Legs of blade, nerves of steel

The event will also grab eyeballs because of the raging controversy that the South African athlete has set off in the athletic community and its governing bodies largely due to the high-tech carbon fibre blades that he uses instead of flesh and blood legs – he was born without his fibulas, the long bones that span from the knees to the ankles. Those blades have earned him the label, The Blade Runner, and sometimes the barbs that come his way because of those blades cut deeper into his soul than any blade could have.

Pistorius’ career has been mired in controversy ever since he started competing in events that are meant for able-bodied men. The man who walked away with three gold medals in the 2008 Summer Paralympics decided he wanted to compete in the regular Olympics but found that dream disappear into thin air when the International Association of Athletics Federations, track and field’s governing body, barred him from competing in the event, saying his high-tech legs gave him an unfair advantage over those with flesh-and-blood legs.

The athlete proved he had another advantage too—nerves of steel – when he challenged the ban and got it reversed, clearing the way for him to compete in the 2008 Olympics. He did not make the grade then, but this time over, it is a different story. Last month he clocked 45.07 seconds to record a time inside both the world championships and making the 2012 London Olympics qualifying mark. That is an absolute dream run for a man who went on record recently saying he has never considered himself disabled or the world championship or the Olympics beyond his reach.

“It was just a dream race. I just have not been able to sleep. I am sure tomorrow when I wake up the accomplishment is going to hit me. It is really humbling to know I have gotten so much support from everyone.”

Messi to cast spell on Kolkata

INDIAN FOOTBALL lovers are holding their breath in anticipation of some real good action that is guaranteed to follow the arrival of the God of Football in Kolkata, in the Indian state of West Bengal, a few days from now.

We are talking about football superhero Lionel Messi, who will arrive in India soon to steer the Argentina in an upcoming international friendly match against Venezuela at the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata. The action is bound to be sizzling as is the case when Messi takes centre stage, but this time over, he is likely to be even more charged up considering that he has only recently lead Barcelona to a momentous 5-4 win over arch-rivals Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup, so there is likely to be much more adrenalin charging through him just now.

Argentina’s assistant coach Julien Camino visited the city and inspected the preparations for the face-off earlier in the month. “Messi is loved by millions of fans across the globe. He’s aware that he will be well-received by his fans here, too. He’s the captain of the side and he’s pretty excited about coming here,” Camino, who himself was briefly associated with the East Bengal club in 1988, said.

“We hope the stadium will be packed and it will be a memorable match,” Argentina’s former right-back said.

Messi, no doubt, will be the star attraction of the match, which will feature a line-up of other World Cup players such as Angel Di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain of Real Madrid, Javier Mascherano of Barcelona and Sergio Aguero, Manchester City.

Kolkata’s football crazy fans have had the good fortune of having witnessed friendly matches and sometimes being trained by some of the world’s biggest players, including Messi’s own mentor, Maradonna, who visited the city in end 2008 for the inauguration of a football academy. Among the others who have touched base in the city are Pele and Oliver Kahn.

Just-in to the
richest club

JUSTIN BIEBER is having a really cool year. First he got himself almost cult status as a teenage music prodigy, pipping other seniors to the post with fan following, twitter followers and such other assets of the wired world. Then he got himself a girl friend, Selena Gomes, who is also popular in the music circles. Last week he had a street named after him in his country and now comes the news that he has another first to his name.

The cute boy with the floppy locks, who recently went all sophisticated on his fans with an edgy hair cut, new clothes and über cool dark glasses, has now become the highest earning teenager in the world, earning an eye-popping $53 million in the last year, according to People magazine. When he last heard about it, he still had to ask his mom when he went out on a date. We wonder if that rule still holds in the Bieber household. If your son has so much moolah, does he count as grown up, is what we would like to know.

Meanwhile, Bieber’s girl friend also finds a place in the who-earns-the-most sweepstakes with earnings of $5.5 million last year. Among the other teenage top grossers are 18-year-old Miley Cyrus who walked away with $15 million last year.

Now that is a lot of money for young people to experiment with…

Making news

YOU KNOW what they say about successful people — that many of them are born lucky. Luck, as we all know, is many times a function of being at the right time at the right place, which makes UK’s Upinder Randhawa a very lucky man indeed.

The 31-year old India-born Randhawa is a resident of Birmingham and was on his rounds as volunteer reporter for a local Sikh community television channel largely into religious reporting, when rioting began in the area. Randhawa thought on his feet and was soon filming the large-scale rioting in the area and in the suburbs of West Midlands, beaming horrific images of arson and looting, as stunned residents watched

For Randhawa the IT moment came when he helped a couple of cops chase and pin down four of the looters. “Sangat TV team just helped police catch four thugs,” he tweeted simultaneously. Nobody, not even Randhawa himself, imagined how much of a difference that once incident would make in his life. As large television channels, including BBC and CNN, who themselves had no live visuals of the rioting, used his live feeds and voiceovers to cater to their own viewership, the breakdown recovery man and volunteer journalist became an overnight celebrity and legend. British Prime Minister David Cameron cited the example of Sangat TV and its star reporter as great examples of socially responsible media. A twitter addict, Randhawa’s positings got him fans and followers by the hundreds, following the event.

Randhawa himself is modest about the way he has achieved celebrity status. He is matter of fact about the way things developed. “People started throwing stones and stuff but we thought if we leave now what’s the point of covering this?” I wasn’t scared even though it was the first time I had covered stuff live. Wherever people told me the riots were, that’s where we went. I really wish I could have done a lot more. People are saying nice things but it is not me who is the hero.”

We wish there were more in the media of this kind of guerilla journalism instead of celebrity journalists hogging the limelight and taking attention away from the issues and people who need help.

• —sudhamenon2006@gmail.com