action in the pool builds to a crrescendo, with Phelps chasing 8 golds and the grand finale with all of the exciting Medley relays. As much as I am looking fwd to that, I am more than waiting for action to start on eth track and field. It is a mouth watering prospect - the battle for eth fastest man between Tyson Gay, Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, the sheer dominance and elegance of Blanks Vlasic (High Jump) and Yelena Isimbayeva (Pole vault), the grir and determination of teenager Pamela Jelimo in the 800m, the battle for the quarter mile between compatriots Jeremy Wariner and LaShawn Meritt, the short Stefan Holm in the High jump.............and this is just a preview of whats to come!!!!
Bring it on Beijing!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Gold to India
I was at work, doign a bit of work and following the olympics on the web. I was excited aboutthe swimming and then kept refreshing the page for eth shooting results. Just when the results page was coming up, a colleaugue of mine patted me to ask me something work related. I did not respond and instead said "YES, India wins Gold, the first individual Gold for us in Olympic history". I spread the joy around the office and felt the goosebumps.
The first thing I did when i got back home was log in to the CNN-IBN stream and to my luck it was playing the video of Abhinav receiving his medal followed by the entire National Anthem played in his honour. I watched the video in attention and at the end of it my eyes were moist. Truly inspiring.
Well done Abhinav!!!! You have led the way and I hope the others follow suit. If you look back 2 posts on this blog, you will read about how I hope to listen to Jana Gana Mana at Beijing. Now that I have heard it, I want more!!!! Go India!!!!
The first thing I did when i got back home was log in to the CNN-IBN stream and to my luck it was playing the video of Abhinav receiving his medal followed by the entire National Anthem played in his honour. I watched the video in attention and at the end of it my eyes were moist. Truly inspiring.
Well done Abhinav!!!! You have led the way and I hope the others follow suit. If you look back 2 posts on this blog, you will read about how I hope to listen to Jana Gana Mana at Beijing. Now that I have heard it, I want more!!!! Go India!!!!
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Lead up to the Olympics
It is the olympic year and Beijing 2008 is less than a month away. I cant wait for the mouth watering action to begin. The lead up to the Olympics has been roungh, in terms of the political issues surrounding Tibet, but I am certain that come 08-08-08 all that will be put to rest and the focus will completely shift to the sprting action with "Citius Altius Fortius" being the foundation.
There are many different events that I am looking forward to - The swimming where the duel between US and Australia is expected to be jaw dropping. While I will be backing the Aussies led by Grant Hackett and Libby Trickett (formerly Lenton), I will also be hoping for Michael Phelps to win the most Golds at Olympics.
Athletics has always excited me and the fact that I can relate a lot to it from my experience being an athlete, gives me many a goosebump moments. The IAAF Golden League is on and that is keeping me very interested. I cant wait to see the new World Record Holder and fastest man on earth - Usain Bolt, take on Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay for the 100m sprint. While Usains main focus is teh 200m dash, i hope his coach allows him to complete the 100m as well. The 3 have run races within 0.04 seconds each other in the last 1 year.
One of the biggest disappointments is tha fact that the Indian Hockey team has not qualified for eth Olympics. Apart from that, the Indian contingent in general is quite strong and there are a few medal hopes. leander Paes got a bronze in Atlanta, Major Rajyavardhan Rathore brought us a silver in Athens, can anyone go one better this time and return a Gold? That elusive Gold could, in my opinion, from from either the Shooters or from Lee and Hesh in the Tennis doubles. The other medal hopes for India, with outside chances, are : 4X400 m relay Womens team and Anju George in the Long Jump.
I will be hoping and praying to hear "Jana Gana Mana" being played in honour of an Indian Gold at Beijing. Also I will definitely be singing "Advance Australia fair" everytime Australia wins a Gold. Fair Dinkum??
Watch this space for more. I will endeavour to blog more regularly and get back to blogging the way I knew it until about 6 months ago.
There are many different events that I am looking forward to - The swimming where the duel between US and Australia is expected to be jaw dropping. While I will be backing the Aussies led by Grant Hackett and Libby Trickett (formerly Lenton), I will also be hoping for Michael Phelps to win the most Golds at Olympics.
Athletics has always excited me and the fact that I can relate a lot to it from my experience being an athlete, gives me many a goosebump moments. The IAAF Golden League is on and that is keeping me very interested. I cant wait to see the new World Record Holder and fastest man on earth - Usain Bolt, take on Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay for the 100m sprint. While Usains main focus is teh 200m dash, i hope his coach allows him to complete the 100m as well. The 3 have run races within 0.04 seconds each other in the last 1 year.
One of the biggest disappointments is tha fact that the Indian Hockey team has not qualified for eth Olympics. Apart from that, the Indian contingent in general is quite strong and there are a few medal hopes. leander Paes got a bronze in Atlanta, Major Rajyavardhan Rathore brought us a silver in Athens, can anyone go one better this time and return a Gold? That elusive Gold could, in my opinion, from from either the Shooters or from Lee and Hesh in the Tennis doubles. The other medal hopes for India, with outside chances, are : 4X400 m relay Womens team and Anju George in the Long Jump.
I will be hoping and praying to hear "Jana Gana Mana" being played in honour of an Indian Gold at Beijing. Also I will definitely be singing "Advance Australia fair" everytime Australia wins a Gold. Fair Dinkum??
Watch this space for more. I will endeavour to blog more regularly and get back to blogging the way I knew it until about 6 months ago.
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