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Summer Olympics.

 We as a family are non-athletic; I never played any sport and for some reason didn’t encourage my children to do so either. So generally don’t watch any sports however have made it a point to watch both summer and winter Olympic as a family. Back then, watched it with family whatever little appeared on Doordarshan (Indian TV channel) and familiar with only some athletes names and events. We got hooked on to watching Olympic Games after 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta where we watched a hockey match. But now that we watch it daily, some names such as Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt have become household names and watched all their events. I have felt happiness when Michael or Usain won as predicated but was also sad when some of them got injured during their event and what bothered me the most was disqualification due to a false start, all that hard work , some of them won’t get a second chance at the next Olympic. While some stories were simply heart touching such as when the American runner Abby D’Agostino helped New Zealand’ Nikki Hamblin after a fall in turn losing her chance at a medal , some of them were heart breaking to know how they didn’t have the resources available to them or the conditions under which they trained; some stories such as Sakshi Malik , Indian female wrestler who delivered India its first medal and Joe Schooling, who watched Michael Phelps for the first time at Beijing Olympics in 2008 vowing to be like him and then ultimately swimming with him and winning the gold leaving Michael to a mere silver were simply inspiring; and then you just had to give it to all the refugee athletes….It is a one thing to watch them to do their things from the air conditioned confines of your home and different thing to be actually out there, rain or shine, training for 8-10 hours a day. I admire all the athletes and their family members dedication , motivation to pursue their dreams and hope it has inspired someone somewhere … as far as our household is concerned , we will just sit here in our air conditioned home and watch them do their thing and wait for another Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt to emerge at the next Olympic. My rambling for this Friday!



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