New Delhi: At a time when the country is mired in a non-cricket sporting frenzy – the Commonwealth Games are underway in Birmingham – a gold-winning performance can stir up emotions and go viral like a hot knife through butter.
As for the facts surrounding the achievement? This is a difficult question to answer.
On Saturday, Twitter user Pegasus posted a video of Assam runner Hima Das winning a gold medal in a track event. He captioned it: “Hima Das wins 400m gold at CWG in Birmingham.” The rather official statement ended with the three clapping emoji.
https://twitter.com/srao7711/status/1553234554718420992
Within no time the tweet garnered 12,000 retweets and 75,000 likes.
And since any achievement at the Commonwealth Games, formerly the British Empire Games, arouses strong nationalist enthusiasm, one user replied: “Bringing our stolen gold back one medal at a time. Brilliant performance, he won from a great distance.
Needless to say, many people rounded up their congratulatory reactions with “Jai Hind”.
The video was widely circulated by many, including cricketer Virender Sehwag and BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra, who believed it to be true.
The former cricketer, who is seen tweeting medal-winning performances at the Commonwealth Games, released the video to his 22.9 million followers.
He Told“What a win. Indian athletes are in full swing. Many congratulations to Hima Das on winning the gold medal in the 400m in the Commonwealth Games. Fakar.”
Letter Told“It is a moment of history for the country as our athlete Hima Das has won the 400m gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. This is the first time India has won a gold medal in track events, that too by a huge margin.
The BJP leader has 6.5 million followers.
The two later deleted their tweets when discerning users called for their overzealousness, with some pointing out that track-and-field events in Birmingham had not even started. As they do not in the first week of any major sporting event.
fact check
The video was actually of Hima Das’s phenomenal victory at the 2018 IAAF World Under-20 Athletics Championships in Tampere, Finland, where she script Created history by winning the top spot in the women’s 400m final.
The gold was congratulated by many, including Virender Sehwag himself, who “thank you” for his “happiness” and called the moment an “incredible, historic achievement”.
If “misinformation carriers” had listened carefully to the 2.20-minute video, many of the details – from commentary to visuals – would have suggested it was not a Commonwealth Games.
The commentator explicitly mentions “American athlete Taylor Manson” as one of the runners in the junior women’s 400 m final, speaks of the silver-medallist from Romania, and also states that Das “took the title of Tampere ( History in Finland). He mentions Finland as the venue for the second time in the video.
Well, the US and Romania are not Commonwealth nations, and neither are Tampere Birmingham, several users pointed out.
But the cake of funny tweets goes to this guy!
https://twitter.com/guru__ghantaal/status/1553305480768147456
For the gullible and ignorant, the Commonwealth Games will have track and field events to start Tuesday, in which Das will compete only in the 200m, is scheduled for August 4.
The 22-year-old last ran the 400m at the Asian Championships in Doha in 2019, but has now shifted to the 100m and 200m events. She also participates in the 4×100m relay and the last event she participated in was an inter-state meet in Chennai.
However, the 22-year-old “Dhing Express” doesn’t rule out a comeback in the 400m – which brought her fame in 2018 – and is eyeing the postponed Asian Games next year.
Internet disturbances around sporting events
Viral misinformation about games is common as users lap up all kinds of “achievements”—whether it’s because of mouth-watering patriotism or the need to be before the block. And in many cases, it is probably ignorance about sports that are not cricket.
Last year, Priya Malik’s victory at the World Cadet Wrestling Championships in the 73kg category was wrongly attributed to a hypothetical victory at the Tokyo Olympics.
Bollywood the actors Bhumi Pednekar, Vatsal Seth, Sara Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor among others fell for it.
For the second time, agency ANI reported about a dope test on China’s weightlifter Zhihui Hou after she won the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by defeating India’s Chanu Saikhom Mirabai.
The ANI report claimed that Chanu’s silver would turn into gold if Chanu failed the dope test. Prominent sports journalist Boria Mazumdar also wrote about the anti-dope test and how “the Indian delegation was not saying much”.
Soon after, the report was picked up by the mainstream media, further increasing Chanu’s “chance”.
news came a few days later fact check by several publications and was proved completely wrong. Even the Olympic News website inside games Run an article denying the rumour.
Website Having said: “A ‘made up’ story involving lifters from China and India has been so widely told throughout Asia that it has claimed to be involved in medal redistribution of athletes from three countries.”