The Tokyo Olympic Games Thread

[SBajwa]

not so fast. Let's watch the Khelo India 2021 games in Panchkula to be organized in February 2022


https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/spo ... 348540.cms

CHANDIGARH: Haryana government on Monday has decided to organise 'Khelo India Youth Games, 2021' in February 2022 in view of the possible third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A decision in this regard was taken in the first meeting of the Organising-cum-Coordination Committee regarding the preparation of ‘Khelo India Youth Games- 2021’ held under the chairmanship of chief minister, Manohar Lal Khattar.

Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs, Sandeep Singh was also present in the meeting.
In the meeting, the chief minister directed that as ‘Khelo India Youth Games-2021’ are to be held in the Under-18 category and as Director of AIIMS New Delhi and other experts have predicted the possibility of the third wave of Covid-19 in October-November the officers concerned should ensure that Covid-19 protocol should be strictly followed during the games.
He said that constant talks should be held with the Union Sports Minister, Anurag Thakur about this programme and if possible, possibilities should be explored to organize some events of the Games at some places in Himachal Pradesh.
During the meeting, Director, Sports and Youth Affairs Department, Sh. Pankaj Nain also gave a presentation on the salient features of ‘Khelo India Youth Games-2021’. He apprised the chief minister that the games are to be held in the U-18 age group in which there will be a total of 25 sports competitions including five indigenous games.
He also informed that about 8,500 players are likely to participate, out of which 5,072 will be athletes, 2,400 will be female and 2,672 will be male. He said that earlier it was proposed to organise the Games from November 21 to 30 at five places including Panchkula, Chandigarh, Shahbad, Ambala and Delhi.
In view of the possibility of a third wave of Covid-19, it has become necessary to extend the date. He said that the Mascot 'Dhakad' of the Games has been decided and the 'Jersey' and 'Logo' will be issued soon.

[srin]

We need to look at the means, not the ends (Olympic medals). The time to prepare for this Olympics was 8-10 years ago, and anything we do now, will only yield fruit a long time later. So, if we need to do well in say Winter Olympics of 2030, now is the time to start.

We need to build a sport culture, where people of all ages play and patronize sports - any sport (even if it is TT in the office !). The basic hand-eye co-ordination, body balance etc are really important to learn at a young age.

We need good neighbourhood sports academies. If you find one, go and join those. The coaches there (typically ex-players who didn't make it big) also need livelihood. The coaches at the lowest level are really paid bad.

We need to make sport a good choice for those kids from not well-off families.

We need to scout out the good talents and provide them sponsorships for coaching. I play recreational tennis (the only thing I can play at my age !) at a local open air tennis academy and it is quite expensive (coaching, shoes, racquets etc). But there are so many young kids there that are so promising.

We need serious local competitions - between schools, between cities, between states etc.

Most important of all, we need to have some kind of financial support for those who are taking part in sports. Can they have flexible education options ? What are the job prospects if they don't make it big ? For every Neeraj Chopra, there are so many who didn't and therefore, can't get the payday that he is getting. That's where corporate sponsorship helps.

There are success stories. Cricket and chess come to mind.

The cricket scenario has completely changed with IPL. Where, before, the money used to go the 11 people of the cricket team, the money is now flowing to ten times that number. The talent scouts unearth rich talent in the local leagues and get them a chance in IPL (Natarajan comes to mind). We may not be successful because we haven't won World cup in a while, but the sport is flourishing here.

Same thing with Chess (not really a "sport" IMO). There are so many chess clubs around in cities, and so many competitions happening. Not in the top (after Anand) but it's just a matter of time.

[AshishA]

One of the best examples of scouting talent is erriyon knighton. 17 years old, just picked up sprinting 3 years ago after US track association were successful in convincing him to switch from American Football where he wanted to go. And this year and last year, he has broken all Usain Bolt records at junior championships and this Olympics he finished 4th in 200m.

[rsingh]

Desho mein desh Haryana.
Wah bete jama lath gad diya.
Haryana sabse age. Mein khus Hua.
Haryana ka chora.

Wa doosra Chhora Bajrang Puniya mhare gaam ka sai. Uska Baap Balwan mere Baba ne jaane tha. Main bhi bhot khus hua. Kasam te lath gaad diya ji.

