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[Blwe_torch]

Broken back no drama for India's fastest man

Reuters


Indian luger Kannan Palan Shiva Keshavan has defied doctor’s orders to slide down the world's fastest track at the Vancouver Olympics with a fractured back. Himalayan-born Shiva Keshavan was told that he had a fracture in his 10th vertebra in January but wild horses would not keep him away from competing at his fourth Olympics.

“My doctor told me that my back is more important so stop and just worry about my back," Shiva Keshavan, who at 16 became the youngest luge Olympian at the 1998 Nagano Games, told reporters at the Whistler Sliding Centre on Wednesday. “I just told him I've been training for this for four years and told him to do what he had to to get me back on track. "He said be careful or it could get worse."

The 28-year-old roared down his first training run on Wednesday, clocking a speed of 140kph to live up to his nickname as India's fastest man but his doctor is unlikely to be pleased. "I had three weeks in a brace with no training whatsoever. It's only in the past week that I've managed to take the brace off and do some exercises," he said. "But no matter what, I had to be here."
A creaking back was not Shiva Keshavan's only problem in the build-up to the Games. He broke his sled days before leaving for Vancouver but five lawyers in cricket-mad India pooled 450,000 rupees ($15,920) to help him buy a new one. Shiva Keshavan, who was second at the Asian Winter Championships in January, helped the Indian Luge Federation put on a camp for 50 children in the Himalayas last July and he hopes one day some of them will follow in his tracks. "We will have a strong team in four years," he said.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/broken-back-no-drama-for-indias-fastest-man/578598/

[vincent]

Meanwhile, Indian Olympic Team had no proper clothes. The Indian community in Canada has collected money to donate the clothes and equipment for the Indian Team. What a shame.

[dextrous]

Meanwhile, Indian Olympic Team had no proper clothes. The Indian community in Canada has collected money to donate the clothes and equipment for the Indian Team. What a shame.

My friend texted me and said Pakistan has only 1 athlete, so we already have them beat

don't expect anything else from winter olympics!

[vincent]

So does Ghana - one athlete. And they don't even have snow in their country.

[Cover Point]

well atleast Kalmadi made some good money.

We had 3 athletes and like 6 fat looking officials!!! amazing!

[RicePlateReddy]

While the spirit of this Keshavan guy is surely impressive, I think India should distance itself from the Winter Olympics. Bunch of irrelevant sports as far as India is concerned. If at all, they should train a Kathakali dancer (full mask) to dance with skates and send her for the figure skating competition.

If you do a break-up of the Summer Olympics with respect to medals, even there a good 40% of the medals available will have less than 200 Indians pursuing the sport/discipline at a professional level - most of gymn-ass-tics, "rhythmic" gymn-ass-tics, synchronized swimming, fencing, handball, modern pentathlon, kayaking, equestrian etc. With the US/Australian lineage and of late  Chinese kids being forced into it - swimming and diving is such a long shot to ever catch up to. The black athletes mostly dominate the athletic sprints, and the steroid junkies and freaks the field events. We have to hope for medals in wrestling, shooting, boxing, archery, weightlifting (mens and womens), and tennis doubles. Apart from the last mentioned, the others are largely irrelevant sports for Indian spectators.

[flute]

While the spirit of this Keshavan guy is surely impressive, I think India should distance itself from the Winter Olympics. Bunch of irrelevant sports as far as India is concerned. If at all, they should train a Kathakali dancer (full mask) to dance with skates and send her for the figure skating competition.

If you do a break-up of the Summer Olympics with respect to medals, even there a good 40% of the medals available will have less than 200 Indians pursuing the sport/discipline at a professional level - most of gymn-ass-tics, "rhythmic" gymn-ass-tics, synchronized swimming, fencing, handball, modern pentathlon, kayaking, equestrian etc. With the US/Australian lineage and of late  Chinese kids being forced into it - swimming and diving is such a long shot to ever catch up to. The black athletes mostly dominate the athletic sprints, and the steroid junkies and freaks the field events. We have to hope for medals in wrestling, shooting, boxing, archery, weightlifting (mens and womens), and tennis doubles. Apart from the last mentioned, the others are largely irrelevant sports for Indian spectators.

what is it, like giving up on 1 billion plus population? I think we should either shut up or help/encourage those few who are participating, even if it is one per each sport.

[flute]

Meanwhile, Indian Olympic Team had no proper clothes. The Indian community in Canada has collected money to donate the clothes and equipment for the Indian Team. What a shame.

My friend texted me and said Pakistan has only 1 athlete, so we already have them beat

don't expect anything else from winter olympics!

he bhagwan, are we in such bad confition that we gloat comparing with pak ?

[dextrous]

While the spirit of this Keshavan guy is surely impressive, I think India should distance itself from the Winter Olympics. Bunch of irrelevant sports as far as India is concerned. If at all, they should train a Kathakali dancer (full mask) to dance with skates and send her for the figure skating competition.

