Oh, how were we enamoured of Paul the Octopus and his predictions during the FIFA World Cup 2010! Though Olympics would not be an ideal event to test the precognitive skills of any animal, given the sheer number of events and participants, what if Paul the Octopus was alive now? He could have been given simple tests - like (a) Will India will a Gold medal? Or (b) how many medals will India win? in the on-going London Olympics 2012. I mean, these questions aren’t tough to answer. BTW the way the answers as per me are (a) NO and (b) less than 4.
But what if we had some other way to predict the medals that India would win in the Olympics? I think I’ve the answer. Google celebrated the opening of the Olympics with the famous Doodle in which they had pictured 5+1 sporting events of the Olympics football, diving, racing, javelin, fencing and basketball. Thus last Friday, I had an inkling that Google Doodle will be Paul the Octopus for India.
For, you see, none of the 6 events portrayed in the opening ceremony Google Doodle are events in which India is expected to win. In 4 of the events - football, diving, javelin and basketball are where India is not taking part all - either men or women.
From that Friday till today (Saturday 04th August) Google has Doodled eight more - 2 of which (fencing and diving) were represented in the original Doodle. Of the remaining 6, three - pole vault, roman rings, and shot put - were events where India didn’t have any participation at all. But we had high hopes on the other 3 - archery, table tennis and field hockey. After the Google Doodle on them, it has been curtains for India in those events.
Watching the archers of India, both women and men, was a lesson on why we generally do not do well in sports and especially in the Olympics. Both in the team events and in individual competition, our archers seemed to lose nerve when ahead. It was really heart rending to see 1, 2 or even 4 point lead shrink and turn into a one point lag for our archers in the end.
Perhaps Garry Kasparov was right - we Indians might really be afraid of losing (especially when we are ahead), and have not yet learned to shut the opponent out, close the door on him/her, learned to win, lack the so called ‘killer instinct’.
Be what it may - I just hope Google does not Doodle in the next few days on badminton, boxing, tennis, shooting, weightlifting, and wrestling - where our medal hopes still lie.
:-)<
But what if we had some other way to predict the medals that India would win in the Olympics? I think I’ve the answer. Google celebrated the opening of the Olympics with the famous Doodle in which they had pictured 5+1 sporting events of the Olympics football, diving, racing, javelin, fencing and basketball. Thus last Friday, I had an inkling that Google Doodle will be Paul the Octopus for India.
For, you see, none of the 6 events portrayed in the opening ceremony Google Doodle are events in which India is expected to win. In 4 of the events - football, diving, javelin and basketball are where India is not taking part all - either men or women.
From that Friday till today (Saturday 04th August) Google has Doodled eight more - 2 of which (fencing and diving) were represented in the original Doodle. Of the remaining 6, three - pole vault, roman rings, and shot put - were events where India didn’t have any participation at all. But we had high hopes on the other 3 - archery, table tennis and field hockey. After the Google Doodle on them, it has been curtains for India in those events.
Watching the archers of India, both women and men, was a lesson on why we generally do not do well in sports and especially in the Olympics. Both in the team events and in individual competition, our archers seemed to lose nerve when ahead. It was really heart rending to see 1, 2 or even 4 point lead shrink and turn into a one point lag for our archers in the end.
Perhaps Garry Kasparov was right - we Indians might really be afraid of losing (especially when we are ahead), and have not yet learned to shut the opponent out, close the door on him/her, learned to win, lack the so called ‘killer instinct’.
Be what it may - I just hope Google does not Doodle in the next few days on badminton, boxing, tennis, shooting, weightlifting, and wrestling - where our medal hopes still lie.
:-)<
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