ad info




TIME Asia
TIME Asia Home
Current Issue
Magazine Archive
Asia Buzz
Travel Watch
Web Features
  Entertainment
  Photo Essays

Subscribe to TIME
Customer Services
About Us
Write to TIME Asia

TIME.com
TIME Canada
TIME Europe
TIME Pacific
TIME Digital
Asiaweek
Latest CNN News

Young China
Olympics 2000
On The Road

 ASIAWEEK.COM
 CNN.COM
  east asia
  southeast asia
  south asia
  central asia
  australasia
 BUSINESS
 SPORTS
 SHOWBIZ
 ASIA WEATHER
 ASIA TRAVEL


Other News
From TIME Asia

Culture on Demand: Black is Beautiful
The American Express black card is the ultimate status symbol

Asia Buzz: Should the Net Be Free?
Web heads want it all -- for nothing

JAPAN: Failed Revolution
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori clings to power as dissidents in his party finally decide not to back a no-confidence motion

Cover: Endgame?
After Florida's controversial ballot recount, Bush holds a 537-vote lead in the state, which could give him the election

TIME Digest
FORTUNE.com
FORTUNE China
MONEY.com

TIME Asia Services
Subscribe
Subscribe to TIME! Get up to 3 MONTHS FREE!

Bookmark TIME
TIME Media Kit
Recent awards

TIME ASIAWEEK ASIANOW TIME
SEARCH  GO

about Asia Buzz  |  more Asia Buzz

Subcontinental Drift: Bronze Goddess
An Indian athlete lifts the Olympic gloom
By APARISIM GHOSH

September 21, 2000
Web posted at 12:30 p.m. Hong Kong time, 12:30 a.m. EDT

All hail Karnam Malleswari. The 25-year-old from India's Andhra Pradesh state won bronze in the 69-kg weightlifting category in Sydney, becoming the first South Asian woman ever to bag an Olympic medal. She also put paid to the notion (expressed in this column and its bulletin board over the past few weeks) that subcontinentals are genetically or psychologically incapable of competing at the highest levels of sport.

    ASIA BUZZ
Subcontinental Drift: Wooden Spoons
More Olympic views from our readers
- Thursday, September 14, 2000

Subcontinental Drift: Lame Games
Your theories on South Asia's Olympic shame
- Thursday, September 7, 2000

Subcontinental Drift: Olympic Shame
What ails South Asia's athletes? You tell me!
- Thursday, August 31, 2000

Subcontinental Drift: Justifying Hate
Faux theories fail to explain the Kashmir dispute
- Thursday, August 24, 2000

Subcontinental Drift: Mirage in the Mountains
How Hizb-ul-Mujahideen used its ceasefire to play politics
- Wednesday, August 9, 2000

Subcontinental Drift: Hair-Trigger
Why the cease-fire in Kashmir cannot last
- Thursday, August 3, 2000

  ASIAWEEK
Intelligence
The story behind today's news from the editors of Asiaweek

From Our Correspondent
Personal perspectives on the news
On cue, everybody from the President and Prime Minister of India to the chief of the country's Olympic committee heaped high praise on the weightlifter. But the Indian Express daily put it best in the headline: "SHE LIFTS 240KG AND THE HOPES OF A BILLION."

 INTERACTIVE  
The Subcontinental Drift message board -- sound-off about the news in South Asia to TIME
 
Malleswari's success is all the sweeter because it was entirely unexpected -- and it put her critics in their place. Only days before the Games, she was dismissed as a no-hoper, described in one Indian magazine as lazy and unmotivated, eating too much fried food and drinking too much beer. The author of that piece has some eating to do now: crow.

O.K., so one swallow doesn't make a summer. But wait: the air is thick with expectation. Malleswari's was not the only notable subcontinental performance of the week. The Indian field hockey team held favorites Australia to a 2-2 draw; the Pakistani men trashed a hapless United Kingdom side 8-1; in tennis, India's Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati were, at time of writing, still on course for a podium finish. If even one of these teams -- or any other subcontinental athlete -- goes on to win a medal, the 2000 Games will be South Asia's best ever.

That's at once pathetic and promising. As we've discussed in this column, it's a crying shame that a sixth of humanity can't seem to do better at sports. But two medals would be twice as good as one, and I will be happy to take the glass- half-full position.

More power to Malleswari, I say. May she be feted and richly rewarded for her triumph. May she become an advertiser's darling and make millions in endorsement deals. May publishers pay a hefty advance for her autobiography -- and may it become a bestseller. May Bollywood make a movie on her life. May she become a successful coach and inspire/train dozens of other athletes to follow in her footsteps. May she remain a household name across South Asia for decades to come.

On a less satisfying note, I've been disappointed by the poor response to last week's column. Three weeks ago, I invited readers to write in with their theories on why South Asia fares so poorly at the Olympics. I was swamped by letters. Last week, I asked for concrete, practical ideas on how to redress this disgraceful situation. The response: nothing. Not a single idea. Come on, folks, you can do better than that. Or is THIS why we do so badly at the Games?

The Subcontinental Drift message board -- sound-off about the news in South Asia to TIME
Write to TIME at mail@web.timeasia.com
Search for recent Asia Buzz

TIME Asia home

AsiaNow


   LATEST HEADLINES:

WASHINGTON
U.S. secretary of state says China should be 'tolerant'

MANILA
Philippine government denies Estrada's claim to presidency

ALLAHABAD
Faith, madness, magic mix at sacred Hindu festival

COLOMBO
Land mine explosion kills 11 Sri Lankan soldiers

TOKYO
Japan claims StarLink found in U.S. corn sample

BANGKOK
Thai party announces first coalition partner



TIME:

COVER: President Joseph Estrada gives in to the chanting crowds on the streets of Manila and agrees to make room for his Vice President

THAILAND: Twin teenage warriors turn themselves in to Bangkok officials

CHINA: Despite official vilification, hip Chinese dig Lamaist culture

PHOTO ESSAY: Estrada Calls Snap Election

WEB-ONLY INTERVIEW: Jimmy Lai on feeling lucky -- and why he's committed to the island state



ASIAWEEK:

COVER: The DoCoMo generation - Japan's leading mobile phone company goes global

Bandwidth Boom: Racing to wire - how underseas cable systems may yet fall short

TAIWAN: Party intrigues add to Chen Shui-bian's woes

JAPAN: Japan's ruling party crushes a rebel ì at a cost

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans need to have more babies. But success breeds selfishness


Launch CNN's Desktop Ticker and get the latest news, delivered right on your desktop!

Today on CNN

 Search

Back to the top   © 2000 Time Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.