Exciting! I can't wait for the London Games to begin.
It's seems that all my life, my growing up years, were defined by major sporting events. As long as I could remember, the FIFA World Cup, and the Olympic Games marked the seasons of my life! Perhaps I'm not the only one.
My first conscious impression of the Olympics, helped tremendously with the arrival of color TV, was the Los Angeles Olympics. It was the year of Carl Lewis, and of Joan Benoit.
I will never ever forget John William's composition for LA, the "Olympic Fanfare & Theme". The music stirs up in my mind, bringing bask the sheer delight I had to witness Games history in the making.
Though I watched the Games half a world away, I felt like I wasn't just a spectator but a participator. During the more excitable moments of the Games, a bunch of us kids were yelling our lungs out at the TV set, seeming as if our voices could be heard by the athletes. In those moments, we WERE there! And when our chosen heroes of the track breasted the tape, we cheered as if he or she had saved an entire civilization.
It was magnificent to see Carl in all his athletic glory getting ready for each of his events. It seemed as if there's no other competitors there! How would Carl have known that he would become a hero in the hearts of kids around the world! While I have an embarrassing lack of fast twitch muscles, I was not at all shy to latch on to the inspiration Carl seems to emanate to admirers.
Having acknowledged to myself that my muscle group is heavily weighed towards the slow twitch muscles, I am well acquainted with the masters of distance running - the marathoners. Names like Grete Waitz, Joan Benoit, Rosa Mota, Carlos Lopes, rolls off my head like miles of a long road. Then there's Robert de Castella of Australia, Takeshi and Shigeru Soh of Japan. Also Juma Ikangaa.
For the mid-distances, names like Mary Decker and Zola Budd stood out. Then there's Seb Coe, Steve Cram, Steve Scott!
You might be wondering how in the world, I'd know all these names, in a time and age when there was no internet for the masses.
Easy! I had Runner's World!
I'd save up my lunch money religiously, and once a fortnight or so, I would take a 30 minutes bus ride to town, and head for the very few book stores in my city. There's no Playboy magazines on display, not that I was interested. My eyes were looking for one and only one magazine - RW. That's it!
It was a teenage boy's dream. It was the nearest I would ever get to my running heroes. Devouring every bit of information about their lives, their daily regime, their training and racing tips, wow!
And who could ever forget Mary Lou Retton! I'm no gymnast. Never ever thought of aspiring to be one at all. Nevertheless, she was breath taking in her smiles, her spirited zest, and in all her routines. And she won!
LA84 was like a very good wine. Vintage. I might be biased, but that remains my favorite Summer Olympic Games. All others pale into the far distance. This might have something to do with youthful hopes, dreams and idealism.
As for London 2012, well, we'll just have to wait and see.
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