Vijender Kumar

CLOSE friends, relatives, most of a village and hundreds of fans welcomed boxer Vijender Kumar, wrestler Sushil Kumar and other members of the Indian contingent back home on Monday night.

Loud cheers, garlands, eager fans and policemen surrounding them — this was the scene at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. It seemed that almost everyone from Najafgarh and Bhiwani (in Haryana) had gathered there to receive Sushil and Vijender.

As the winners stepped out, the fans started playing the dholak, bursting crackers and showering flower petals on them. As the heroes made their way toward the cars waiting for them, it became increasingly difficult for the police to manage the crowd, with people jumping over the barricades to congratulate the winners.

Wearing that bronzed look — and the medal — proudly, Vijender was taken aback by the reception. “It’s unbelievable — the way people gathered at the airport to receive us. I finally feel like a star. It’s great to be back home and I’m happy to meet my father, who’s come all the way from Bhiwani to receive me. But I’m tired and hope to get some time to relax and be with my family,” he said.

Tiring it was, certainly, but the Beijing Olympics and his stay at the village there was also an emotional experience for Vijender, and for more reasons than the medal. “I enjoyed every minute of the Olympic games. My heart broke when I was leaving the Olympic village — I made a lot of friends there and I’m going to miss them a lot,” he said, adding, “One of my special friends gifted me a green friendship band, which I wore on my right hand before I left for the Beijing airport.” Of course, that’s not the only gift in store for him, his friends Rampal and Bunty, who came all the way from Punjab, have gifted him a car! “I’m so glad to see my friends. I was surprised when they told me that they’ve gifted me a car. I’ve decided to take all my friends out in it and will have a big party soon,” he grinned. Being quite easy on the eye, all the focus is going to be on him for a while, but Vijender says that sports other than cricket will benefit from the attention. “I’m sure that after winning this medal, boxing will soon become one of the most popular sports in India,” he said.

Nadal gets gold before crown

Rafael Nadal clinched a golden treble to wrap up the Olympic tennis tournament on Sunday, overcoming Chilean Fernando Gonzalez to add the Games men’s singles gold to his French Open and Wimbledon crowns.

The unstoppable Spaniard won 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 to mark his impending rise to the top of the world rankings with his country’s first ever Olympic gold medal in tennis. “It’s very difficult to win this because you only have one chance every four years,” Nadal, who replaces Roger Federer as world No. 1 on Monday, said. “I played almost a perfect match.”

Before Nadal’s fireworks, Russia’s Elena Dementieva enjoyed the biggest moment of her career when she won the women’s singles gold medal against compatriot Dinara Safina.

Dementieva battled back to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Vera Zvonareva made it an all-Russian singles podium by beating China’s Li Na 7-5, 6-0.

American Venus Williams claimed the third Olympic gold medal of her career when she and sister Serena thrashed Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2, 6-0 in a onesided women’s doubles final.

While Dementieva and Safina served up a compelling battle of wills, it was Nadal who everyone had come to see — apart, that is, for the flag-waving Chilean fans who cooked up a Davis Cup-type atmosphere on Centre Court.

From the start Gonzalez did what he does best, pounding forehands across the net. Nadal munched them all up and fizzed them back from all angles.

Nadal sealed the first set after a 37-minute masterclass of blurring movement and power.
Gonzalez traded blows with Nadal in the second set, standing toe-to-toe with the raging bull over the net, and his big chance came at 6-5 when he had the Spaniard in trouble at 15-40.

On his first set point he played a perfect point but with the court gaping, put a simple backhand volley wide. He then offered up a forehand gift and his moment had passed. Nadal stormed the tiebreak and muscled 5-2 ahead in the third set.

Gonzalez saved three match points but the insatiable Nadal sealed it on his fourth. “It looked easy, but when you’re tired you get a little dizzy,” Gonzalez said of the volley, neatly summing up the effect Nadal has on his opponents.

Rafa deserves top spot, says Federer

Roger Federer said Rafael Nadal “totally deserves” the No. 1 ranking, paying warm tribute to the Spaniard who takes over the top spot on Monday. Federer, who grabbed Olympic doubles gold with partner Stanislas Wawrinka, said Nadal had played his way to the top and admitted he was now dominating the sport. “I’ve known for over a week now about the number one ranking. But it’s fine. Rafa played great to get it,” Federer said. “That’s what I expected and hoped for many years ago when I got to No. 1, that if ever somebody were to take it away from me, he would have to play an incredible tennis schedule, win the biggest tournaments, dominate the game basically, and then like this he can take No1. I didn’t want it to happen that I would play completely bad and somebody would pick up number one in the world. So I think Rafa totally deserves it.”