Primus ji you too? Why such sophisticated Handel? Mhari Ram Ram paocha dena ji, BR ki taraf se. Haryana sabse age.

[rsingh]

Let me do the narebzi in typical Rohtaki style. This is what ae shouted when our village team used to win wrestling match with other villages.eg

Kade mara? Julane mara.
Translation
Where we killed them? We killed them in Julana ( name of defeated village)
Putting things in context:
Kede mara? Tokyo mein mara.

[S_Madhukar]

I think for once we can start with Babu and Politico Olympics televised live. After all there are so many of them! It will provide laughs, advertising revenue and may be some motivation for them to lose some flab and be more productive doers!!

[arvin]

rsingh ji, request you to go easy on smileys.

[Primus]

Wa doosra Chhora Bajrang Puniya mhare gaam ka sai. Uska Baap Balwan mere Baba ne jaane tha. Main bhi bhot khus hua. Kasam te lath gaad diya ji.

Primus ji you too? Why such sophisticated Handel? Mhari Ram Ram paocha dena ji, BR ki taraf se. Haryana sabse age.

heh heh RSingh Ji, it's a long story. Will pass your badhai on.

BTW, my mother's family is from Rohtak dist., father's from Jhajjar, so total Haryanvi by ancestry.

[Shameek]

WFI suspends star wrestler Vinesh Phogat over indiscipline after Tokyo Olympics campaign

The Wrestling Federation of India suspended Vinesh Phogat after the Tokyo Olympics campaign. The star wrestler had refused to train with the rest of the team at the Games Village and she did not wear the name of the official kit sponsor at the Olympics.

LINK

[sanjayc]

Wa doosra Chhora Bajrang Puniya mhare gaam ka sai. Uska Baap Balwan mere Baba ne jaane tha. Main bhi bhot khus hua. Kasam te lath gaad diya ji.

Primus ji you too? Why such sophisticated Handel? Mhari Ram Ram paocha dena ji, BR ki taraf se. Haryana sabse age.

Me too. Mom from Sonepat. Dad from Bawana.

[Suraj]

Folks, knock off the epilepsy inducing volume of emojis and local dialect usage. You’re being very inconsiderate towards others.

[rsingh]

Yes Saar. This local dialect gave 30% olympic medals to India. Anyway that is all from me. Back to savdhan mode.

[rsingh]

Primus ji you too? Why such sophisticated Handel? Mhari Ram Ram paocha dena ji, BR ki taraf se. Haryana sabse age.

Me too. Mom from Sonepat. Dad from Bawana.

Village Dhanana Tehsil Gohana, Sonipat. School college Jat Heros Memorial Anglo Sanskrit School and College (JHMAS) Rohtak.

[disha]

I am also from Sonepat, Dist. Kerala, State Bangalore.

This should go to strategic thread, but thanks to Neeraj Chopra, every BRF member now here is a Haryanvi.

[amdavadi]

I am from Ahmedabad. We gave India AS does it count for anything? Olympians represented India not the states.

[rsingh]

I am also from Sonepat, Dist. Kerala, State Bangalore.

This should go to strategic thread, but thanks to Neeraj Chopra, every BRF member now here is a Haryanvi.

My intention was not to insult other BRites. This sonipat,Kerala,Bangalore etc was not needed. There are so many discussion about South Indian local issues that I do not care read . Do not like something? Move ahead. What is the itch? Just skip. I do this often when guys who post 10 page useless article instead of posting link. And then others are posting 12 page analysis ( which is often useless). I do not like " out of India '" crap, have seen me complaining? Frankly, your post was not needed.

[rsingh]

I am from Ahmedabad. We gave India AS does it count for anything? Olympians represented India not the states.

Oh ho so that is the itch. Ram Ram ji. Have cold water.ok.Yes it was for India. Everybody knows that. Every state has contributed in its own way.. Haryana is no different. My posts are about Olympic medals. Point.

[arshyam]

Guys, can we get the thread re-railed please?

[vimal]

Video is from 2017

Haryan's Neeraj Chopra Clinched the Gold With a Meet Record OF 85.63m MEN'S JAVELIN FINAL.

