Glamorous Vijender's bronze will be valued higher than shy Bindra's gold.
A few days ago, Leryn Franco’s photographs were splashed all over the newspapers. Few recognised her, though your columnist is sure he was not alone in taking his time to admire the photographs. The young lady turned out to be a javelin thrower from Paraguay. The photos were taken at the US Open tennis championship.
Now, javelin throwing is not the most popular sport and Franco finished 51st out of 54 contestants in preliminaries at the Beijing Olympics. The cameras were rivetted on her for two reasons; one, she was at the US Open to watch Novak Djokovic, the colourful Australian Open winner and a contender for the US title, and two, she is extremely pretty (she has competed in the Miss Paraguay and bikini contests).
Franco is proof that all sports, whose purpose is to extend man’s physical limitations, invariably leave room for aesthetics. In today’s world, that has acquired new dimensions. It always helps to be a good sportsperson or athlete, but there is no substitute for good looks. If you are not really good looking, you must cultivate an image that is cool and fires the imagination of the youth and advertisers.
That is why Tiger Woods is such a success. He has married sporting excellence with a clean-cut, good-boy image. His rise coincided with the ascendancy of political correctness. He was lapped up by all those who wanted to be seen as promoting men of colour and who, in Woods, found a man of colour who largely met the White criteria of good looks.
This picture is even more stark back home. Zaheer and Yuvraj were quick off the endorsement blocks. Yuvraj, especially, has retained currency despite his failure to establish himself in the Test team. Compare that with the relative lack of sponsors’ interest in Anil Kumble, who has won more matches for India than any other player.
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To those who do not believe this, your columnist will advise a bit of patience. In a few days we will be able to assess the commercial fate of our Olympic medal winners. Vijender’s glamorous photo shoot for Maxim magazine will see to it that his bronze medal is valued much higher than Bindra’s gold. The boxer’s apparent fascination with actress Bipasha Basu, and her willingness to go on a date with him, will do him no harm at all.
Some agent needs to tell Bindra quickly that cultivating a shy image, and calling himself a loser who has done nothing in life other than to shoot at targets, is worse than shooting yourself in the foot. Ask the guy who won India’s first individual silver. Now… what was his name?