August 17, 2008 4:59 AM
A.M./P.M.: Indian Shooter Now a Target
When Abhinav Bindra won India's first individual gold medal in the 10m air rifle competition last Monday, he became a instant national hero."More than the joy, elation, euphoria my strongest feeling is a release from a thousand kilo weight that has been daunting me for the last 12 years," Bindra wrote on his blog the day after in a post titled "Monkey off my back!!!!!!!!"
Now, Bindra -- a University of Colorado graduate -- has returned home to India. He has hordes of media outside his home hoping to talk to him and well-wishers all throughout the country.
But the Indian government seems more worried the chance that Bindra could be shot.
Bindra's home is under what the Indian government calls "z-plus" security, which is the highest level of security available in the country. It's exclusively used for VVIPs, or "very very important person" (even the VIPs in India are under a caste system, apparently).
Now, Bindra's chimed in on the irony of the situation:
Finally got home yesterday cocooned in Z-plus security. There is supposed to be a threat to my safety. As to why anyone would be interested in killing a shooter who has spent the last 12 years of his life shooting and successfully hitting a 0.5mm bulls eye from 10m away escapes me. Possibly I could just invite these fellows over for a shooting match... be it with a bb gun ;)
As for that photo above: the woman pinching Bindra's cheeks isn't one of his aunts. She's actually the President of India.
It's 7 p.m. in Beijing, and 5 a.m. in Denver. Here are the stories that are making Olympic headlines on this Sunday evening/morning:
>Simon Whitfield -- a Candian triathlete who won gold at the Sydney Games -- writes about the strangeness of a Beijing drug test.
>U.S. 110m hurdler David Oliver asks the important question: "Every major city in America has Chinatown, so I was wondering if they have some sort of Americatown here." The brief answer: no.
>Your actually-is-an-Onion-headline-of-the-day, about David Oliver himself: "Hurdler Overcomes Many Hurdles to Win Hurdle Race."
>The Usain Bolt redux:
What the 100m final looked like last night at the Bird's Nest:
He ran the 100m was one shoe untied. They'll have experts quoted soon who'll be estimating that this cost him at least .003 of a second in the race.
Post-race breaking news out of Jamaica: Bolt's father confirms that his son ate a lot of yams as a child. Bolt, meanwhile, said that he had two meals of Chicken McNuggets before the race. He'll be signed to the Golden Arches by Monday.
>In an article about Michael Phelps' prospective girlfriend, Xinhua points out two women. One is "hot teammate Amanda Beard," or, as she's referred to later, "this hot swimmer." The second is the "even hotter" Lily Donaldson. Is that the official state opinion on both women?
[Photo by R.V. Moorthy/The Hindu.]
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