A STROLL IN THE PARK – OR SO IT SEEMED

He was ambling along at his own leisure. Very much aware of the surroundings and circumstances, so sure of himself and the end result. He was savoring every second of it (not that he had too many seconds on hand either). And so were the millions of people watching the stunning show unfold in front of their unbelievable eyes. The people (not just ordinary men and women, but ex champions, journalists, coaches and even the poor competitors) were unable to even figure out the enormity of the sublime and yet the simplest action being performed. Human mind is not programmed to comprehend the occurrence of certain things. One such thing happened for the shortest span of time imaginable at Beijing Olympics on Saturday 16th 2008 10.30pm.

If only any pair of eyes, in the entire stadium or watching it through any electronic medium possible, had the ignorance or temerity to shift theirs a few meters behind the man on show, they would have seen the real truth. 6 other gifted pairs of legs toned to near perfection by 4 yrs of extraordinary practice, struggle and determination to succeed were pushing each other with all their might and energy as though they were running for their life. In a way they were. They would have started the race in search of glory and limelight and 50 m into it they were running away from the same. They were all looking for an end to this trauma and would have prayed for the earth to swallow them all in a flash.

Because the man in front was making a mockery of them all and everyone who had been a part of the beacon of all track and field events in the past. He literally left his opponents in wake with no apparent effort. It looked as though he had a secret dealing before hand with the almighty himself on how it would turn out for him.

By the time it was all over (btw there was still 20 m to cover before the finishing line) he was so relaxed and confident that he turned his head either side as though to reconfirm the fact that it was a one man traffic and was beating his chest in celebration.

What enabled him to do what he did that night? When every other world class runners were either too anxious or down right scared of the situation, his demeanor showed as though he was getting prepared for a stroll in the park. For heavens sake when his main compatriot was shaking and shivering all over, this guy was dancing to the music being played in his head. To me victory was sealed right at that moment.

That’s what a 21 yrs old mind free of fear and complemented with bizarre natural talent can do to people and others surrounding it. He has not experienced the failure of the past nor does he know what it feels like to be a part of all this. After all this was his first Olympic event. So in the end there was no inhibition nor were any doubts allowed to creep into the mind.

Post race when he was asked how he prepared himself for the day, his answer was pretty much similar to his race itself, quite extraordinary and out of the text book manual. He told to every stunned reporters and media person that he slept well into the noon, had chicken nuggets for lunch, slept again and had his second session with the chicken nuggets.

That’s what he was doing the whole day (including the race). He was having fun (In every sense of the word). And for every one who were lucky enough to witness it (except his co runners) what a fun ride it was. It was mind blowing, breathtaking and out of this world fun. In short it was ultimate bliss.

All these doping people and cynics of this world are out there trying to do their job to ensure it was done in fair manner. Let’s hope it was. We don’t want our myths to be shattered the way it was when that smiling angel from USA was branded a fake. Let’s hope he is clean. The competition deserves him to be clean and more importantly that race deserves him to be clean.

Because ladies and gentlemen what Usain Bolt did that night was 9.69 seconds worth of pure gold.