The light side of Olympics

The light side of Olympics

 Left: Kim Yeji (Republic of Korea)         Right:Yusuf Dikec (Turkiye)

Olympics is a treat for sports lovers. But for me, the near excellent human specimens’ focus, dedication, and hard work (read torture) that they have put to prepare their bodies and minds to reach here, hold little interest. More fascinating are the things that go in their stories.

Let me share with you some examples/incidents which had cross-cultural appeal.

Simone Biles

Said to be the greatest gymnast of all times, she added three golds and one silver to her Olympic haul. Her opponent in all-around gymnastics final Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade after her defeat said, “Simone is the best, and she brings out the best of me.” 

Biles, had pulled out of the Tokyo 2020 due to ‘disorienting mental blocks. Tom cruise, Snoop Dogg, Nick Jonas, Ariana Grande, John Legend, Anna Wintour were among those present there to see this small-sized greatest gymnast’s fabulous return in Paris.

Steven Neodoroscik
Gymnast Steven Neodoroscik, waited for hours for his 45-second performance to help his team (USA) win a bronze in 16 years in the pommel horse team event. Interestingly, he is an electrical engineering graduate from Penn State University, solves Rubik’s cube and has a talent for napping.

Neodoroscik says that he cannot see without glasses; if he takes them off, he cannot see. So, what does he do - take them off and go through routine with ‘just the feeling’. See him in action in the individual pommel horse competition today.

Silver medallist gymnast Giorgia Villa (Italy) has been sponsored by believe it or not, Parmesan cheese.  (CBC News)

Kim Yeji

In her custom glasses, black clothes and baseball cap, 10 mtr shooting silver medallist Kim Yeji (Republic of Korea)(top photo), made everything look effortless.

The markswoman, who says ‘sleeping’ is her hobby, held her daughter’s stuffed toy elephant like another pistol, in the other pocket. She told media that she was looking forward to telling her five-year-old daughter after all her events are over, “I think I have become a bit famous now.” (Al Zajeera)

Yusuf Dikec 

Another shooter with his cool ‘assassin’ looks was Yusuf Dikec’s (Turkiye)(top photo). No headphones/special lenses/hat, he won his mixed team silver dressed in his team T-shirt, ordinary ear buds, regular prescription glasses and with both eyes open.

The shooter who said, “Success doesn’t come with your hands in your pockets,” however, kept his non-active hand in his pocket.

Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks said the story doing the crazy whirl on the internet about Dikec taking up a gun during a tough divorce is made up. The 51-year-old retired non-commissioned officer of the Turkish Gendarmerie and a member of the Jandarma Gucu Sports Club has been competing since 2001.

But yes, some shooters say the non-shooting hand in pocket or on a hip keeps the free hand from swinging/moving and throwing the stance/aim off.

Left: Deena Uttappa Right: Pongsak Ponsuwan

Meanwhile, the photo on whatsapp, showing a shooter aiming while looking in the mirror is untrue.

Actually, it is Thai actor and comedian Pongsak Ponsuwan from Thai game show ‘Ching Roi Ching Lan’ with the background added digitally.  

Just an aside, we have Deena Uttappa, a homemaker from Virajpete taluk in Kodagu, who can shoot at the target by looking at the mirror image.

She used to shoot airgun in high school but gave it up after her marriage. During a visit to the Jumbo Circus two years ago, she saw shooting backwards in the mirror.

… impressed she took to shooting again where she constantly tried to shoot backwards, by looking at a mirror image. Six months ago, she succeeded in it and now Deena can shoot the target by looking at the mirror. (ETVBharat.com)

Shouldn’t she go to the next Olympics?

Chinese shooter Zhang Qiongyue’s (bronze winner 50 m rifle) unique Hello Kitty rifle has grabbed eyeballs on the internet. Photo:news9live.

