Paris Olympics 2024: Upsets and Jinx Aplenty

 Gautam Ganguly 

(gautamganguly2012@gmail.com)

The curtains of the Olympics 2024, the greatest sports spectacle on earth, have been pulled down, finally providing enormous entertainment and excitement blended with patriotic fervour. It needs no reiteration that the Olympic Games are considered to be the apex sports meet of the world with their long tradition of fostering universal brotherhood. As many as 206 countries have participated in the just-concluded Olympic Games, which is a milestone. The other feature of the event is the participation of a whopping 10,500 athletes in 48 disciplines comprising 32 sporting events.

The Olympic Games, which had their origins in Greece, remain the most sought-after sporting event for all sportspeople, despite many such multi-sport events that have been added over the years. Love for sports and the Olympics can be understood from the fact that Berlin hosted the Olympic Games even when the Second World War was in the offing, caring two hoots for the huge politics going across the world and the ominous danger looming over humanity. Thereafter, the Olympics were not held between 1940 and 1944. The 1948 London Olympics were held after the Second World War ended, and from that year on, this quadrangular multi-sport event has been held regularly without any interruption.

For the connoisseurs of Indian sports, the Paris Olympics is a story of innumerable upsets and heartbreaking defeats of the icons. Lovlina Borgohain, winner of the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, has disheartened admirers by losing to China’s Li Qian in the women’s 75 kg quarterfinal match.

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, the ace Indian weightlifter, won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the women’s 49 kg event. She won gold medals at the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games. As she stood to lift her barbell at the Paris Olympics fighting arena, Mirabai Chanu was “six lifts away from a second Olympic medal and becoming the greatest Indian weightlifter.” However, inexplicably, as she lifted the barbell above her, the rod slipped out of her hands and fell in front of her, much to the chagrin of Indian sports lovers. It was a bolt from the blue to find Chanu losing out in such a manner.

Lakshya Sen, the Indian badminton player, had reached the semi-final effortlessly with his high skill, sound technique, and temperament. In the run-up to the semi-final, Sen overwhelmed T.C. Chou in the quarterfinal, who had a higher ranking and greater achievements like winning the French Open in 2021, being the Asian Games champion in 2022, etc., raising hope for the Indians. The hope, however, got soon dazed. In the semi-final against top-seeded Auxalsen of Denmark, Sen lost abysmally in straight games despite leading comprehensively at one stage of the first game. Jinx continued to haunt Sen as he lost to Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in a vital bronze-winning match, in spite of winning the first game and taking a substantial lead at one stage in the second game!

An abject story of surrender.

The much-vaunted Indian hockey went downhill after it became champion at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. The pitiable condition of India prevailed for quite some time. The pristine glory of Indian hockey was revived and restored due to the salutary intervention of Naveen Patnaik, the ex-Chief Minister of Odisha, who provided monetary and logistic support to Indian hockey selflessly, not caring for vote banks. Much to the delight of Indian sports lovers, hockey was in its winning way. After 41 years, Indian hockey won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Then India became champion in the last Asia Cup in 2023, beating archrival Pakistan by ten goals! The Indian Hockey team, here in Paris Olympic, was playing like a champion. The Australian team was defeated after 52 long years. It defeated a formidable U.K. team with ten players to reach the semi-final. Mysteriously, upset and jinx took the better of team India to lose in the semi-final against Germany. Eventually, they had to remain satisfied with the bronze medal. The Indian hockey team has created a record of sorts in Paris, winning back-to-back bronze medals at the Olympics.

Disqualifying ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat just before the final is the mother of all upsets at the Paris Olympics. Vinesh had won against two tough opponents to reach the women’s 50 kg freestyle final. In a terse announcement made by the authority, it was declared that Vinesh has been ‘disqualified’ for weighing just 100 grammes above the required weight to compete in the 50 KG category. Imagine that the celebrity had won two earlier bouts in the same category to reach the final.  It’s a million-dollar question: What were Indian support staff and coaches doing? Wrestler emeritus Phugot might have lost the final but won millions of Indian hearts with her fantastic performance.

In another upset, Neeraj Chopra, India’s golden boy, had to settle for silver in the Olympic men’s javelin throw. 

While in Tokyo, India won seven medals, here at the Paris Olympics, the tally has come down to six.

The Paris Olympics can be described as an enigma that belied hopes and expectations.