It is doubtful that any of the 20,000-strong world press corps flying in for the Olympics would have had more colourful companions than my travel-mates Fernandes and Gloria, who kept me entertained from Hong Kong to Rome, the first leg of my flight to Athens last Thursday night.
One was a retired schoolteacher from Goa, who is splurging his life savings in realising a long-held dream of visiting the Vatican. The other was a Filipino songstress with a penchant for Celine Dion tunes and a dream of making it big on the Roman stage.
The righteous pilgrim was on my right while giddy Gloria was on my left. We made an unlikely trio. Flying 13 hours with one ear listening to what almost seemed like a non-stop discourse on religion interspersed with tales about the delights of Goa, while Dion hummed in the other ear how wonderful it was to be alive, was perhaps a perfect recipe for a monstrous migraine.
But hey, I was also on a high. The fact that I was on my way to cover the Olympics in the very place that gave birth to the Games more than two millennia ago was enough to keep my spirits up. And as I have already made my covenant with God, and as music is also a passion (barring songs from Celine Dion), the conversation flowed furiously between us like water under Steve Redgrave's oar.
The famous British rower won't be among the 10,000 athletes taking part in the 28th Olympiad which begins on Friday. Redgrave, who in some quarters has been touted as the Olympian of the century, has retired after winning gold medals in five successive Olympics. Carl Lewis may have won more golds - nine - in his Olympic career or swimmer Mark Spitz might have won most golds in one Games - seven in Munich 1972. But for sheer longevity no one could match mighty Steve.
Does he deserve to be labelled the Olympian of the century? Five Olympic Games - from 1984 to 2000 - covers a span of two decades. To win gold in whatever discipline over such an extended period takes some doing. Others might say Lewis, who also won his gold medals in track and field over a few Olympics, is a worthy rival. The debate can go on and on. Everyone will have his or her own favourite.