If you do a break-up of the Summer Olympics with respect to medals, even there a good 40% of the medals available will have less than 200 Indians pursuing the sport/discipline at a professional level - most of gymn-ass-tics, "rhythmic" gymn-ass-tics, synchronized swimming, fencing, handball, modern pentathlon, kayaking, equestrian etc. With the US/Australian lineage and of late  Chinese kids being forced into it - swimming and diving is such a long shot to ever catch up to. The black athletes mostly dominate the athletic sprints, and the steroid junkies and freaks the field events. We have to hope for medals in wrestling, shooting, boxing, archery, weightlifting (mens and womens), and tennis doubles. Apart from the last mentioned, the others are largely irrelevant sports for Indian spectators.

I agree, the number of medals given out in certain sports makes Olympics almost irrelevant and entirely too favorable for a couple of countries. I mean, for god's sake, a real sport like tennis has 4 total gold medals where theres 10m, 20m, 30m, 50m swimming..geez. why not have a right-hander medal, left-hander medal, half-court, pro-set, etc. medals also

[dextrous]

oh, and then there was women's softball that only america plays (and some very fat ladies from italy, i guess)

[vincent]

While the spirit of this Keshavan guy is surely impressive, I think India should distance itself from the Winter Olympics. Bunch of irrelevant sports as far as India is concerned. If at all, they should train a Kathakali dancer (full mask) to dance with skates and send her for the figure skating competition.

If you do a break-up of the Summer Olympics with respect to medals, even there a good 40% of the medals available will have less than 200 Indians pursuing the sport/discipline at a professional level - most of gymn-ass-tics, "rhythmic" gymn-ass-tics, synchronized swimming, fencing, handball, modern pentathlon, kayaking, equestrian etc. With the US/Australian lineage and of late  Chinese kids being forced into it - swimming and diving is such a long shot to ever catch up to. The black athletes mostly dominate the athletic sprints, and the steroid junkies and freaks the field events. We have to hope for medals in wrestling, shooting, boxing, archery, weightlifting (mens and womens), and tennis doubles. Apart from the last mentioned, the others are largely irrelevant sports for Indian spectators.

In my view there is no such thing as irrelevant sport just because we are not good at it which is just about every sport. I agree that we can not participate in all olympic events - summer or winter. The goverment (Indian Olympic Committee) should pick some events in both plympics and help individuals strive for excellence. India does have mountains and snow unlike Jamaica which after the 88 Olympics partcipated in many olympics for the Bob Sled event. (The 88 participation was immortalized in the movie Cool Runnings). But participating without proper clothes and equipment is ridiculous. It was OK in the movie Cool Runnings since they were fired up youngsters who wanted to prove that they can do it. But the Indian Government should have a little more money than they did.

[RicePlateReddy]

In my view there is no such thing as irrelevant sport just because we are not good at it which is just about every sport.

Irrelevant to Indians is what I meant. It is not as if India does not have an  adequate variety of sports it pursues to force feed some other ones with no ostensible spectator value if only to win an Olympic medal. My point is that a large section of Olympic sports are hence irrelevant to India, unless we want to desperately win medals at all costs. In which case, to be optimal, we should invest a bulk of our money and resources in some obscure nonsense (e.g. women's weightlifting in certain weight levels, modern pentathlon, 20 km walking) and train legions of people at it for a decade. We will surely win a gold medal.

India does have mountains and snow unlike Jamaica which after the 88 Olympics partcipated in many olympics for the Bob Sled event. (The 88 participation was immortalized in the movie Cool Runnings).

We have the mountains and snow but do we have enough even intermediate level (by amateur standards) skiers? Do you think there are even 1000 Indians living in India who are intermediate level skiers by say US/Euro amateur standards? How many athletes in India have ever done a luge? How many bobsleds exist in India - my guess is less than 20. My question is why should we start - just so we can get some standing in these Winter Olympics?

But participating without proper clothes and equipment is ridiculous. It was OK in the movie Cool Runnings since they were fired up youngsters who wanted to prove that they can do it. But the Indian Government should have a little more money than they did.

Yes agreed - if they participate, they can at least clothe him properly.

[Blwe_torch]

You never know of the global warming scenario. It may happen that we will be only left with sports related to ice and snow 20 years from now. It is good time to start grooming for some Olympic medals.........even if it is of the wintry variety.

[LosingNow]

You never know of the global warming scenario. It may happen that we will be only left with sports related to ice and snow 20 years from now. It is good time to start grooming for some Olympic medals.........even if it is of the wintry variety.

Wait a minute - warming is supposed to melt the ice - or have the global warming "scientists" now discovered (err... invented) "new facts" to show scientifically that warming actually leads to  more ice

[Blwe_torch]

You never know of the global warming scenario. It may happen that we will be only left with sports related to ice and snow 20 years from now. It is good time to start grooming for some Olympic medals.........even if it is of the wintry variety.

