Indian Wresteling Got New Heights in BEIJING Olympics 2008

Wrestler Sushil Kumar and boxer Vijender Singh, who had won bronze medals in their respective categories, returned home in the wee hours of morning. Both were given a rousing welcome at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.

Besides their family members, a host of sports administrators, thousands of fans and friends had gathered at the Airport to receive them with beating drums, garlands and banners.

Sushil Kumar won the medal in the men's 66 kg freestyle category, defeating Leonid Speiridonov of Kazakhistan. He became the second Indian wrestler after 56 years to bag a bronze medal. Earlier, Khashaba Jadhav of Karad, Maharashtra, had won an individual bronze in the Helsinki Olympics in 1952.

Vijender Kumar became the first-ever Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal. His performance also boosted India's medal tally in Beijing Olympics to three, after shooter Abhinav Bindra won gold in 10m air rifle event and wrestler Sushil Kumar bagged bronze.


Today, both Sushil and Vijender are scheduled to meet Union Sports Minister MS Gill, President Pratibha Patil, Vice President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Arriving by the same flight were officials of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), including its president Suresh Kalmadi, secretary general Randhir Singh along with members of the contingent who finished their events in the second week of the Games.

India won three medals at the Beijing Olympics, their best ever performance at the Summer Games. Earlier, in 1928, India had only won four individual medals, none of them gold, since sending their first team to the Summer Games.

The men's hockey team has won the Olympic tournament eight times. Last time it won gold was in 1980.
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Abhinav Bindra made us all proud.

India clinched its first ever individual Olympic gold medal in 108 years when Abhinav Bindra won the 10 meter air rifle event in one of the most pulsating shooting finals in the history of the world's biggest sporting extravaganza.

The historic victory for the 25-year-old pro from Chandigarh came against heavy odds as he entered the event ranked number 17 in the world and pitted against Athens Olympic champion Zhu Qinan of China and Henri Hakkinen of Finland rated much higher than him. But Bindra proved that reputation and history counted little as he overcame a two-point deficit against Zhu and Haikkinen after the qualifying round and annexed the title.

Bindra emerged triumphant in the 10-shot final with a finish of 104.5, taking his tally of points to 700.5 as against Zhu's silver winning performance of 699.7 (597+102.7) and 699.4 (598+101.4) by Hakkinen, which gave the Finn Army marksman the bronze.

His first shot of the final a 10.7 saw him move to the third place and by the time he was preparing to shoot his fourth, the Indian had risen to the second spot. A 10.6 on his seventh attempt earned Bindra the lead and in the deciding shot he got 10.8, way ahead of 10.5 by the Chinese and 9.7 by the Finn to bring India the first ever gold medal by an individual since the country first participated in Olympics in 1900.

After winning Gold Madel He said

"It can't better than this. Can it?" an elated but composed Bindra said soon after achieving the feat.

"I sincerely hope my medal changes the face of India's Olympic sports, For me, life will go on as usual but I sincerely hope Olympic sports get a leg-up. It's not a priority back home and I hope more focus is paid to these events like shooting,"

"I entered the final as fourth, which means I had to go all out for it. That's why I was so aggressive and it paid off in the end. I guess it was my day,"

"My parents, family and coaches stood by me all along and I owe it to them,"

Even in his hour of supreme glory, Bindra was magnanimous towards his rival when he applauded Zhu for his performance and said "he should be happy that he won a medal". Bindra's compatriot Gagan Narang too almost made it to the final but was ruled out on countback. Gagan scored 595, levelled at the fifth place but lost out on a final place in countback

Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE Michael Phelps Proved it

Michael Phelps went a perfect 8-for-8 in Beijing, breaking Mark Spitz's single-Games record for gold medals. He swam 17 times over nine days and broke the world record in four of his five individual swims. His three relay teams also set world marks.

In his first final, on Aug. 10, Phelps won the 400m IM in 4:03.86, more than a second faster than the record he set a month earlier at Olympic Trials. The next day, Phelps and the U.S. team squeaked out a win in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Phelps' leadoff leg of 47.51 was an American record, but anchor Jason Lezak dove in with more than a half-second deficit. Lezak posted the fastest relay split in history, 46.06, to catch Frenchman Alain Bernard for the win, by just .08 of a second.

Phelps easily won the 200m free, for his third gold in Beijing and his record-tying ninth career gold. But he wasn't tied for long, as the next morning, Phelps won two more gold medals: first, in the 200m butterfly, where the race was tighter than expected. But the only race in the 4x200m freestyle relay was for second, as the U.S. men, with Phelps leading off, broke the record by more than four seconds and beat the field by more than five. Phelps won his sixth gold with a dominating performance in the 200m IM, lowering his world record to 1:54.23, but his seventh gold was by the absolute slimmest of margins, .01 in the 100m butterfly. Phelps appeared to trail Milorad Cavic but his half stroke beat out Cavic's glide to the wall by a nail.

Phelps swam the butterfly leg of the 4x100m medley relay in the final event of the Beijing Olympic swimming competition. He left the blocks with his team third but gave the lead to Jason Lezak, who closed out the victory.

Golden guy

Phelps won seven gold medals (200m free, 100m fly, 200m fly, 200m IM, 400m IM, 4x100m free and 4x200m free) and set five world records (200m free, 200m fly, 200m IM, 400m IM and 4x200m free) in one of the most dominant swimming performances ever at the 2007 Worlds. All of the individual event world records that Phelps broke were his own, except for the 200m freestyle, where he shattered Ian Thorpe's mark from 2001. Phelps shaved .2 of a second off Thorpe's time and won the race by almost 2.5 seconds.

Following his sisters to the pool, Phelps began swimming at age 7 when he joined North Baltimore Aquatic Club. He met Bowman four years later, and Bowman immediately recognized his ability. "There was nothing holding him back, at that time or now," Bowman said. "I felt that when I saw him as a younger swimmer, that he had limitless potential." Bowman even met with Phelps' parents when he was 12, explaining that he could potentially make the Olympics in 2000 and even set 2004 and 2008 as targets.