|
04-10 Sept, 2012
small world
Reward
A Fight for Olympic Medallists
Aanchal Bansal

NEW DELHI ~ Felicitations, gifts and garlands are raining over India’s six Olympic medallists this monsoon. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had announced a cash prize of Rs 1 crore for four of the medal winners who were from the state even before they returned home. Recently, he gifted an Audi Q5 SUV to each medal winner. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit doubled the reward money to Rs 2 crore for wrestler Sushil Kumar, who is from Najafgarh, earlier famous for being the abode of cricket player Virender Sehwag. Sushil is the pick of the Olympic heroes because his silver in London was his second Olympic medal, following a bronze in Beijing four years ago. He is the only Indian with two individual Olympic medals.

Inevitably, there is a race between institutions and individuals to honour Olympians so that they too get mileage. Not willing to be left behind, the three divisions that comprise the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) too decided to felicitate Sushil and wrestling bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt. Only that the mayors of all three corporations have been sparring over who gets to throw the party first. While the three corporations are still awaiting an official consensus, it seems that the northern division has managed to ace the race by collaborating with local market associations of old Delhi and organising a felicitation ceremony in Chandni Chowk. Thousands jammed the street, and Kumar and Dutt were given their gifts—three buffaloes, 100 kg of ghee and almonds for each.

The wrestlers seemed wary of holding the reins of the harried cattle. Area councillor Supriya Gupta, who organised the event, said the reward was in keeping with the tradition of feeding wrestlers with buffalo milk and ghee. “Old Delhi has a tradition of akharas and wrestling. It’s been years since anyone did us proud internationally, so this was a way of extending our love and blessings to the two boys,” she says.

Councillors of the other two corporations have been crying foul over the subterfuge by Gupta. But Gupta says there was no politics in the felicitation. “There is a proposal to organise an official event and the date is not fixed,” she says. “You cannot stop people from showering their love. The people of old Delhi, like parents, wanted to bless [the wrestlers]. What is better than gifting buffaloes for pure milk to keep them healthy?”

▪

Take Two
It’s Not about the Doping
Lance Armstrong the cancer survivor remains a hero
Akshay Sawai

Performance enhancing drugs have vitiated sports. You no longer know which athletes to trust, or whether to trust them at all. One can never be sure whether the reason behind an athlete’s prowess is honest skill and sweat or whether it has been helped by something little on the side.

Of all sports, cycling is most notorious for doping. If you collect all the syringes used by Tour de France contestants so far, there will be enough to make a neat replica of the Eiffel Tower. The men who will now inherit Lance Armstrong’s seven Tour titles themselves are doping suspects.

Armstrong’s feet pedalled the sport over mountains, down slopes and onto front pages. But now they have trampled on it. There are many who question the intentions of the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the organisation that made doping charges against Armstrong, which he declined to fight, leading the USADA to disqualify his titles. But it would be difficult for any organisation—however vindictive or mendacious—to pass such a strong judgment against such a big star without some evidence. Armstrong the cyclist has fallen. Those who looked up to him, and drew inspiration from his famous biography—It’s Not About the Bike—must accept this. Yuvraj Singh, who was thrilled when his battle with cancer received the blessings of Armstrong, cancer survival’s poster boy, must now feel let down.

But Armstrong the cancer survivor will continue to be a hero. There are more cancer patients in the world than cyclists. Armstrong not only outpedalled the disease, he returned to top flight sport. That in itself is a remarkable story. Secondly, all doping does is help you train harder and gain an edge over rivals. This is not to condone doping, just to remind ourselves that you still need to have high skills and physical levels. Besides, and most importantly, Armstrong was not content with getting his life and career back on track. He set up a foundation, he poured energy and time into it and raised millions for genuine causes. Armstrong was never Mr Congeniality. Given a choice, he’d ride his bike, go home and shut the world out. But cancer and his projects afterwards brought out his humane side. For individuals and families cursed with the disease, that is enough. For them, it’s not about the doping.

▪

Highlife
Putin’s Lavatory Is Worth $75,000

Vladimir Putin once called himself a ‘galley slave’ who poured blood and sweat to toil for the Russian people. If so, he is probably the richest ‘slave’ in the world. According to a report, Putin has at his disposal 20 palaces and villas, a fleet of 58 aircraft, many yachts worth some 3 billion roubles (about $93 million), a watch collection worth 22 million roubles and several top-class Mercedes cars. Titled The Life of a Galley Slave, the report also has photographs of each of his palaces, watches and aircraft. Among them is an island in the centre of Lake Valdai, where stands a 930 hectare estate serviced by a 1,000-strong staff. It includes a presidential church, swimming pool, two restaurants, a movie theatre and a bowling alley. Putin’s nearly two dozen official residences stand in sharp contrast with those provided to other heads of state—two for the leaders of the US and Germany, and three for the president of Italy.

▪

|
04-10 Sept, 2012