Big B At 80

It's difficult to remember exactly how big a fan of megastar Amitabh Bachchan I was when I was growing up. That's because there was also Pele. Then Cruyff. Then Sting and The Police. Zeenat Aman somewhere in there. Followed later by plenty others including his Airness. Plus Bolt. I do recall perfectly though that in the 1970s and early 1980s when I saw him on a movie poster I had to go see that flick. And boy was that a treat! 

One of the most exciting moments about my connection with AB was when our parents told us that they had a secret to tell us: Big B was coming to Mauritius! Fate would have it otherwise though. AB got hurt on the set of Coolie and almost lost his life in July 1982. It's great that he recovered and went on to do so much work. Watching the movies of the Angry Young Man who Truffaut dubbed a one-man industry is great but adding a listen of him talk about his craft and life trajectory is priceless.

Robben is World's Fastest Footballer

He clocked 37km/h when he scored that magnificent goal against Spain in the 2014 World Cup. Which is slightly less than the average speed of 37.58km/h of one Usain Bolt in the fastest 100m ever. Except that this includes reaction time of the giant and it's the average speed. In fact the top speed reached by Mr. Bolt during that record-shattering dash is 44.72km/h. Of course that makes it the fastest any member of our species has travelled using his own legs.

But quite slow compared to speeds Cheetahs reach routinely. Doesn't mean they can't be friends though.

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2016: The Year in Review

Q1: Bowie dead. Rain shut downs Mauritius, again. Ish will sue investigators. What Labour DNA is made up of. Obama in Havana. Can't count on Vishnu for an economic miracle.

Q2: Pythaghoras in boots gone. Doves cry. Leicester does twice better than points target. Private sector has no monopoly of common sense. The Greatest dies. Union not exactly happy with former advisor. Top three general elections. Mauritius has more important things to worry about than Brexit.

Q3. Jesse passes away. Poverty far from being eradicated. Galileo hops to Jupiter with two buddies. Gisele walks. Usain bolts to record wins. Budget misses boat. Shoppers avoid meat. Policy errors cause for massive poverty. Quieting the clock of our constitution.

Q4. Trump chances are real. Two years gone and still no miracle. Unions stop signing of controversial TISA agreement. How much we can learn from the US election process. Sithanen toohrooh approaches a trillion rupees. Rain shortens Porlwi by light. The Donald is Potus.

Usain Breezes Through The 200m Semis

The final is tomorrow 05h30. He said he wants to break his 19.19s record. This means running half a second faster than his time in the semis. De Grasse could provide some motivation. Bolt will of course be in action at 18h48 today in round 1 of the 100m relay (the final is at 05h35 on Saturday).

You also don't want to miss the Badminton singles semis which starts at 18h00 when Sindhu will try to earn the second medal of a billion-people nation. While the US will be facing Serbia at 20h00 in one of the two women volleyballs semis. If you like women wrestling today is the day you want to be glued to your TV. Tomorrow if you also like men wrestling. 

Of course as these Olympics are ending in the weekend there will be a lot of medals awarded in the next 2-3 days. Hopefully Brazil will win as many as possible so that the home crowd is in the best of moods. Like at 00h30 on Sunday when the Selecao play in the Maracana. And get a chance to get even.

Rio Olympics Are Excuse To Watch Gisele Walk

Now that's done, see you in Tokyo in four years.

Wait. There's plenty else to see. Like Kohei Uchimura -- regarded by many as the greatest gymnast of all time -- tonight at 23h00 in the men's individual all-around. Nadia told FT how perfect Kohei was: you can't see any flaws even in slow-motion. Then there's that giant from Jamaica -- and the world's favourite -- who has trouble decelerating in the sprints. He didn't go watch Ms. Bundchen at the Maracana preferring to save his energy to let his races do the talking. Mr. Bolt will turn 30 the day these 31st Olympics end.

The Selecao will also try to do better than grabbing silver for the fourth time. That's not looking too good after two scoreless draws against South Africa and Irak. But a lot of the most memorable experiences will come from athletes we've never heard before. They will dazzle us with their craft. It will not matter which country they are from. We will instantly become one of their fans. Especially if the contests are tight. As many have been already.

The US is ahead in the medal count. Right in front of China. And Hungary. But we've barely started. And there's so much stuff to watch. Including Vinicius and Tom.

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The Most Watched Event

The Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics holds the verifiable audience record of 984 million people. That's different from the estimated audiences of billions of people tuning in that are sometimes thrown our way. Which is almost twice the 530 million who watched man help humanity make a giant step. For sure back in 1969 there were a lot less people on Spaceship Earth. The 2006 FIFA World Cup Final attracted over 700 million people. Or 300 million less than the audience of the 2011 Cricket World Cup semi-final between nuclear archrivals India and Pakistan.

And what about the most watched events of the last Olympics? Usain Bolt's 100m win tops the list if you exclude opening and ending ceremonies. His 200m victory is at no 8. The wins of two women -- Jessica Ennis and Sally Pearson -- are also in there.

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Jamaicans Set to Sweep 200m

With three terrific sprinters. Usain Bolt breezed through the heat of his favorite event today. Yohan Blake too looked impressive. And so did fellow countryman Warren Weir. There were three athletes under 20 seconds in Beijing four years ago. We could have more tomorrow for the semis and on Thursday for the final. All this should push Jamaica up the medal rankings by several spots.

That's a nation of 2.9 million people. Just in case you're wondering.

100m Final Could Be Fastest Ever

And that for a number of reasons. First, going into the semis there are seven athletes who have sub-9.90 times this season. Second the track seems to be fast. Third athletes often lower their personal bests in such finals because everybody is running fast -- the case for half of the sprinters in the Beijing finals four years ago with only two runners taking more than 10 seconds to cover the distance. Finally there is one Usain Bolt running and he could beat his own world record of 9.58s simply because he is reaching the age of peak-performance or could benefit from a slightly faster wind or reaction time.

It's not impossible that Jamaica sweeps the dash. And it would make for a wonderful celebration too. Indeed independent Jamaica turns 50 in a few hours.

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Looks like Jamaica is ready for London.