After Eight

Thirty-six years is a long time for an Olympic record. But that is how long swimming legend Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in a single Olympic Games has stood. On Sunday, Spitz’s record was broken by fellow American and swimmer Michael Phelps when he powered the US team to a gold in the 4x100-metre relay. Phelps’s tally of gold medals now stands at 14, which is also a record.

Questions will inevitably be raised now whether Phelps is the greatest Olympian ever. If you go by numbers alone, Phelps is way ahead of the other greats like Spitz, Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi who had all won nine golds. And there might be more since Phelps plans to take part in the 2012 Games. But just as it is difficult to compare performances across disciplines, so it is to compare between eras. The training, schedules and incentives have all changed since the days Spitz competed. The swimming pools are different, so are the new corset-like suits.

What is more important is the ability of Phelps to reach the heights that he has in a system which is focused on sporting excellence but does not force athletes to perform. As a seven-year-old, Phelps joined a swimming club in Baltimore where he quickly showed amazing potential and was taken under the wings of coach Bob Bowman. Spitz, too, began at a local club at Santa Clara in California. Local clubs, along with schools and universities, are the backbone of America’s sporting success. Athletes from several other countries also train in American universities as did Serbia’s Milorad Cavic, who came second to Phelps in the 100-metre butterfly event. There are poorer countries that are following this model. The fastest man on earth — Jamaica’s Usain Bolt who won the 100-metre sprint in record time — along with a host of other top-class sprinters such as Asafa Powell train at the island’s University of Technology on a scholarship programme.

India must borrow a leaf from such schemes. While we could look at China’s example of focusing on a few disciplines, we must build up an institutional structure that is not dependent on the government. Some of the Indian boxers, who are doing so well in the Olympics, learnt their boxing in local clubs before getting sponsorship from private trusts. There is plenty more such sporting talent waiting to be tapped.

EIGHT-OMIC WONDER

Michael Phelps has dreamed of a lot of things, written down a lot of goals ever since he started training under Bob Bowman in the 200m butterfly event at the age of 15. This was the biggest one he had ever written down. So big that the world just kept convincing itself for 32 years that it was impossible to achieve; so big that the Water Cube forgot about everything else here these past nine days.


On Sunday, Phelps was set to write the punchline of his fairytale. He was itching to break Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals at an Olympics, and all roads led to the Cube.

‘The dream’ loomed large over the city’s landscape as people rushed to reach in time. Hundreds milled outside the security check point, looking desperately for tickets. They were selling all right, at four times the normal price. It was like no other Sunday.


Inside, fans had occupied the seats long back in anticipation, fanning themselves, sipping iced tea and simply waiting, eyes glued to the clock. At exactly 10.30am the wait came to an end. The buzz turned into a roar as Phelps trooped in with his teammates and stretched for a while at the 4x100m relay medley starting point.



Eight years after he became the youngest man to set a swimming world record in 200m butterfly Phelps was ready to stroke and glide again, in the event he loves the most the butterfly, like always the third of the four styles in a medley.


Aaron Peirsol gave USA the lead in the first leg, the backstroke; Brendan Steven stayed an inch ahead in the breaststroke and then dived in Phelps. The noise level at the pool could have matched one at an Aerosmith concert.


Phelps has a rare body, his upper torso much longer than his legs. His arm span of 201 cm is 7 cm more than his height. Those arms got down to work to create history, in a beautiful rhythm. The crowd cheered every stroke, every move, every ripple in the sparkling blue at the Cube.



He was way ahead of the rest and soon as he touched the pad, the chanting began. Jason Lezak just went for it, leaving behind a splashing trail. As he turned for the second 50m, one could see Phelps cheering him on, arms swinging wildly, the dream coming closer. It soon turned into a reality and Phelps hugged them all, tightly. Not letting go, feeling his dream, living his dream.



Mission accomplished, the pool’s water now a tranquil blue, Phelps said later at the press conference: “I just saw mum for one minute, we just hugged, she started crying, and I started crying, and then my sister started crying. It’s been a fun week.” The Aquaman was human again.

