On a day of heartbreak at Olympics, Shobhaa De's tweet was just cruel

Day three of the 2016 Rio Olympics was heartbreaking for India.

One of our most experienced campaigners, Gagan Narang, failed to qualify for the final of 10m air rifle event, our star shooter Abhinav Bindra lost out on a bronze medal on a tie-breaker and our hockey team played the mighty Germans well but conceded with just three seconds (!) left to lose 1-2.

Also read: Why Rio 2016 is a big moment for Saina Nehwal

The margins at the highest level are extremely narrow. Things did not go India's way on Monday, and as the nation mourned a day of what ifs, Shobhaa De, our "great" social, cultural and political commentator dropped this on Twitter:

There are many things which are wrong about this tweet, but let's start with the most basic fact: every sportsperson at the Olympics is a superhuman.

They are the 0.0001 per cent of the 0.1 per cent of all humans in the world. Basketball player JJ Reddick recently started hosting a podcast which speaks of the grind athletes have to go through, the sacrifice put in everyday to prepare themselves for those 90-120 minutes of the "show".

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Olympic qualification is not one of De's books that is sold on the stands, but achieved through considerable struggle.

Such insensitivity by an influential commentator like De was the last thing we needed on an already difficult day, and she was lambasted by people, including active Olympians, on Twitter.