The hurdle specialists

You might think that by "hurdle specialists", I mean these people: the ones who jump over the hurdles.

No. I do not.
I mean these ones:
the hurdle judges and the set up guys.

The judges were very serious and reminded me of Men In Black.

The set up guys were a little less serious. As seen in the video.



But there was something distinctly India about it in the latecomer hurdle collectors, the wobbling line formation and the not-so-perfect queuing.
A very fair effort, though. "A" for at least trying.

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.

Steeplechasing

What is the steeplechase?
It's running around the track (3000m worth of running around) and jumping over these hurdle-like things.
Wikipedia gives a much more comprehensive explanation than I do, but I will quote the interesting name-history here:

"The event originated in the British Isles. Runners raced from one town's steeple to the next. The steeples were used as markers due to their visibility over long distances. Along the way runners inevitably had to jump streams and low stone walls separating estates."

In the modern steeplechase, one of the obstacles is jumping into a pool of water, like this one.
That's no small feat. Just look how deep the water hole is when there's no water in it:

The Kenyan women were super good at it. They owned the steeple chase.
1-2-3.
Gold-silver-bronze.

The determination of this Indian athlete deserved respect.
Early on she fell behind the others, but she kept on and didn't tire in her graceful leaps over the hurdles.

She wasn't the only one who had difficulty. Apparently a Papau New Guinea steeplechaser was so tired he had to use the potted plants to help him climb over the hurdle.

How to cheer

I'm going to submit the idea that India needs lessons in how to cheer.
As we were sitting in the stands, my friend said to me, "Shall we start the wave?"
"If anyone else around us knew what we were doing, we could," I answered.
'Cause, seriously, we would have been the lone wavers, entertaining those around us.

But really, I'm not talking about entertainment.
I'm talking about supporting these athletes who are dedicated to excellence in what they do.
Yes, it's true there are others in the world who are better at running, jumping, swimming and other feats of athletic prowess, but if India wants to be the choice for Commonwealth Games and (can you imagine) Olympics, then it requires more than big stadiums.
It requires a shift in thinking and respect for athletes of all types.

There were Indian runners in almost all of the athletic events: the 400m races, the hurdles, the relays.
But they weren't usually the fastest.
Like this girl who fell so far behind her fellow runners that when she came by, the people sitting next to me were actually laughing at her. At first they had been loudly cheering her at the beginning of the race.
Until they saw she had no chance to win.
This happened more than once, to different athletes in different events from spectators around the stadium. When it did, you could see the runners loose momentum as the cheers died away and they realized they were failing the crowd.

Come on, India!
It's not always about who is the biggest, and most powerful. Every one of these athletes has worked hard to get where they are, and they deserve some respect when they are giving all they can.
Sometimes you cheer for the underdog and sometimes the unexpected victory over the favored champion makes for a more heroic story. But those heroes don't get born if there's no one to cheer for them.

If you want to see this happen more often (the Indian flag raised and carried around the stadium), and hear the anthem of India played for athletic champions, you have to cheer them on ALL ALONG the way.
Even if it seems they're losing.
They won't always loose. Sometimes they'll win. But it may be a very small victory, which you'll miss if you're only looking for the super big winners.

Men's flying--I mean, long jump

The men's long jumpers are pretty amazing. Those guy's fly!
They must be about six feet in the air before they come down at a distance around 9 feet.
Whoa!

The guy from Australia who could fly the furthest won, and he and the silver medalist took a victory lap around the track.
The press loved it.
Australia and England smiled.
They posed.
And then they walked off like super heroes--well, yeah, they can fly, right?

Shotput's strong women

We had a good view of the women's shot put. Which means we could see how tall some of those women were.
The gold medalist, Valerie Adams from New Zealand, is 6'4". And really buff.
That's her in the center of the second picture, towering over the others.
She blew those others away, and then was really excited jumping up and down when she did well.
Tough, competitive and tall, but still all girl.

Track and field in the pretty stadium

I finally got to go into the pretty stadium. I've watched the construction happening for over a year, and now I got to see it for myself.

It is a big stadium. Seating 60,000
At night it's all lit up pretty. It changes color and everything. That was what I really wanted to see.
Though the athletic events were cool, too.

It's hard to know what to watch when so much is going on.
Running.
Jumping.
Throwing things.
Medal ceremonies.

And it's also where the opening and closing ceremonies take place. With fireworks that I can see from my roof.