 GianmarcoTamberi 

Italian High jumper Gianmarco Tamberi (Italy) made it to the headlines for what- losing his wedding ring. He probably lost it in the Seine when he was enthusiastically waving the Italian flag,  standing at the front of the team boat after the opening ceremony

“I'm sorry my love, I'm so sorry,” he wrote to his wife, Chiara, in a social media post after realizing he lost the ring – blaming it on losing too much weight and practicing "irrepressible enthusiasm,” (BBC News).

"If it had to happen, if I had to lose this ring, I couldn't imagine a better place," he wrote. His ring, he said, will "remain forever in the riverbed of the city of love" and he told his wife they could throw her ring in the river too, so they can be there together.

“Only you could turn this into something romantic.” was his wife’s calm remark.

One of my favourites ever since I came to know he is a knitter, diver Tom Daley (Great Britain) who won his fifth Olympic medal in Paris, knitted a Paris-themed sweater instead of sitting there worrying or waiting. 

“I don’t know how to just do nothing. It was my husband (Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black) who said that lots of people knit squares while they are waiting on film sets so I thought I’d give that a go. I went on to the ‘university of YouTube’ and taught myself how to knit and never looked back!” (CNN)

During the Tokyo games he had knitted a cream-coloured cardigan with ‘Tokyo’ embroidered in Japanese.

For the ‘greenest ever’ games, there is no air conditioning in the athletes’ rooms. It is no wonder then that double medalist Thomas Ceccon (Italy) was clicked sleeping on the grass in the Olympic village.

He had earlier complained, “There is no air conditioning in the village; it’s hot, and the food is bad…. It’s hard to sleep both at night and in the afternoon. Here, I really struggle between the heat and the noise.” (The Sun)

Dancers and drag artists with DJ Barbara Butch participated in the opening ceremony which has received serious flak from people. It was called a mockery of Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper.

“It was a really important moment for the French people and the representation of France around the world… a photograph of France in 2024,’ said Paloma or Hugo Bardin, winner of Drag race, France and a participating gay youth, mentioning the multi-cultural, multi ethnic France of today.

U S Presidential candidate Donald Trump had called it “a disgrace.”

“My first reaction is to say that if Donald Trump is not reacting, then we have not done our job,” was Paloma’s reply.

A piece of Paris in each medal

Every gold/silver/bronze Olympic medal has 18 grams of iron from the Eiffel Tower renovation scraps.

Parisians on the run

For the first time, general public have been permitted to run the course of the Olympic marathon on the same day to get a feel of the event.

Gender parity

Another first in Olympic history -there are an equal number of men and women 5250, each in the 10,500 athletes competing in the games. But there have been questions about two women boxers.

Lin Yu-ting 57 kg (Taiwan) and gold medalist Imane Khalief 66 kg (Algeria), both disqualified at the Tokyo Olympics for failing gender tests, but cleared for the Paris games, made it to their respective finals.

In her qualifying match in the 66kg category, Angela Carini (Italy) had left the ring crying after a mere 46 second bout against Imane Khelif (Algeria).

Steven van de Velde (Netherlands), a rape convict, and his partner Matthew Immers lost to Brazilians Evandro Oliveira and Arthur Lanci, 2-0 and booed out of the Eiffel Tower Stadium.

Van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 after admitting to having raped a 12-year-old British girl. 

Philippines gymnast Carlos Yulo has been awarded with free ‘ramen’ for life for winning two golds.

For those looking for some spicy ones, German surfer Tim Elter lost his shorts as a huge wave tumbled him in the Tahiti waters.

Commentators were in a fix about how to describe the mishap with French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati aiming to clear 5.70 meters to qualify for the finals at Stade de France. During his third attempt, he missed the height, accidentally hitting the pole with his crotch and falling to the ground.

Left: Taejoon Park, gold medalist Taekwondoin from South Korea celebrates his win  against Gashim Magomedov (Azerbaijan) with a perfect flip.

Right: Yang Wang (Slovakia) took it seriously when someone suggested to keep his eyes on the ball. Caught in action during his match against Chuqin Wang (China). Both photos: Reuters

                                                                                               -Anupama S Mani