2 weeks Ago
New Delhi: The modern Summer Olympics keeps on giving. Since its first edition at Athens in 1896, in a sense a rebirth that was a tribute to the ancient games staged by the Greeks in Olympia and the spirit that it embodied, the Olympics has only expanded. Billions of people around the world follow every success and defeat for a fortnight every four years.
The highs and lows around the Games, the hopes raised in the lead up to it and the lives changed as a result of performances in it, have kept adding to the rich sporting history it has built. It has been less than a year since Paris successfully staged the 30th edition of the Olympics. New stars emerged, led by French swimmer Leon Marchand, a very popular winner of four gold medals and a relay bronze.
Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo was crowned the 200m champion, giving the southern African country its first Olympic champion and an inspiration for its youth to follow in his footsteps and not stray into crime. History and Stars of the World’s Greatest Sporting Event from Athens 1896 to Paris 2024 is a fresh compilation of the Games and its biggest stars through its 129 years of existence by Vijayan Bala, educationist, sports commentator and author. The coffee table book published by Wonder House provides information about the Olympics that should be of particular interest to youngsters.
It profiles 82 outstanding performers in the Olympics, selected from each edition of the Games. The profiles are accompanied by photographs that captured those memorable moments. The book contains a brief history of the ancient Olympics that was dedicated to the Greek god Zeus and the modern movement that took shape under the leadership of French historian Pierre de Coubertin.
Some of the profiles from the early edition of the Games, like that of Ellery Harding Clark of the US, the only man to have won the Olympic high jump and long jump, and Ray Ewry (US), who won 8 gold medals – they include three each in the standing long jump and high jump – across the 1900, 1904 and 1908 are very informative. Alvin Kraenzlein (US), pioneer of the hurdling technique who won 4 gold medals in the 1900 Paris Games, also finds place. It also revisits great moments like Romanian gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci making Olympic history by becoming the first woman to achieve a ‘perfect 10’ at the 1976 Games.
The score in the uneven bars event initially flashed as 1.00 because the scoreboard manufacturer had not provided for such an outcome. Alexander Dityakin of the erstwhile Soviet Union was the first male gymnast to receive a perfect score, in the vault event at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
Hungarian shooter Karoly Takacs provided one of the many stories of athletes surmounting odds. The armyman suffered a serious injury to his right hand, but trained himself to shoot with his left hand, going on to win rapid fire gold at the 1948 London and 1952 Helsinki Games. The Indian hockey team under Dhyan Chand winning gold at the 1936 Olympics – it was the third straight win for the country before Independence – also finds place.
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