I and Sangita Rani Puri were the two swimmers chosen to represent Indian for the Atlanta Games. I will never forget the feeling I had while participating.
Sebastian Xavier, who took part in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, possesses emblems of 20 countries
I and Sangita Rani Puri were the two swimmers chosen to represent Indian for the Atlanta Games. I will never forget the feeling I had while participating. It all started off when we were given a grand send off at the airport in New Delhi.
Recalling all the moves and the people I met would be a never-ending story. It was just 20 days I was there along with Shiny Wilson, PT Usha, KM Beenamol and others.
As I got off the bus at the Village, it was a something which I had never seen in my entire life and I don’t think I will ever get to see such a place ever. The restaurants, shopping malls, gymnasiums, the work out places and name it all was there. The pool was quite far from the village. A 30-minute bus ride was another good experience.
I always thought language could be a problem while meeting the world’s top athletes, but it was not, few exchange of smiles and hand-shaking made us friends. I would go to the main stadium where Usha and Shiny Wilson among others were competing. I would be there cheering them.
Being a Keralite I loved volleyball and I always wanted to meet players from Russia. I did get a chance to watch them play. It was an enormous know-how of these tall players. I did not know how to start the conversation.
I was surprised when one of the players came up to me said ‘hello’. That was enough we exchanged actions and having the knowledge of the game we understood all about the game.
Being a swimmer, I always wanted to meet Alexander Popov. It was difficult to get in touch with him but I was lucky as I lined up with him for the heat and after the heat I spoke to him and he did respond well.
The emblem of the 20 countries which I collected, are the treasure from Atlanta which I still possess.
—As told to Joe Williams
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