Men's discus throwing

I think one of the coolest things I saw during the games were the moments when India won medals.
It was unexpected, for me anyway, because I am not a sports fan and I do not follow what happens in the world of sports.
So anyway, when I think of discus throwers, I think of great, big Scandinavian men. Lumberjack types.
India does not come to mind.
I consider myself to be of average height, but here I am taller than a lot of the men.

So discus throwers.
Great, big guys who can spin and throw things.
I know there's technique and all that, but frankly, it was a huge auditorium and they were all the way on the other side. Difficult to see what was going on.

I would be watching something else and all of a sudden a cheer would erupt at the other end of the stadium.
What was going on over there?
Oh, the Indian discus thrower.

Well he was pretty good at throwing that discus, because he took silver. And then as champion, he took a victory lap.

The medal presenters

When the CWG events are over and the athletes are presented with their medals, some VIP comes out and presents it to them. At both of the ceremonies I saw, there was something amusing about this.

First of all, did Milton Bradley's parents do that to him on purpose?

And in the second photo: no, that does not say "horrible" (what I first thought) ministers of Sports and of Housing, Urban Poverty and Tourism--though the irony is, no one would question it if it did.
:)

Men's weightlifting

In the men's competition, I watched the Indian weightlifting champion get a gold medal and a new CWG record. That was pretty fun to see.

Here's our view of the stadium. We had pretty good seats. But we were in the midst of some hard-core fans and had to behave (at least, I had to behave).

I love how he breaks out into a grin as he's standing there holding 175 kg over his head.
Nice.


The classic medal winner's pose: kissing the gold.

And my favorite of the day: this picture taken during the Indian national anthem with a close up of the winner's face on the big screen. What a cool moment.
What a fun day.

Women's weightlifting

Yes, I went to see weightlifting.
It would not have been my first choice of events, but it was a fun one. Especially since I got to see India win two gold medals and break Commonwealth Games records, and I got to enjoy it all with good company.

Here is the barbell, waiting for the action.

Here are the athlete's waiting for their turn.

And here is the new gold medalist, showing us how strong she is.

She wasn't the only one, though, who could lift me and my entire airline luggage weight allotment over her head, though.
Those were some buff women.

I also liked the five-man-barbell pit crew. They were very enthusiastic about their job.