And a guy commented 4 years ago that "neeraj chopra could get india its first olympic athletic medal".

[chetak]

" मोदी है तो मुमकिन है "

Modi has done this very neatly while still maintaining plausible deniability.

The girls will certainly know who did this for them

[arshyam]

Govt’s sporting vision is now showing results - Dhanraj Pillay in ToI

It is such a delight to see two Indian hockey teams make it to the semifinals of the Olympic Games. It has already lifted the mood of not only passionate hockey lovers, but also of the average sports enthusiast in the country. And if the teams can extend their showing to earn two medals in Tokyo2020, it will give all of India so much more to cheer about.

After the men’s team lost to Belgium in the semifinal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his support for the team, encouraging it to try hard for the bronze medal. Even when he interacted with the athletes on the eve of their departure to Tokyo, he told them not to worry about medals but to deliver their best performances.

Then again, it is not just tokenism that we have seen from the PM and the government. They have facilitated the preparations of the athletes across disciplines. If the two hockey teams have gone farther in Olympic competition than their predecessors in the past four decades, it is because of the excellent preparation, facilitated by the central government.

Knowing that the Union Budget allocation of Rs. 657 crore (actual) in 2011-12 was inadequate, the Government raised the sports budget to Rs. 1989.39 crore in 2019-20, an increase of more than 300 %. A large portion of this is reserved for the nurturing of talented athletes.

The PM’s directive ensured that the athletes get the best training and support so that India is globally competitive across a variety of disciplines. He also emphasised that besides focusing on supporting elite athletes, it was also important to encourage the ecosystem to work at the grassroot level too.

As a coach with the Sports Authority of Gujarat, I have first-hand experience of the massive boost that sport has got in that State from the time Mr. Modi was its Chief Minister. After he introduced the Khel Mahakumbh in 2010, 38 lakh boys and girls, including 10m Air Rifle Olympian Elavenil Valarivan, have competed in it.

It was inspiration for a similar, well-organised multidiscipline event at the national level. The Khelo India Games filled that gap.

[disha]

My intention was not to insult other BRites. This sonipat,Kerala,Bangalore etc was not needed. There are so many discussion about South Indian local issues that I do not care read . Do not like something? Move ahead. What is the itch? Just skip. I do this often when guys who post 10 page useless article instead of posting link. And then others are posting 12 page analysis ( which is often useless). I do not like " out of India '" crap, have seen me complaining? Frankly, your post was not needed.

rsingh'ji, I was saying in jest. You took it personally. I do realize now that the underlying satire was beyond your understanding*. I do apologize for expecting more from you.

*Underlying satire is simply this. With Neeraj Chopra winning, all bakistanis will start claiming the olympic heritage and do not be surprised if bakistani lurkers on this forum and several of this threads will start claiming that they are the true "uttaradhikaris" of the martial sports.

[rsingh]

I was basking in olympic glory as most of us. We all doing our part for whole of Bharat. Every state has its own contribution in its unique way ( except West Bengal ). So, I do apologize for the rant. Cheers

[Primus]

Just to clarify a bit further, I am as proud as anyone else of India's performance in the Olympics. The athletes are Indians first and Hindu/Christian/Haryanvis much later. However, when you hear that somebody from India won a medal, and then that he is from your home state and then that he is not only from your home state but from your home town and that your families know each other, it becomes a magical thing and your heart literally bursts with pride.

That is all, we got carried away a bit. No offense meant against anyone else.

And as for the Haryanvi language - well that's just a bit more of the excitement for us, we rarely get to indulge at our age

Thanks all for your understanding.

[Suraj]

We're not requesting you to not celebrate something worth celebrating. But if you take an indulgence, it comes with an implicit responsibility on your part to clean up behind you and ensure the thread doesn't go off track with a combination of unparseable language and headache inducing smileys. Otherwise you simply deal with a mod stepping in and asking people to stop.

