INTERVIEW-Olympics-Indian luge pioneer fears slide into oblivion
By Sudipto Ganguly
MUMBAI Feb 19 (Reuters) - On more than one occasion, luger Shiva Keshavan has been on the brink of quitting due to India's frosty attitude towards winter sports, but the pioneer's passion and devotion are driving him towards a fifth Olympics.
Keshavan was just 16 when he participated in the 1998 Winter Olympics at the Japanese city of Nagano and since then he has represented India at three more Games.
The 31-year-old retained his Asia Cup title in Nagano last December with an Asian track record of 49.590 seconds but the feat has failed to translate into recognition or support in India, where winter sports remain at a very nascent stage.
"When an athlete represents his country, he is like an ambassador for his nation," Keshavan told Reuters in an interview. "It is normally expected that your foreign trips, your training and your basic expenses are borne by your country.
"It's actually very sad to see that this mentality is not shared by our sports administrators.
"When I go and ask our sports administrators to pay for our training expenses, it seems like I am asking for a personal favour."
Last month, Keshavan lost his coach Yann Fricheteau, a former Olympian, after the Frenchman quit due to the non-payment of his salary.
"Over the years, I have come to know of the government schemes and funds that are meant for supporting the athletes and I am eligible for so many of these things," he said by phone.
"I have been applying but despite that, nothing is happening. Despite promises, nothing has materialised and it has merely stayed at words and promises."
The International Olympic Committee granted the luger the Olympic Solidarity Scholarship on Monday which will help him travel and participate in the test event and the World Cup final, a mandatory qualifying race for next year's Sochi Games.
But having reached the top of Asia, Keshavan said it was impossible for him to raise his performance to the next level without government support.
QUIT THOUGHTS
"I have made a program... I need training time, I need exposure to the international venues and I need to have a coach," he said after a training stint at Albertville in France.
"It's quite bizarre that until now I have never had a (full-time) coach, which is a fundamental requirement for any level of any sport."
Keshavan said on more than one occasion he had asked himself whether all the trouble was worth it.
"Quitting has not just crossed my mind, sometimes I have gone through phases when it was physically impossible for me to compete," he said.
"I had no choice but to stay back and contemplate what the next step is going to be. I thought if the situation remains as it is, I would not be able to continue the sport."
Born to an Indian father and Italian mother, Keshavan does not rue a decision to decline an offer to represent the Italian flag more than a decade ago.
石油需求放缓而供应充裕，国际油价迅速告别百元时代且一路下滑，俄罗斯和委内瑞拉等严重依赖石油收入的国家苦不堪言。
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(It's an excellent idea to let the link owner know.)Olympics-Sarajevo Winter Games venues crumble into oblivion
SARAJEVO Oct 28 (Reuters) - Abandoned and left to crumble into oblivion, most of the 1984 Winter Olympic venues in Bosnia's capital Sarajevo have been reduced to rubble by neglect as much as the 1992-95 conflict that tore apart the former Yugoslavia.
One set of photographs shows the venues gleaming with state of the art facilities nearly three decades ago, when Sarajevo made the former Yugoslavia the first communist country to host the Winter Games, beating Japan's Sapporo and Sweden's Gothenburg in the bidding process.
The other paints a sad picture of the bobsleigh and luge track at Mount Trebevic, the Mount Igman ski jumping course and accompanying objects decomposing into obscurity.
The bobsleigh and luge track, which was also used for World Cup competitions after the Olympics, became a Bosnian-Serb artillery stronghold during the war and is nowadays a target of frequent vandalism, still bearing the scars of war epitomised by defensive holes drilled by the troops.
The two ski jumping hills were also never used after becoming battlegrounds, although there are plans to reconstruct the in-runs, expand the large one and build new spectator stands and visitor facilities.
Many areas of Mount Bjelasnica, where Bill Johnson became the first American man to win an Olympic skiing gold after a spectacular downhill run, were sites of extensive combat during the fighting and some still pose a mine risk.
Mount Jahorina, the site of the women's Alpine skiing events is again popular with holidaymakers after its skiing, hiking and sledging facilities were overhauled.
However, Jahorina's off-course slopes were also littered with landmines during the war and many of them remain risky terrain, with a Slovenian paraglider suffering critical injuries when he landed in a minefield in October 2011.
The Zetra Hall, where Britain's ice dancing duo Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean memorably received a row of perfect 6s in front of a packed crowd, was completely destroyed by the shelling and bombing during the war and was rebuilt in 1999 after the International Olympic Committee donated $ 11.5 million for the project.
The bigger Skenderija Hall suffered less damage in the fighting but having been deemed a surplus to the city's post-Olympic and post-war requirements, it was abandoned into disrepair until the local authorities decided to start overhauling it in 2000.
The job was completed in 2006 and Skenderija is again the venue of various sports and cultural events drawing around 500,000 visitors every year, although heavy snowfall made the roof of its ice hall collapse in 2012 and forced another repair.
The Kosevo stadium, which organised the opening and closing ceremonies, was renovated in 1998 and today it is the home of Bosnian soccer first division side FC Sarajevo and the country's national team.
(Writing by Zoran Milosavljevic in Belgrade, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
石油需求放缓而供应充裕，国际油价迅速告别百元时代且一路下滑，俄罗斯和委内瑞拉等严重依赖石油收入的国家苦不堪言。
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