Not much had gone right for India in the build up to the Athens Games
2004. The controversy over the appointment of Gerard Rach as the coach
of the hockey team a few months before the Olympics and the doping
scandal involving Pratima Kumari a couple of days prior to the Games had
dominated the news.
Performance-wise too, there wasn’t much to brag about. At the previous two Olympics in Atlanta (1996) and Sydney (2000), India had at least won a bronze medal. In Athens, it looked like India would return empty handed.
But in the end, Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore changed it all. He was easily the hero of the 140-member Indian contingent, which also had 65 officials. The ace shooter fulfilled India’s long cherished ambition of going past a bronze in an individual event at the Olympics. In a dramatic final round, the proud Rajput held his nerve to come up with a stellar display to win the silver. He did so after a below-par performance in the preliminary round.
Rathore had prepared hard and systematically for the Athens Games. He made the best use of the resources and retained a strong focus in landing the biggest prize and came into the Games with some good results under his belt.
Other shooters — Abhinav Bindra, Suma Shirur and Anjali Bhagwat — had put up disappointing shows. It came as a huge relief when Rathore shot 179 out of 200, one point ahead of Wang Zheng of China, to finish second.
Rathore looked good for the gold, but the wind took it away. The windy conditions during the second round saw Rathore shoot a 43, but he put up a spirited show with nerves of steel in the final. Ahmed Almaktoum had already taken a virtually unbeatable lead, while Rathore showed great character to beat the rest. He needed to shoot both the birds on the last attempt to deny the silver for the other three contenders. He did it in style and punched the air, even as the Indians greeted him with applause.
Performance-wise too, there wasn’t much to brag about. At the previous two Olympics in Atlanta (1996) and Sydney (2000), India had at least won a bronze medal. In Athens, it looked like India would return empty handed.
But in the end, Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore changed it all. He was easily the hero of the 140-member Indian contingent, which also had 65 officials. The ace shooter fulfilled India’s long cherished ambition of going past a bronze in an individual event at the Olympics. In a dramatic final round, the proud Rajput held his nerve to come up with a stellar display to win the silver. He did so after a below-par performance in the preliminary round.
Rathore had prepared hard and systematically for the Athens Games. He made the best use of the resources and retained a strong focus in landing the biggest prize and came into the Games with some good results under his belt.
Other shooters — Abhinav Bindra, Suma Shirur and Anjali Bhagwat — had put up disappointing shows. It came as a huge relief when Rathore shot 179 out of 200, one point ahead of Wang Zheng of China, to finish second.
Rathore looked good for the gold, but the wind took it away. The windy conditions during the second round saw Rathore shoot a 43, but he put up a spirited show with nerves of steel in the final. Ahmed Almaktoum had already taken a virtually unbeatable lead, while Rathore showed great character to beat the rest. He needed to shoot both the birds on the last attempt to deny the silver for the other three contenders. He did it in style and punched the air, even as the Indians greeted him with applause.
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