[vsunder]

To put things in perspective, Al Oerter who won 4 gold medals in discus in the Olympics was 276 pounds. Melbourne 1956, to Mexico City 1968. He died at 71 due to complications of hypertension and at the end refused a heart transplant since as he said he had led an interesting life. He turned to painting and art and it is now de riguer that the art movement by Olympians he started is displayed at every Olympics. Discus, hammer throw and shot put esp. discus needs a natural rhythm and some are a natural like Oerter. He took to it by accident. A discus rolled to his feet while he was standing in his school playground and he threw it back. Thus in the discus, shotput one needs a bulky body as well as a natural rhythm. I just could not manage it at school. Long distance running came natural to me.

Here too I still remember the utter shock of 1968 when Kip Keino of Kenya defeated the favorite Jim Ryun at Mexico City games. Ryun became a very conservative Republican congressman from Kansas. This was the start of Kenyan dominance in middle and long distance running. Though Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia had already won the marathon at the Rome games of 1960. The Finns as a powerhouse in this range since the days of Paavo Nurmi had one brief moment again at Munich with Lasse Viren in the 10,000m which I remember so well. Again it must be remembered that the next games may be a shock to India, things happen. At Seoul, Kenya did very well in middle distance running getting 4 golds and then crashed badly and only recovered at Beijing in 2008, 20 years later. So nothing is a given and keyboard warriors who for the most part have never trained and never subjected themselves to the rigors of such discipline will never know. I am very aware of this having hung up my running shoes at 63. Now it is biking as pounding the pavement at 66 at 5am on bitterly cold days is not for me.

Regarding mountain climbing etc, how are you going to judge it? Even there the only climbing clubs you have in India are in Bengal mostly. In my experience I have hardly seen young people at high altitude in Himalayas. Yes people do Chardham but outside the beaten path not many youngsters. I have given some of my Himalayan videos to Shiv and possibly he will edit and post them. He has recently posted on his twitter feed and youtube channel two quite old videos of mine, Tiruvannamalai to which he added a commentary to my subtitles and Ajanta and Ellora. I will try to persuade him to put up my video on Valley of Flowers in Uttarakhand. Higher than that full peaks lets see?

[Primus]

Got it, Suraj San. Mea culpa!

I have always had a problem with Olympics. It is nothing but a 'dhan lolupon ki lila bhumi'. meaning a playground for the rich and those who love wealth. I mean who else but a rich country can have swimming pools in every community and in so many homes. An Olympic bicycle costs tens of thousands of dollars, how may countries have 'beach volleyball' as a sport. I will leave out the politics of it where the rich and the powerful exert even more influence by altering the rules, regulations and inserting a sport into the competition that is only played by a few privileged nations. Despite living here for so long, I have never felt a kinship with the medal winners from the US. Which is why it is so much more heartening when an Indian or a Kenyan or Ethiopian wins it. The world of most sports is hardly a 'sporting' entity. It is nothing more than an opportunity for the privileged few to show off.

[Suraj]

In my twitter thread on Neeraj Chopra I pointed out how throwing sports in the Olympics are massively European dominated. Until 2020,
1. Asian men have never won any medal in shot put. This did not change in Tokyo.
2. Neeraj was the first ever Asian medalist in javelin. Ever - there's not a single other Asian male has previously medaled in 120 years of competition. Tokyo also saw a Chinese being the first Asian woman to win the women's javelin.
3. Only one Asian man has medaled in each of hammer (Koji Murofushi of Japan) and discus (Ehsan Hadadi of Iran, who won a silver a few years ago).

Someone pointed out that another player from Tajikistan has won hammer, but I generally consider the 'stans to be European even though politics enabled them to participate in Asian Games. Given that, this means in 120 years of competition, THREE people from Asia - the worlds most populous continent - have ever medaled in athletic throwing sports.

So in summary, Neeraj is the only third Asian male to ever medal in one of the four throwing sports (shot, discus, javelin, hammer) - three of which have a single Asian medalist to date, and the fourth hasn't ever seen an Asian medalist.

The only other Asian to win a gold was a genetic freak - Koji Murofushi in 2004, who won after the Bulgarian gold medalist was kicked out for doping. Koji is the son of Shigenobu Murofushi, whom old timers may remember won hammer in the Asian Games 5 times (1970-1986), and a Romanian/Hungarian woman who was also a competitive thrower. So Koji was basically a half white half Asian with tremendous genetic benefit. Even his daddy despite 5 Asian Games golds, never came close to an Olympic medal.

