Winning isn't everything

It’s high time that I accept that the events that unfolded after 8th August 2008 changed my whole perspective of what I thought about winning. If you have still not guessed what happened on that day, let me tell you .It was the day when China opened the Beijing Olympics with a stunning spectacle leaving everyone in the world spellbound. It is surely unlikely that any other host country will ever be able to devote such investment and resources to an opening ceremony. Such a flawless exhibition of synchronization, choreography, discipline and imagination was rarely to be seen in the recent years. And yes I am still in awe for the magnitude of the event. Never in my life had I seen a show where such a large number of people perform with such harmony. I would like to give full credits to the people who came up with such a show. It surely set a benchmark for any kind of event to be hosted from now on. As the saying goes, “First impression is the best impression”, the opening event itself showcased what was in store for the rest of the event. I never cared to watch Olympics all these years but when the start was so splendid, I was left wanting for more....

My next few days became too mechanical. After returning from office ,I would sit in front of the TV to watch Olympics (bearing the torture of the dismal coverage by doordarshan).Over the next few days I saw many mistakes being made, many hopes shattered and most importantly many world records being broken. And it is this part of the world records that made me write this article.

Yes I am talking about these 2 persons who made me rethink the definition of winning: Michael Philips and Usian Bolt. Winning gold is good and breaking world records is better. But the way in which it was done was what we call “Great”. Winning 8 medals out of 8 in swimming is utter domination. And it was a long time that this type of domination was achieved in swimming. And the way in which bolt completed his last 10 meters of his 100m sprint with his fist thumping his chest and celebrating even before winning and still breaking the world record was a spectacle to behold. It showed us that it was not only winning that was important but doing it comprehensively was the new in thing.

I wondered now that whether it could be seen in other sports as well and I could recollect a few who made us feel that there was no thrill in watching the sport if you knew who was the winner beforehand. To name a few, here is the list: Michael Schumacher in F1,Tiger Woods in golf, Federer in Tennis (Nadal is not as consistent),Australia in cricket etc.
These were the people who seemed to be bored of winning. There always seemed to be an aura of invincibility around them. I sometime wondered what would motivate them to practise when they knew they were the undisputed leaders in their game.

Somehow I feel this phenomenon is also come to academics too. Toppers now not only try to get better marks than the others but try to see that the gap between them and the next best is very large.

The competition is not becoming tougher, its made tougher by the winners ,who instead of competing with others ,try to beat themselves thus increasing the gap with which they defeat someone.


I had read this interesting one liner somewhere :"Just when I had found the key of life, someone changed the lock".
Now I feel it’s very true.

To conclude, this is what I have to say: Winning isn’t everything…..being invincible is :)