The lows
1. Four women’s doubles badminton teams were
expelled from the games for not trying enough and for having performed below
potential to get a favorable draw in the medal rounds. The teams were from
South Korea, China & Indonesia
2. Quite a few cases of doping were reported
during the 16 days of competition
3. The quality of officiating in some of
the sporting disciplines such as boxing, fencing, wrestling was not up to the
mark
4. Twitter was used as a medium for
racist remarks against athletes which was very unfortunate
The highs
As is any
Olympics, the highs outnumber the lows by a huge margin.
- The Baltimore bullet swam into
history on the last day of the swimming event – the 4x100m medley relay
winning his 18th gold medal to cap a remarkable Olympic career
with 22 medals in all – a dream run that began in Athens in 2004. Phelps
would certainly go down in history as the greatest Olympian of our times.
The 27 year old has decided to hang up his boots, his trunks rather!
- Lightning strikes every four
years in the form of Usain Bolt who proved beyond doubt that he’s a living
legend in the field of short distance running. He managed a triple double
while retaining his 100m, 200m & 4x100m relay with consummate ease.
The Jamaican team comprising Nesta Carter, Micheal Frater, Yohan Blake and
the great man himself smashed the world record in the relay – the final
event of the athletics program, to win in 36.84 seconds. One still wonders
why he slowed down towards the final 10m or so in the 200m event. He could
so easily have finished with a time under 19.3 seconds
- In Basketball, the American men’s
and the women’s team won gold medals re-asserting their Olympic supremacy
in this sport. The US men’s team has now won 14 medals in the Olympics –
an amazing feat
- In tennis, Andy Murray steam
rolled Roger Federer in three straight sets to win gold for Britain at
Wimbledon. He must have wondered what had gone wrong just a month ago
- Title favorites Brazil were
beaten 2-1 by a young and inspirational Mexican side that took home its
first gold medal in football. The opening goal was scored by Mexico in
under 30 seconds. The Brazilians would have to wait for that all elusive
gold medal. May be they’ll win it at home in front of their fans in Rio in
four years time.
- Two future Chinese stars emerged
from the swimming pool in the form of 20 year old Sun Yang & 16 year
old Li Shiwen. Yang won the 200 m freestyle as well as the 1500m freestyle
very comfortably. Swimmers from France, South Africa & Lithuania made
their mark in the pool as well. Missy Franklin, the 17 year old from the
US made her presence felt winning four medals in her first Olympics. She
won the 4x100m medley relay gold with her teammates Rebeca Soni (Breast
Stroke), Dana Vollmer (Butterfly) & Schmitt (Freestyle) in world
record time. Franklin will be one of the stars to look out for in Rio; The
backstroke is her main event
- The youngest female Olympian to
win gold was K. Ledecky in the women’s 800m freestyle beating legend and
local favorite Rebecca Adlington. She’s just 15
- In men’s hockey, The Germans
proved too strong for the Netherlands beating their arch rivals 3-1.
- In archery, the South Korean
women’s team stamped their class once again and won gold. The women’s
teams have won gold medals in the last 8 Olympics in succession.
- Mo Farah of Britain won both the
5000 & 10,000 m events in front of his delirious home fans. The Somali
born athlete was a joy to watch and was one among several of his
compatriots that helped the host nation amass a record 65 medals – 29 of
them gold. Britain won more than 60% of its medals in Track Cycling,
Rowing, Athletics, Boxing, Sailing & Equestrian.
- China finished second in the
medals tally just above Britain with 87 medals in all comprising 38 gold
medals. The country had won a remarkable 100 medals in Beijing four years
ago with 51 gold medals and topped the medals tally. As expected, the
Chinese dominated their favorite sporting disciplines namely Diving, Swimming,
Badminton, Table Tennis, Gymnastics, Weightlifting & Shooting
- However, USA took back the numero
uno position this time winning an impressive 104 medals – 46 of them gold.
Bulk of their medals came from Swimming & Athletics
- The Russian Federation finished
fourth. The former USSR was a force to reckon with in the Olympiads gone
by
- And it would be grossly unfair to
not make a mention of the wonderful, informative and up to date coverage
of all the events on Star Sports & ESPN. The entire team did a
fabulous job. Kudos to Alan Wilkins, Vijay Amritraj, Steve Dawson, Sanjeev
Palar, Paula Ali, Christie Simpson & Jatin Sapru. These are the names
that I could recall.
- The world came to a party for 17
days and the Londoners can be proud of what they have seen and achieved.
Sir Sebastian Coe can look back with joy and happiness for having
delivered one of the greatest summer games that saw 44 world records being
broken
I
have tried to highlight a few major achievements since it would be impossible
to mention all the athletes and their laurels across 26 different sports. Many
congratulations to each one of them.
See
you in Rio de Janeiro. By the way, the Olympic flag has reached the next host
already!
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