Neeraj on the other hand was an overweight kid who took up a sport 99% of the country has never heard of and became the world's best at it. For a long time, a well trained high schooler in Finland could throw a javelin further than the Indian national record.

A lot of Indian political responses went 'nyah nyah, we onlee won one gold, China won 3000 billion of them'. Well, we won that one gold in an even no Chinese has ever managed to medal in despite decades of state sponsored 'enhancement' efforts.

Even Neeraj is nothing like most of his European peers, who are all taller and about 10-20kgs heavier. I see his height listed as anywhere from 5'10 to 6'. The bottom end of that scale is laughable short for a javelin gold winner. Even the top end is much shorter than the 6'3 to 6'7 winners of the past. Check out a pic of Neeraj and Johannes Vetter:


Throwing sports aren't the only thing where Asians have been unable to break into medal territory. Long jump - no Asian male has ever medaled. Ditto in pole vault. A total of one medal in high jump (Zhu Jianhua of China almost 40 years ago), until Sudanese Qatari Barshim recently. Triple jump is a lot better - Japanese have won it in the 1930s, and Chinese recently medaled.

For an Asian to win a field event at the Olympics is incredible - one can count the number of golds over 120 years on the fingers of one hand - three Japanese triple jump golds 90 years ago, one Japanese hammer winner and now one Indian javelin winner.

[SBajwa]

Neeraj has an incredible throwing technique where he uses his whole body (back, spine) to throw instead of only relying on Shoulder as those 6'8" athletes do. His whole 5'11" body works together to throw. I hope he continues to evolve with this technique., soon you will see lots of copy cats trying his ways.

[vsunder]

^^^ In Javelin I would be really surprised if the top throwers do not use their whole body. If people did not use their spine in throwing or their back, there would not be umpteen pace bowlers for example whose careers were cut short by spine and back problems. That is in the context of an example that Indians can understand, as I am lead to believe by posts here that 99% of Indians do not know what a javelin is but do know what a cricket ball is. Like the Gilbert and Sullivan song I am the very model of a modern Major General.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/andr ... fer-566016

Bone spurs in the shoulder are another occupational hazard of a javelin thrower.

In long distance running it is not only how you run that is important but the tactics you use that can make or break your race. Some runners use less strides per minute but longer ones and some more strides per minute and good coaches will analyze that, nowadays with the advent of slow motion cameras it has become easy to break down a runner's stride and get an idea where to improve.
Tactics can be very simple and the "goat" employed in school and college days comes to mind. The goat is the sacrificial goat and is usually the youngest person on the team whose peak running career is ahead of him/her. This person sets a blistering pace, one that is not really sustainable, and the pack follows except those in the know who lurk behind the pack. At a pre-arranged time the people in the know take over while the leaders do not have the kick and burst to overtake. This would also happen at the Olympics in the past. This can only be employed when there are two or more from the same country in the field. More sophisticated tactics are also there, so that is what running a smart race is all about.

I remember that in the Montreal Games in 1976, Shivnath Singh created a brief sensation when he for a while raced to lead the pack in the marathon. Commentators had to dig in to find info about him. But unfortunately he then faded fast. He eventually placed 11th which is very respectable. Shivnath always ran barefeet and caused a sensation doing so at Montreal.


Forum mod Raja Bose used to run endurance races, wonder what happened to him.

[Suraj]

vsunder ji I’m surprised you talked about tactical running and didn’t mention Dave Wottle in 1972, the greatest tactical run I’ve seen:

Talking of javelin, throwers have different mechanics. Neeraj has a style that maximizes the utility of his hypermobile joints; his team includes Klaus Bartonietz, a renowned biomechanics expert who constantly talks of using Neeraj’s body as a bow to fire an arrow.

Neeraj himself stated he modeled his style on the legendary Jan Zelezny, and has a similar action with the same kind of falling over at the end. In comparison Jakub Vadlejch who won silver is 6’3 and has a more upper body driven style, seen at 2:00.


Neeraj is only 23. Zelezny won the first of his three golds at 26. Neeraj has three more Olympics in the next 11 years. He will hopefully retire with multiple world and Olympic titles.

