India Olympic Hero Gets Boost from Mittal

For a country that pretends not to care about the Olympics, India certainly threw itself a heck of a party the night of Aug. 11, when a 25-year-old with a bad back and steady aim won India's first individual gold medal. TV channels provided wall-to-wall coverage, families danced in the streets, and political leaders tried to outdo each other in handing out hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money.

Here, give him a prize of $60,000, said India's richest sports body, the Board of Control of Cricket in India, which had nothing to do with the 10-meter air rifle event in which Abhinav Bindra won the gold. Here, said India's Railways Minister, handing out a free lifetime railway pass to Bindra, whose family is privileged enough that it's doubtful he will ever take a train.