Wait a minute - warming is supposed to melt the ice - or have the global warming "scientists" now discovered (err... invented) "new facts" to show scientifically that warming actually leads to  more ice

that's the funny thing................the global warming champions are giving examples of extreme and freaky weather fluctuations................they are using the recent Washington snowing to the effects of global warming

[RicePlateReddy]

FWIW, there is agreement that there is global warming. The rival camps differ on two points: the expected temperature increase looking forward, and the cause (i.e. whether anthropogenic or otherwise). The record snow fall in DC is a spike - but in DC and a local spike. The average temperature of the earth as a whole is used when computing temperatures for global warming.

[Blwe_torch]

Crisis architects are making money.

[LosingNow]

Crisis architects are making money.

exactly..  always follow the money trail and you will get to the source!!

As they say in Hindi - koi doodh main nahya hua nahi hai

[LosingNow]

FWIW, there is agreement that there is global warming. The rival camps differ on two points: the expected temperature increase looking forward, and the cause (i.e. whether anthropogenic or otherwise). The record snow fall in DC is a spike - but in DC and a local spike. The average temperature of the earth as a whole is used when computing temperatures for global warming.

Precisely..
..but in these times, when only shouting-out-loud and predicting doom & gloom is heard above the din, both sides of the 'divide' are spinning this into "I told you so". 

For one side, science is the new religion (specially due to recent discrediting of facts) and for the other side, religion is the new science (because some facts have been discredited and therefore, reaffirm their scepticism).

[Blwe_torch]

Crisis architects are making money.

exactly..  always follow the money trail and you will get to the source!!

As they say in Hindi - koi doodh main nahya hua nahi hai

'State of Fear' by Michael Crichton is a great book.............where the author got confused himself while trying to convince the readers his original view-point!

[vincent]

Well, some of you may make fun of Global Warming as much as you want, but there is no explanation nor solution to the problem of extreme draughts in India and Africa and extreme cold weather and rains in other places or for that matter the melting of snow caps in the north and south poles. The only problem is that it is not the rich countries that will suffer from these extreme climate changes. A city like DC will have enough snow ploughs to clear the snow. But Indian cities will soon have no water which is a different level of problem. Oil companies which have been behind all the propaganda against global warming may offer oil to drink.

[LosingNow]

Well, some of you may make fun of Global Warming as much as you want,

I do not think anyone is making fun of Global Warming..

..it is the characters who have made a (stealth) career out of 'crisis-mongering' who are being mocked or called out for what they truly are.

Look, most people here in the US - including most of CP's uneducated rednecks and Kban's intellectually enlightened hippies - get conservation and do their best (within their economic means and when feasible) to do the right thing (separate trash, use less water, less electricity etc.) for the environment. The issue, people in the US intinctively have is with 'mandates' and 'rules' which are designed, deemed important and imposed by these 'know it all' Federal and in this case, international (a la Copenhagen) agencies. Majority of the people in the US believe that  problems should be solved by people themselves either individually or through private initiatives... and if that doesnt or cannot work, through LOCAL city/state level public initiatives .. and if that doesnt or cannot work through federal initiatives. The burden of proof gets tougher and tougher as one moves from individual to state to Federal to international levels. There is huge skepticism (in my view, rightly so) towards efficiency and effectiveness of any centrally planned and 'designed by we-know-what-is-best-for-you intellectuals' program.

In the end, I think, it comes down to economics. Clean is competing with dirty - which is cheaper. The answer is not to make the dirty artifically expensive - which is what all these summits and legislations are trying to do. The answer is to make clean plentiful and inexpensive to the end user...and to jumpstart (not to sustain) that if government(s) need to provide subsidies - then that is fine. That, imo, should be the starting point - not mandates.

Back to these enviro-preachers.. look at Tom Friedman's house..

http://tenpercent.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/f.jpeg

...more than anything else, people can't stand hypocrites (of all types -left, right and center)

[dextrous]

The correct phrase is "climage change" -- global warming is mis-leading.

Anyway, I'm not sure what the big deal is. Forget about science and theories and religion...the basic fact is that if you pollute the earth and not give a shit, earth will eventually be a not-so-nice place to live in.

[RicePlateReddy]

Coming back to the topic, the photo of Keshavan is upsetting. He is disrespecting the country by flaunting his nuts (in tights) so close to the national flag. (ref http://www.cricketvoice.com/cricketforum2/index.php/topic,23042.msg296810.html#msg296810 )

[Blwe_torch]

Coming back to the topic, the photo of Keshavan is upsetting. He is disrespecting the country by flaunting his nuts (in tights) so close to the national flag. (ref http://www.cricketvoice.com/cricketforum2/index.php/topic,23042.msg296810.html#msg296810 )

aah! you can't be nit-picking....

[vincent]

Bollywood Dancing can get you Silver Medal at Olympics, which this couple did where they used the same routing for the compulsory.

                 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/wiE6P9pX7Kc&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/wiE6P9pX7Kc&rel=0</a>

[Blwe_torch]

There can be many categories of Bollywood dancing....including a Bhangra section. That will ensure a rich medal haul.

[dextrous]

hahaha, thanks for posting...imagine if this were indian folk music--what does that make jagjit singh--indian rap music!!!!