Says Aparna Popat about her experience at the 2004 Athens Games
Olympics is a dream for any athlete in this world. And I was lucky to represent my country in two Olympics — first in Sydney in 2000 followed by Athens Olympics in 2004. It was a great experience for me. The first Olympics was a shorter one as I lost in the very first round of the tournament to Tele Morgan of Wales. It was not disappointing for me as I was not prepared because I learnt about my qualification only few days prior to the Olympics. I stayed there for one week and came back soon therefore I could not meet any one or had any memorable experience.
But my second Olympic in Athens was good. Our badminton event was over in the first week but I stayed on till the end. It was great for me as had I reached the pre-quarterfinals of the event. It was disappointing that I lost after stretching for long as I could have atleast made the semis or the quarters of the event.
Anyway I did not let it remain in my mind and instead focused ahead as win and loss is a part of the game. I did not let it affect me and instead enjoyed the other sports too by staying for long there. One of the memorable moments of my trip was that I got to meet Roger Federer. It was great to meet a legend like him.
Not only I got a chance to speak to him but also took out some photograph with him. Unfortunately I could not see Rajyawardhan Singh Rathore’s silver medal feat in shooting as I was busy with something else. But it was a proud moment for all the Indians and the participants present in Athens.
We also saw the bronze medal doubles match of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi but unfortunately they lost to Croatia’s Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic.
—As told to Taus Rizvi
