Road To Los Angeles: Episode 4

The Olympics are over 3 years away. However, we now have a bit more clarity on the events itself. There have been quite a few changes in the roster. The most significant impact is that LA28 will be the first ever Games with more female participants than male.

Also, the IOC has a new Boss – Kristy Coventry, herself a multiple Olympics medalist.

Overall, there will be 351 events across 36 sports compared to Paris which had 329 events across 32 sports. Here is a look at the sports wise changes made with respect to Paris 24.

Sports Dropped: Breaking

Sports Added:

1. Cricket: Men & Women Team events
2. Flag Football: Men & Women Team events
3. Lacrosse: Men & Women Team events
4. Squash: Men & Women Individual Events
5. Baseball: Men’s Team event
6. Softball: Women’s Team event

Changes within Sports

1. Swimming: 6 new events
• 50m Backstroke (Men & Women)
• 50m Breaststroke (Men & Women)
• 50m Butterfly (Men & Women)
2. Archery: Compound Mixed Team Event added
3. Athletics
• Addition: 4x100m Mixed Relay
• Dropped: Mixed Marathon racewalk
4. Boxing: One new event for Women. Weight categories have been rejigged for both men and women, now 7 each
5. Golf: Mixed Team event added
6. Gymnastics: Mixed Team event added
7. Rowing:
• Addition: Coastal Beach Sprints – 3 events (Men Solo, Women Solo, Mixed Doubles)
• Dropped: Lightweight Doubles Sculls – 2 events (Men & Women)
8. Shooting: Trap Mixed Team replaces Skeet Mixed team event (back to Tokyo format)
9. Sport climbing
• Addition: Boulder Event (Men & Women)
• Addition: Lead Event (Men & Women)
• Dropped: Boulder and Lead combined Event (Men & Women)
10. Table Tennis
• Additions: Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles, Mixed Team
• Dropped: Men’s Team, Women’s Team

Overall, quite a few changes with some of real interest to the Indian hopes (Cricket, Squash, Compound Archery, Golf, Shooting, Table Tennis, Boxing).

Now awaiting the details for the qualification pathways for the events.

Links:

• RTLA Episode 3  
• Detailed Event & Quota LA28 

BookMarks #126: The Bhagavad Gita for Millennials

Title: The Bhagavad Gita for Millennials

Author: Bibek Debroy

Genre: Non-fiction, Spiritual, Self-help

Published: 2020

BookMarks

The book serves as an introduction to Bhagavad Gita. It is not a direct interpretation of the full text but more of a commentary carrying key messages, and also how to read the Bhagavad Gita itself. A few key learnings from the book both about the Gita as well as its messages.

About Gita

• Ved Vyasa is not a single entity. In our present cycle of creation, there have already been twenty-seven Veda Vyasas.
• “The book, Gita, had not been much known to the generality of people before Shankaracharya made it famous by writing his great commentary on it. This has led some infer that Shankaracharya was the author of the Gita, and that it was he who foisted it into the body of the Mahabharata.”- Swami Vivekananda's commentary on Gita
• Writing of Mahabharat - from the original to the final version covers a period of 1000 years, from 500 BCE to 500 CE.
• There are four people who speak in the Bhagavad Gita: Krishna, Arjuna, Sanjaya and Dhritarashtra. Of the 700 shlokas, Dhritarashtra speaks only the first one

Messages from the Gita

• The Bhagavad Gita is about evolution, from a lower plane to a higher one.
• Knowledge, when it becomes fully mature is Bhakti.
• The heart is associated with bhakti, the mind is associated with jnana and the body is associated with karma.
• The definition of Religion is four-fold; Veda, Smriti, Sadacharah (good conduct) and Atmatushti (self-satisfaction).’
• One would need to have a very bloated sense of ego to presume that one could change the external world and others. All of us are insignificant. What we can change is our own selves.
• Quid pro quos, giving something in return for something else taken, is a feature of human relationships, not a divine one.
• One who considers oneself free is free indeed and one who considers himself bound remains bound
• Everything depends on perseverance and effort. The success or failure of any message depends on the transmitter, as well as the receiver.
• The jivatman does not die. Death does not come as an end. It marks a new beginning.
• ‘What is the greatest wonder?’ Yudhishthira answered, ‘Day after day, living beings go to Yama’s abode. Yet, those who remain, desire to live forever. What can be a greater wonder than that?’
• A king must learn from the conduct of a crow, a cuckoo, a bee, a crane, a snake, a peacock, a swan, a cock and iron. Perseverance from the crow, accumulation from the cuckoo, collection of taxes from the bee, patience from the crane, concentrated virulence from the snake, extension (of the kingdom) from the peacock, discrimination from the swan, arising at the right time from the cock and hardness from iron. Towards the enemy, a king must behave like an owl. At the right time, the king must act like an ant.
• It is extremely difficult to know what dharma and karma are. Therefore, what should be done is never evident.

General Knowledge

• A Kshetra is a place of pilgrimage where there is no flowing water and tirtha is a place of pilgrimage where there is flowing water.
• ‘Money is the root of all evil.’ We have heard it and we often quote it. The original is from the Bible. The correct quote, in an English language translation is, ‘The love of money is the root of all evil.’ The entire meaning changes.

Overall, an interesting read. However, the narrative does go all over the place at times probably like the original Mahabharat text itself. 

Previously on BookMarks: Corporate Chanakya on Leadership

BookMarks #125: Corporate Chanakya on Leadership

Title: Corporate Chanakya on Leadership

Author: Radhakrishnan Pillai

Genre: Non-fiction, Management

Published: 2012

BookMarks

The book attempts to convert the learnings from Chanakya’a Arthshastra into modern corporate leadership. The coverage is grouped under

• power of a leader
• responsibilities of a leader
• decision making
• nurturing people
• ethics in business
• how to prepare for competition
• what a leader should avoid doing

Overall, a succinct reading, but doesn’t go much in depth. A few more examples/illustrations would have been better to enforce the points. Gives more of a feeling of PowerPoint bullets than a text.

Previously on BookMarks: The Beekeeper of Aleppo