Never too late to Citius, Altius, Fortius

Faster, Higher, Stronger. The motto of the Olympics could not be far from the motto of excellence. Of all fields. Of life.

I had my first tryst with the Olympics in 1992. In some ways, it was the change of guard. The Soviet Union had dominated the past 4 Olympics (US boycotted Moscow ’80 and Soviets paid it back in Los Angeles ‘84) in a big way over the US at the height of the cold war. From 1972-92, the Soviets ended at the top with the US being there. The 2 superpowers had split the ones before, with Soviets winning 3/5 top medal positions, with the balance 2 going to the US from 1952-68. It was a see-saw battle between the 2 then before Soviet dominance.

But the Soviets, with the fall of the USSR, had their last best at ’92. They finished 2^nd to the US in ’96 and 2000 before slipping later. The communist world was done for good.

The US consequently took over as consistent world beaters.

The other story that it heralded was the rise of China, up from 4^th in 1992 to 3^rd in 2004 and finally emerging as clear #2 to the US, in fact finishing first in the home games of 2008 Beijing.

And that of Great Britain. Up from being in the outer 10s from 1928 to 2004, they climbed to the top 5 in 2008 Beijing and have stayed there ever since. The seeds of that rise, they say, were sowed with a state sponsored program around the early ‘90s.

Be it Great Britain (from the mediocre to the top 5) or the Chinese (top 5 to top 2) or the Americans (clear #2 to #1), their stories have always told me that it’s never, ever too late. We can start anytime; it will take a couple of decades at most and we can be at the top.

Arguably, India’s journey started in 2020/21 Tokyo, so we may be witnessing that change. Living in that period is exhilarating itself.

Go, India! There’s no country being cheered by billions!

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