[Rahul M]

Suraj, I am trying to find out what percentage of olympians win medals across multiple games.
Any idea where I can find such info ? Even raw data would do, I am willing to do the number crunching.
Thanks.

[vsunder]

Suraj, I am trying to find out what percentage of olympians win medals across multiple games.
Any idea where I can find such info ? Even raw data would do, I am willing to do the number crunching.
Thanks.

Here is one list of people who won 7 or more Olympic medals. Swimmers usually win several at a single games. But the list does show wins in totality so over multiple games. Phelps leads the list with 28 medals, 23 gold. Spitz in swimming, Nurmi the Finn in long distance running. Mangiaroti from Berlin games 1936 to Helsinki 1952 in fencing. Helsinki was the first games where India won a bronze in an individual sport when KD Jadhav won a bronze for wrestling. Jadhav is all but forgotten in the hoopla. Some magazine will dig up his story once in a while. India had sent a water polo team to the Helsinki games. Mr. Bose who was in that team was the swimming coach in IIT Kharagpur. A stern guy. One had to wear a red cap and stay in the shallow end of the pool if you did not know how to swim. It was the "badge of shame". The test was to swim the 50m the length of the pool with Mr. Bose walking alongside and then tread water for a few minutes. If you struggled a bit, red cap it was and banishment. Bose displayed his Olympic jacket all the time. This was 1970. He would not allow anyone to even go and teach their friends.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... _medalists#

So people like Al Oerter do not show up in this list as he got 4 gold medals for just the discus. The list will be weighted towards individuals who take part in more than one event at a single games and that means swimmers like Spitz, Phelps, Cornelia Ender and gymnasts will figure more than people like Oerter who will not be there.

@ Suraj: Surely you do not want me to do an exegesis of the running tactics of Wottle, Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers and Mama Wolde. A few words for forumites is enough to tell them that running is not all about "running" but there is tactics involved too. Yes the video you linked is a great showcase of very clever and smart strategy, that I admire very much.

[chetak]

Good that the whole contingent was hosted, not just the medal winners

and tomorrow, they have been invited by PM Modi.

Delhi | President Ram Nath Kovind hosts the Olympics 2020 contingent over a 'High Tea' at the Rashtrapati Bhawan

via@ANI

[Suraj]

@ Suraj: Surely you do not want me to do an exegesis of the running tactics of Wottle, Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers and Mama Wolde. A few words for forumites is enough to tell them that running is not all about "running" but there is tactics involved too. Yes the video you linked is a great showcase of very clever and smart strategy, that I admire very much.

Of course you can - the health and fitness thread has been dormant since Singha and Raja Bose decamped when the other forum here was closed 4 years ago:
Health, Nutrition and Fitness Thread
We need BRFites who are seriously good at fitness activities posting there, not merely about general baseline health and food.

[Aldonkar]

Here too I still remember the utter shock of 1968 when Kip Keino of Kenya defeated the favorite Jim Ryun at Mexico City games. Ryun became a very conservative Republican congressman from Kansas. This was the start of Kenyan dominance in middle and long distance running. Though Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia had already won the marathon at the Rome games of 1960. The Finns as a powerhouse in this range since the days of Paavo Nurmi had one brief moment again at Munich with Lasse Viren in the 10,000m which I remember so well. Again it must be remembered that the next games may be a shock to India, things happen. At Seoul, Kenya did very well in middle distance running getting 4 golds and then crashed badly and only recovered at Beijing in 2008, 20 years later. So nothing is a given and keyboard warriors who for the most part have never trained and never subjected themselves to the rigors of such discipline will never know. I am very aware of this having hung up my running shoes at 63. Now it is biking as pounding the pavement at 66 at 5am on bitterly cold days is not for me.

