Agony & Ecstasy

Rohit Mahajan in Rio

Contrary to fears, the sky didn’t fall, the Atlantic didn’t flow over and sink the country. Death didn’t rain on Rio’s guests through massacring terrorists. The Zika virus didn’t strike, and people didn’t simply fall down and die when they first inhaled the city’s much-feared highly polluted air. In short, all predictions of an early and egregious failure of the Olympics proved unfounded. The Olympics didn’t combust spectacularly.

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Ah, there was something that did go according to predictions — a man clad in yellow, tall of height and toothy of grin, the King of Sprints, did win the 100m gold. On Usain Bolt’s night of glory, an hour before the 100m final, we found ourselves in a lift at the Olympic stadium — and the doors got stuck. For a good 15 minutes, as the lift was summoned by people on the different floors, we were sent back and forth up and down the building, with no control over the controls.

That was the closest we came to disaster — we feared missing the race by, say, 10 seconds. Luckily, we got out. And luckily, disaster didn’t strike the Games. The Olympics have been contested in a spirit of good fun; the Brazilians have proved to be cheerful, helpful people. Their enthusiasm and pride in organising the biggest party of sports brought a verve into the event that was missing in London 2012 and Beijing 2008.

Security hasn’t been an issue. Western media freaked out when they saw so many soldiers with machine guns guarding on the streets, but perhaps they were needed. Indians, who’ve been around in Rio for months in connection with the Olympics, say that they never felt afraid. “I take the public transport system home every night,” says Minal Chouhan, who’s here as a volunteer. 

Michael Phelps got five gold and one silver at Rio, but the real star, the real megastar, was Bolt.

The US supplied two more athletes on the Rio megastar list — swimmer Katie Ledecky set a new world record in the women’s 800m freestyle event, and also became the first woman to win gold in the 200m, 400m, and 800m freestyle since 1968. Simone Biles got four gold and a bronze in the women’s gymnastics event. For the past three years, she’s won every team and individual all-around competition she’s competed in. At the Olympics, she maintained that record.

Bolt created magic on the night the 100m final was run. Bolt believes he can break his world record of 19.19 and could even go under 19 seconds in the final. He says he is seriously contemplating the 200m record. “I definitely think I can try for the world record, I definitely feel that,” he said. “I need to run efficiently and get into the straight and run the perfect race.” Two world record in the sprints, in one Olympics? It’s going to be a great achievement if it happens, and it would make these special Olympics extra-special.