Most of us don’t understand things
as they are. We get to see them as depicted by the popular media or by
rabble rousers or opinion makers like Arnab (Arnab Goswami is a news Anchor for
a Television channel in India). Arnab has made news very watchable but it is more like
a rough and tumble, wild west boxing match. Everything is okay as long as many
punches are thrown and there is blood and gore.
We are an armchair-sitting
generation, that takes most things for granted. Especially more so when it comes to sports. We are critical to the point that we are smug and very
self-opinionated. Everything is taken for granted. Allow me to enlighten.
Javier Sotomayor, clearing 2.45 metres, a world record
The world record for high jump for
men is 2.45 metres or 8 feet and ¼ inch.
You read it right! I can imagine some readers gasping in disbelief! YES 8 feet.
You need to take a fast run to the pit, bend backwards and arch your back and
sail over the bar. Pressure is building and an inch here and there could be a
gold, silver or a bronze medal. Or being called an also run or a failure. What is heart stopping is that many athletes
are between 6 feet to 6.5 feet tall and are expected to jump much more than their
height and that too without any support.
That is why I would suggest to my
readers to watch the sports live in a stadium. Nothing more exciting than
seeing a world class athlete soaring over a high jump bar just like a bird. Or
gape like mad as you watch an athlete literally fly as they clear 6 metres to
achieve glory in pole vault.
Sergi Bubka, the legendary pole vaulter from USSR
had a mind boggling 28 world records (17 outdoor and 11 indoor) to his credit.
Bubka set his final world record of 6.15 (20.17 feet) in
February 1993 in Donetsk which stood for almost 21 years. He had
once said “Every new world record attempt is a nerve shattering experience. It
is a height that no one has ever cleared. So unless it is cleared the
butterflies in my stomach would never settle down”.
Coming to Ethiopia, we all seem to
think that running comes naturally to them. Yes, running is fun and only, if it
is for a kilometre or two. But we are talking about pounding kilometres
monotonously for days, months or even years. The world record for a marathon is
2 hours 6 minutes to cover 42 Kilometres and 195 metres. Covering 42 kilometres
in two hours! That is covering one
kilometre in 3 minutes. At that speed the athletes are literally flying. Their
feet are off the ground, bodies are heaving, eyebrows furrowed in
concentration, and their entire being drenched in sweat. They are in a zone of their own. It is fascinating
to see people run. For the present generation, even walking to the lift or changing
channels of a TV is a chore or a boring exercise! I urge you all, to atleast try running a
kilometre at your own pace to understand our athletes before being critical about
them.
The marathon is a killer sport. It
entails running 42.195 kilometres at one go and without stopping. A fascinating
sport. The only sport that can’t be practised in its totality. One can’t run a
marathon every day! Most athletes run the marathon only on the marathon day!
Every marathon is a life changing event. It is said that first 10 Kms are fun, second 10 Kms are by practice, penultimate 10 Kms are out of endurance and last 10 Kms are full of pain where every
muscle, bone and blood cell is crying out of pain and frustration. There are thousands
of reasons to stop and only one reason
to continue. The reason is self-belief, to prove a point to yourself and finally
the pride of running for the country.
The last 2 Kms are pure
torture, the lungs are sobbing, breath is forced, the legs are wobbly and the blood
starts accumulating in the eyes.
No comments:
Post a Comment