[sustran] !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Venezuelan fencer rides wave of Olympic-gold-glory – on public transportation !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sujit Patwardhan]

5 August 2012



This is an amazing story.
Do read.
--
Sujit








Venezuelan fencer rides wave of Olympic-gold-glory – on public
transportation

At a time when the Olympic games are criticized for turning into a
billion-dollar affair, Venezuela's Ruben Limardo's choice to take the Tube,
instead of a chauffeured car, received praise.

By Sara Miller Llana<http://www.csmonitor.com/About/Staff/Sara-Miller-Llana>
, Staff writer / August 3, 2012

[image: Inline image 1]

Venezuela's Ruben Limardo Gascon celebrates after defeating Norway's
Bartosz Piasecki in the gold medal match in men's individual epee fencing
competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 1, in London.

Dmitry Lovetsky/AP

MEXICO CITY

The photo of the Venezuelan athlete who won gold in fencing Wednesday night
and then boardedLondon<http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/London+(England)>'s
subway system hours later, letting strangers touch his medal, has spread
around the globe.

At a time when the Olympic games are criticized for turning into a
billion-dollar affair where athletes are treated as celebrities, Ruben
Limardo's simple decision to take public transport, instead of a
chauffeured car, has received international praise.

“What a fantastic thing to do! Must have given all the passengers a real
treat<http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/londonspy/olympic-champion-takes-medal-tube-165927940.html>,”
wrote one reader of Yahoo <http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Yahoo!+Inc.>
News.

RELATED: 2012 London Olympics quiz: Are you ready for a gold
medal?<http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Olympics/2012/0720/2012-London-Olympics-quiz-Are-you-ready-for-a-gold-medal>

“I hope they gave him a round of applause, he deserves it. Good stuff
mate,” said another.

“Wow can't imagine Michael
Phelps<http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Michael+Phelps> doing
something like that, well done!”

Leading up to the 2012 Olympics, the Monitor compared a much simper affair
in 1948, the last time London hosted the games. “There was no Athletes'
Village, nor special road lanes for VIPs. After winning gold in the 800
meters, American runner Mal
Whitfield<http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Mal+Whitfield>,
still in his tracksuit, took the train back to team headquarters at nearby
Uxbridge air base,” wrote Ben Arnoldy
here<http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/0710/Oh-for-the-simpler-Olympic-Games-of-1948>
.

Many fans long for more Whitfields and Limardos in today's games. One Tube
passenger – as the subway system is nicknamed – told the
BBC<http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/British+Broadcasting+Corporation>
that
as Mr. Limardo came onto the metro, passengers clapped and cheered, and
that the Venezuelan taught his fans how to say “well done” in
Spanish.<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19109909>

"I've never seen someone so happy in my life," Chris Scanlan, told the BBC.
"And I touched his medal. It's probably the first time a British hand has
been on a fencing medal for centuries!"

Of course, Limardo is not the only humble athlete in London. The Monitor
profiled several who have overcome great difficulties, without the support
of sponsors or their governments, to make it as Olympians. Here is one
example of a marathoner from
Peru<http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2012/0722/Getting-to-the-Olympics-on-borrowed-shoes>,
with links to the other stories. She didn't even own her own shoes when she
started out.

Venezuela <http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Venezuela> will be
celebrating its local hero when Limardo returns home (which he'll do in
three days <https://twitter.com/rubenoszki>, according to his
Twitter<http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Twitter+Inc.> account).
Limardo is the first athlete to have won a gold medal for Venezuela in 44
years. It is a rare piece of good news from Venezuela, where a highly
polarized nation heads to the polls October 7 to either stick with President
Hugo Chavez <http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Hugo+Chavez> or choose a
new leader, amid inflation and spiraling crime.

The victory of Limardo gives the nation a chance to unite, but it's likely
to be short-lived. Our guest blogger dubbed his
celebration<http://caracaschronicles.com/2012/08/02/photo-of-the-year/%20>
on
the Tube the "Photo of the Year."  But in the comments section, another
blogger doesn't let the celebration pass without a dig:

“A unique experience he won’t be able to repeat in
Caracas<http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Caracas> Metro,
unless he has either a strong security detail or wants to lose the medal on
purpose.”



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[image: Inline image 2]

*Parisar*

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Sujit Patwardhan
patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com
sujit at parisar.org <sujitjp at gmail.com>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yamuna, ICS Colony, Ganeshkhind Road, Pune 411 007, India
Tel: +91 20 25537955
Cell: +91 98220 26627
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Blog: http://motif.posterous.com/
Parisar: www.parisar.org
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