400M IND MEDLEY Cruises to the finish line in record time of 4:03:84, bettering the previous mark of 4:05:25

4X100M FREESTYLE RELAY Team USA takes the gold, setting a new world record time of 3:08:24

200M FREESTYLE Shatters previous world record time, clocks 1:42:96 on the way to gold

200M BUTTERFLY Another gold and another record-breaking performance with 1:52:03

4X200M FREESTYLE RELAY Team USA dominates the field with a time of 6:58:56. Phelps bags gold No. 5

200M IND MEDLEY Shaves 0.57 off the previous world record to win the race clocking 1:54:23

100M BUTTERFLY His toughest race by far, Phelps wins the race by a hundreth of a second, with a time of 50.58

4X100M MEDLEY Team USA ensures Phelps bags gold No.8 as they set a new world record of 3:29:34

Bolt and beautiful

Usain Bolt was dancing around the starting lineup when it all began, at 10.25 pm (IST) here on Saturday night.

He was playing the role of Mr Showman. Slow clapping turned into a loud roar when he did that sling special, taking the aim from his shoulders towards the crowd. The beat of the drums got the feet tapping as heartbeats bounced with the loud thump. The Fastest Man In The World was getting ready for the big show.

Five minutes later, as the starting shot was fired, it all became a blur. And then you saw the man, looking over his shoulders, twice, before crossing the finishing line and thumping his right fist into the chest and then gliding along like a free bird, a free soul. 9.69 seconds! That was all it took for the Jamaican to cover the sacred 100 metres. It’s what the sprinters swear by. It’s what the 80,000 inside the Bird’s Nest had waited for since early evening, They all exhaled together, shaking the steel marvel in unison.

It was incidental that Bolt had clipped .03 seconds off his world record. He had slowed down in the last 15 meters, reveling in his own superhuman speed. It was arrogant. It was awesome. Such effortless win has not been seen in the ‘super dash’ since Ben Johnson, muscles bulging, eyes yellow with steroids, barged past the field and raised that naughty finger to silence the world in 1988. But that was an aberration. A blot. This was Bolt. ‘Lightning Bolt’. He raised both is arms and ran from the finishing, gliding like a kite, not bothering to look behind. He stopped when he saw that Jamaican flag in the stands and stood like a champion, legs wide spread, soaking in the adulation.

In the victory run, he stopped towards at the world record board, and kneeled in satisfaction. The flash of the cameras bounced off him. He was not tired, just delirious. So was everybody as the soulful beat of Reggae filled the stadium. It was party time at the Nest.

But where were the others? The gladiators? Well, Bolt was the last off the blocks but once he surged ahead, the others just melted in the cauldron. Richard Thomson of Trinidad and Tobago took the silver in 9.89 seconds, 0.2 seconds off the superman while USA’s Walter Dix, dreadlocks flying, came in third at 9.91 secs.

Asafa Powell, Bolt’s teammate whose record Bolt broke in New York on May 31 this year, was third fastest off the blocks. He trooped in fifth at 9.95 secs. And Tyson Gay? He became a footnote on the night that mattered most. He failed to qualify for the final.

Jamaican RUN

Usain Bolt of Jamaica produced a stunning performance to win the men’s 100 metres Olympic title here on Saturday in a new world record time of 9.69 seconds. The 21-year-old beat home Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago (9.89secs) while Walter Dix of the United States was third in a time of 9.91 secs. “I felt the world record earlier on,” said Bolt, the first Jamaican to win the title. “I came here just to win and I did just that. I didn’t even know I’d broken the world record until I did my victory lap. “Now I’m just concentrating on my two races coming up. I came here prepared and I’m going to try and do it the (100 and 200m double).”

Dr Herb Elliott, Jamaican team chief doctor, immediately moved to scotch suggestions that the youngster was doped. “I don’t care about the rumours. He’s been tested over and over again,” said Elliott. Bolt’s compatriot, and former world record holder, Asafa Powell came fifth as six of the eight finalists finished under 10 seconds, a record for the Olympic final, which also equalled the 1991 world final in Tokyo when six men also dipped under the 10 second barrier.

