On August 11, 2008 in Beijing, Abhinav Bindra scripted a golden chapter in India’s Olympic history, shooting his way to the country’s first individual gold medal. Bindra fired all 10s and a near perfect 10.8 point final shot en route to his 10 metre air rifle gold medal-winning effort, that fuelled many Olympic dreams in the country.
Eight years hence, Bindra has been named the goodwill ambassador for the Rio Games in August and the ‘perfectionist’ marksmen is making sure that he plays his role to élan off the field too.
In a personal letter to each of India’s Olympic-bound athlete — across all sport — Bindra called upon his country mates to share their thoughts on the Games and made himself available for questions, chat or queries if any was needed by them.
Playing a true goodwill ambassador, Bindra wrote in a May 6 dated letter, “To begin, many congratulations to each of you for overcoming the competition, the odds and the adversity to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games... You are, each of you, champions in your own right.
“Like all of you, I have also planned a run up to pre-Olympic preparation and events and from July 10, I will be setting out on my last round of training/competition. Between now and then, if you would like to chat or want to know something or share anything — what the Games mean to you, what they mean to me — I am here, available on this email address.”
The 33-year-old reminded them that they were significant to country’s Olympic history, saying all of them were in an athletic adventure together and he was “proud to be part of a team”.
He wrote, “In over a 100 years of India’s Olympic participation, there are not too many men and women like you.
“Indian Olympians and Paralympians, put us all together — every single Indian Olympian from the first competitor in 1900 to the youngest amongst our ranks in 2016 — and we could barely fill half a stand at the Nehru Stadium in Delhi.
“I am sure you are excited, impatient, and waiting to get stuck into your event and to see how good you are and to show the world just how good you can be.
“Godspeed, comrades and see you in Rio!” the champion signed off.
