A celebration of humanity

200 m freestyle swimmer Hakimuddin Habibullah recalls his Sydney experience

The Sydney Games were truly a celebration of humanity. Representing India at the Olympic Games was a realization of childhood dream. The Games Village was the hub of all activity. The athletes lived together with mutual respect and admiration towards each other.

The food court was one of the largest ever with every type of food available and each labelled with a nutrition chart. The Indian spread had the least nutrition and only those who had finished their competition would try it out.

There was also a lot of mutual respect between athletes. I remember an incident with Alex Popov. After a practice session we got to the door of the bus at the same time and he insisted that I enter first while I insisted that he enter before me.  I relented as there was a crowd waiting behind us. It embarrassed me a little initially. We then got talking and I found him to be an extremely polite and humble person with a great sense of humour.

I did not get past the qualifying stage. But I remember every second of the time I spent in Olympics. I celebrated my 21st birthday on the day we left Sydney. It was a great way to end this experience.

     —As told to Joe Williams