Powell, who again failed on the big stage, paid handsome tribute to his compatriot who could well go on and add the 200m title later in the Games. “He is the best ever sprinter and I’ve said that before,” said the 25-year-old. “He has run 9.69 and got the gold so he is definitely the greatest. It was a spectacular performance and he was definitely the best here. He could have run faster if he had run straight through the line.” Powell admitted he had run out of steam. “I was feeling good but I didn’t feel it in my legs. They died on me.”

Bolt, who bettered compatriot Don Quarrie’s silver medal from the 1976 Olympics when he ironically finished second to a Trinidadian in Hasely Crawford, was headed by Thompson for the first part of the race but there was no contest once he got into his stride and went clear away from the field.

So commanding was his lead he eased up well before the line and held out his hands in celebration. Behind him Thompson showed the same impressive form the 23-year-old had displayed during the earlier heats to hold on to second and was left in awe of the winner. “It feels good to be here, to be part of history,” said Thompson. “It was good to finish behind him (Bolt) because there’s no way anyone on earth could have beaten him tonight. “To finish second to him that is a great accomplishment in itself. Usain is a great athlete. It was just a matter of time before he proved himself on this stage.”

Dix, also an Olympic debutant, came on strong in the final metres to overhaul Powell, who lost out on fourth place to surprise package Churandy Martina of the Dutch Antilles.

Both Dix and Martina admitted that Bolt was just in another world. “That was the greatest race ever,” beamed 22-year-old Dix, who will take on Bolt again in the 200m. “I can’t be more satisfied with third place. He (Bolt) broke the world record, you can’t ask for more.”

Martina, who showed championship credentials with fifth and seventh in the 100 and 200m at last year’s world championships, said Bolt could take the time down even further. “Everyone could see what he did, he didn’t even push through the line. Its an amazing time,” said the 24-year-old. World champion Tyson Gay, out of action for just over a month after suffering a hamstring injury before the Olympics, exited in the semi-finals earlier on Saturday, when he finished fifth.

Shooter Bindra wins India's first solo gold

Abhinav Bindra won India's first individual Olympic gold medal on Monday with a thrilling come-from-behind victory in the men's 10m air rifle.

Bindra had been fourth after qualifying but had a brilliant final round and the Indian, the epitome of tranquillity, hit a near perfect 10.8 on his last shot to pull in front of Henri Hakkinen of Finland, who fell to bronze with a poor final shot.

That late stumble by the Finn allowed China's Zhu Qinan, the defending Olympic champion and heavy favourite, to salvage a bitter day with silver. Zhu sobbed uncontrollably on the podium and again at a news conference.

"I can't describe how happy I am," the ever-calm Bindra told journalists. "It's the thrill of my life. That's about it. It's hard to describe. I just went for it. I knew I was lying in fourth. Thankfully it went my way and I just went for it."

Zhu suffered a lapse in concentration in the qualification earlier when he had to rush his final shots to make the time limit, dropping to second behind Hakkinen ahead of the final.

"I was under tremendous pressure and at times I felt really agitated," Zhu said just before stepping on the podium and breaking down in tears. "But I tried my best."

Moments later at the news conference Zhu was crying harder.

"I've been through a lot of hardship and shed a lot of tears in the last four years, there have been successes and failures," he said. "After 2004 my only aim has not changed. I had so very much wanted to be a champion at the Beijing Olympics."

He added: "In the last two rounds I made several mistakes because I had used up all my physical and mental energy."

Bindra, who faced criticism for failing to deliver on the great promise he showed as a child, said he was not thinking about making history in India with a first individual gold medal. In fact, he said, he was "not thinking about anything".

"I was just trying to concentrate on shooting," he said. "I wasn't thinking of making history. I was two points behind the leaders. I was just trying to shoot good shots. I wanted to shoot well and shoot aggressively. And that's what I did."

His 10.8 of a possible 10.9 on his final shot sparked loud celebrations from group of fans from India.

Hakkinen, who was even with Bindra before his mere 9.7 on his last shot, said that crucial shot felt like the nine before it.

"It just wasn't my turn," he said. "It shows that shooting is a sport from the first to the final shot. Every one counts."

Randhir Singh, Indian Olympic Association secretary-general and former shooter who was present at the range, was stricken by nerves as the competition reached its climax.

"I haven't prayed so much in my life. With the second last shot they tied together and then he (Bindra) shot a 10.8. It couldn't have got better," he told Indian television.

Bindra won the 2006 world championships and finished seventh in Athens four years ago.