Page 20 - Seniors Today - August 21 Issue

Rekha, he could have been saved from his will be relatively happier since she or he
nemesis, Rama.
What if is a powerful hindsight which
has the potential of redemption and
transformation of those who are lucky to
outlive an event.
The successful completion of the recent
Tokyo Olympics was a test of will and
grit of Japan as also of the IOC. Yes,
the spectators were missing, thanks to
Covid, but the competitive spirit of the
participants ensured a successful outcome.
Two hundred and six countries, 339 events,
33 sports, 10,000 plus competitors, 1,000
plus medals won. And the icing on the cake:
about 125 Indian players participating and
giving India its highest ever medals tally of
seven – one gold (for javelin, the first ever
in an athletic event), two silvers and four
bronzes. India is proud and gushing and
it will be eternally beholden to its players
for bringing home the honours. This is just
the beginning for India for sure, given the
resurging self-belief and confidence of its
emergent youth.
Amid all this joy and excitement, the ill-
timed resurfacing of a hoary psychological
concept of counterfactual thinking was
doing the rounds of the social media with
the inevitable intellectualisation of it by
every Amar, Akbar and Anthony. The
spin given to the counterfactual thinking,
in the context of the Olympic medals, was
essentially that a bronze medal winner
20
has won it by defeating a rival whereas a
silver winner will not be as happy since it
was a result of being defeated by a rival.
Balderdash!
To put it in perspective, being one
among the 1,000-odd podium finishers
(medal winners) out of the 10,000-odd
participants from a world populace of 8
billion, itself is a Himalayan achievement.
To analyse the winners’ minds/emotions/
feelings on reaching that stage is a needless
diversion from their moments of glory and
hence cruel and unfair. Try telling that to
Mirabai Chanu, the silver medallist in 49
kg weightlifting and Ravi Kumar Dahiya,
the silver medallist in 57 kg freestyle
wrestling. Does Neeraj Chopra’s gold
winning javelin throw of 87.58 meters
throw any less significant just because
it was below his best of 88.06 meters at
Asian Games. Are the bronze winners (P
V Sindhu, Lovlina Borgohain, Bajrang
Punia and Manpreet Singh and his team)
any less when they had withstood earlier
defeats and yet came up from the brink
when it mattered the most? Is that not
true grit and never-say-die? The fact is
all the seven winners would be on top of
the world, bringing laurels as they did for
their country and being the seven amongst
1.3 billion – shining like the seven (sapta
rishis) stars in the skies.
An empty football stadium at the Tokyo Olympics