Monday, August 13, 2012

London's Magnificent Games

The Brits have done it ... the thirtieth Olympiad has just concluded in London, and what a magnificent show it was! The British media went all out to criticize the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, but eventually had to eat crow, and while the world waited this time round for London to falter, all was well that ended well. We have to give it to the Brits ... they sure know how to put on a spectacular show! The games were off to a fantastic start and thereafter filled with everyday events of heroism, extraordinary sportsmanship, repeated breaking of world and Olympic records, and the inevitable cases of heartbreak as well, but the closing ceremony ensured that the nostalgia would last until the next Games in 2014, in Sochi.

Looking back at the Games, certain moments stand out above all else. The coronation of Michael Phelps as the unsurpassed Monarch of the Pool and the greatest Olympian of all time, with a record 22 medals - 18 of them gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze - is certainly the foremost of them, and quite staggering at that! Usain Bolt's phenomenal wins in both the 100 m and 200 m sprints on the track in two consecutive Olympics sealed his reputation as the fastest man on the planet, and as "a legend," in his own words. I, for one, would appreciate some modesty and humility in world-class athletes, but Humility certainly doesn't seem to be Usain Bolt's middle name. South Africa's Oscar Pistorius astounded everyone by competing with his prosthetic legs, and so was every single Canadian by the unfairness of the women's semi-final soccer game between Canada and the US. 

The closing ceremony was a fitting finale to all the high octane, adrenalin-filled drama of the Olympics, and Britain did itself proud with its long list of stars and pop names. The exhilaration and euphoria of the evening was quite palpable - Ray Davies and the Kinks singing "Waterloo Sunset," Annie Lennox belting out "Little Bird" on a great ship, Brian May and Roger Taylor from Queen with their "We Will Rock You," John Lennon's ghostly though inspiring rendition of "Imagine," the not-so-young-anymore Spice Girls reuniting for one last time, Fatboy Slim, the Kaiser Chiefs, the Who, Beady Eye, to mention a few - you name them, they were all there to entertain and to enthrall!  

As Sebastian Coe, the legendary British runner and one of the brains behind the London Olympics, put it succinctly, " heroism and heartbreak" characterized the Olympics, and there were plenty of instances of both in these Games. All said and done, the Games were simply magnificent, no doubt about that at all! 

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