I was born and raised in Kenya, emigrating in early 1968 under political duress. As a schoolboy i followed the development of track in the country.
Kenya's first success in track was , surprisingly, at the sprint distances of 100 meters and 200meters at the Commonwealth games in Melbourne, Australia. The athlete was Saraphino Antao, who was actually born in India (Goa) and moved to Kenya as an infant. Kip Keino may have also featured in the 5000 meters but I don't think he won it. This was Kenya's first success in athletics and as the country was coming up to Independence (Dec 1963) gave athletics a great boost

In 1964, Antao was expected to do well in Tokyo, but nerves got the better of him and he did not qualify for either sprint final. However Keino redeemed Kenyan pride in the 5000 meters. Another athlete, Neftali Temu, won a medal (either silver or bronze) at 10000 meters and Kenya had arrived at middle distance running.

The Kenyan dominance is beginning to fade somewhat, as hungrier athletes from Uganda, Ethiopia and even Somalia show up. Some of them have moved to Europe, the US or Middle East and run in other colours. In 2020 Kenyan men failed to medal in the 3000 meters steeplechase for the first time in 36 years. There is an inquest going on.

[vsunder]

^^^ The first Ugandan to win a gold was John Akii-Bua at Munich 1972 in the 400m hurdles. As I said before Ethiopia had won a gold at Rome 1960 in the marathon with Abebe Bikila winning, and he amazingly repeated it at Tokyo in 1964. Akii-Bua was to have a showdown with Edwin Moses from the US at Montreal in 1976, but this showdown did not happen due to the total African boycott of the Montreal games. African countries wanted to ban New Zealand since a New Zealand rugby team had toured apartheid South Africa. The IOC did not implement any ban so African countries boycotted. The next games at Moscow in 1980, Moses did not go due to the US boycott. Moses won a gold in 1984 in LA and a bronze for the same event in 1988 at Seoul. So 3 medals in hurdles over 3 Olympics. Moses won the gold in Montreal.

Akii-Bua had a sad story. Idi Amin instituted a pogrom against his tribe. However he did not touch Akii-Bua. Nevertheless Akii-Bua fled to Kenya since he felt he would be identified as an informer by his tribe members. Living in a refugee camp he could not train. Later he was taken to Europe by a shoe company and trained a bit there, but living in camps with poor food and lack of training ended his career and he also died young.

Regarding steeplechase arguably the most famous steeplechaser in India was Paan Singh Tomar the notorious Chambal bandit who ran the steeplechase when in IA. He was encountered. The movie starring Irfan Khan as Paan Singh shows some of his steeplechase career on the national scene and I believe the movie shows him as going to Tokyo. Medaling women steeplechasers have traditionally come from the Tatar-Russian part.

@Suraj: Yes I was aware of the thread in the password protected part of the forum and I had posted several images of me doing yoga asanas where I had picked those asanas to do to loosen the hip flexors and avoid running injuries that I did. There was even a short video clip I had posted. Raja Bose remarked that the kapotasana(pigeon pose in US), konabadha asana(bound angle pose also called cobbler's pose in US) and lizard pose in US(utthan pristhasana) (all poses I still do), poses I had shown were also used as pre-warmups prescribed by his coach. Poster KJo remarked that I looked 35, that of course made my day, I was close to 60 then. Singha had some comments too that I forgot. Avoidance of injury is perhaps the most important advice I can give to anyone following a rigorous exercise regimen involving any sport like running, swimming etc and yoga asanas for warm ups and as a general practice in tandem is excellent.

The Ethiopian lock on marathon medals extended to Mexico City 1968 when Mamo Wolde clinched the gold. The high altitude of Mexico city played havoc with many athletes but suited Wolde as Addis Ababa is at a height and the air is thin there. Mexico city is where people saw Dick Fosbury with his Fosbury flop in the high jump now standard and Bob Beamon's famous long jump a record that lasted for so many years that people thought it was a freak event. Fosbury got the gold and till then high jumpers used the scissors or the western roll. Now the flop has become standard.

[Suraj]

@vsunder, I posted a pointer to the new thread on this forum, not the old one in the locked forum. The thread I linked above was created in March 2021.

[chetak]

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Polish silver medalist in Javelin throw Maria Andrejczyk, who is also a devout catholic, sold her Olympic medal at auction to find money for the heart surgery of a Polish boy.

Polish store chain Zabka won the auction, but they returned the medal back to her

[rsingh]

That is real patriotism and sensitivity towards fellow human being. And chain that was involved .......it was great move. Oh goodness.