Sweat, Blood and Guts!!

Ever since man has stepped on to this planet, he has had this strong, inviolable desire of establishing his supremacy over nature. Time and again he has accomplished feats which were unthinkable once, and stirred plain logic and rational thinking. Be it Roger Bannister breaking the 4 minute barrier for running a mile in the 1950s or Usain Bolt smashing the 100m record at his own will on myriad occasions, man has been consistently violating the mortal limits imposed on him by his frail body made up of flesh and sap.

Since primitive ages, Gladiators have assembled in amphitheaters to battle the savage beasts, showcasing the unmatched courage and supreme pedigree of the human race. The conceited mankind has not even left the mighty Lords in its vanity led path, Achilles taking down the statue of Apollo may be a part of mythology but it did open a page or two about the state of mind of people who once dwelt on earth and can be credited for creating this lofty bit of literature.

One area where manhood has incessantly spit on the face of the physical restrictions levied on it has been of Sports. And that brings us to the million dollar question, is there any barrier which can’t be breached or will the humans continue to up the ante and keep challenging their mortal stature? Has the breed of Homo sapiens taken up the path of exponential rise and adaptability, and is it zeroing in on superhuman abilities?

Well for once, I know you will call me a fool for even having thought of this and dismiss it as sheer stupidity, but that’s what people did when they were told to imagine a world where a man would have a hundred international centuries to his name, where a man would fight back third stage testicular cancer and win the most grueling bike race in the world not just once but seven times, where a rabbit eared boy would completely destroy the water pool and win 8 gold medals at the mega stage of Olympics, leaving even the nymph Gods envious.

Seems like born with reluctance and in-capabilities has worked in our favor, it’s in our creed to answer back when we’ve been pushed to the limit, it’s become our prerogative to break the shackles once we’ve been held back. We were not born with wings but it didn’t keep our desires from soaring high and eventually lifting us into the welkin.

And out of the endless examples where we humans have defied nature, it’s not easy picking one. The reason why I started writing this post was I was searching for an answer to the greatest ever sporting feat achieved, I did digress a distance. And now I want to select that single best moment in time where we have surpassed our limits and looked anything but mortal.

I don’t want to enforce my answer on you, what I want is you all to help me arrive at that decision. I know very few will be serious enough to reply back but those of you who do will contribute in formulating something concrete. Please mail me or comment at the bottom, it will be really appreciated. A part 2 of this post is quintessential where i will hopefully bring forth your ideas.

P.S.  At present if anyone who looks close to a superhuman is Dr. Manmohan Singh, patiently fighting back the mad billion. Looks like he’ll be running out of gas very soon. Well, in this part of the world no one is spared of the price hike, Cost is even ahead of us when it comes to breaking barriers.