Monday Musing
[ M Doley ]
Experts had predicted that India would finally breach the double-digit medal mark in the Paris Olympics, 2024. Unfortunately, the world’s most populous country didn’t get even a single gold medal in the Games this time. The country had to contend with one silver and five bronze medals.
The absence of a gold medal, despite the solitary silver medal won by Neeraj Chopra in javelin throw, landed India at the bottom half of the medal table at 71st position, out of the 84 countries that won medals. Even neighbouring Pakistan, with one javelin gold, stood nine places above India in the medal table.
In the previous Olympics, India, with one gold, two silver and four bronze medals, had finished 48th.
It is disappointing that a country with a population of 1.4 billion is still struggling to win a gold medal in the Olympics.
The country’s dismal show in the Olympics can be attributed to several factors. Some of the key reasons are lack of early and systematic talent identification; lack of access to world-class training facilities, coaching and sports science support; insufficient financial support to talented sportspersons; majority of the parents preferring academics over sports; and corruption, nepotism and favouritism in the selection of athletes.
The governance in sports in the country is often criticised for corruption and lack of transparency, which adversely affect the athletes and their development programmes.
In many states, pursuing sports as a career is not given priority. The sportspersons face pressure from their parents and guardians to focus on academics. The majority of the middle-class parents want their children to become a doctor or an engineer, and to be financially independent as early as possible and contribute to their families.
Further, ignorance about the importance of sports at the grassroots level is equally responsible for the country’s poor show in the Olympics.
Track & field events are considered the heart and soul of the Olympics since its inception. Unfortunately, India is yet to win a medal tally in the track & field events, which account for the most medals in Olympics. India must work on this sector.
In our country, some veteran players prevent new and talented ones from getting selected to play in the Olympics. Many of them play just for records.
The government spent Rs 470 crores for the country’s preparations for the Paris Olympic Games. As per report, Rs 96.08 crores was allocated for athletics, Rs 72.02 crores for badminton, Rs 60.93 crores for boxing, and Rs 60.42 crores for shooting. Funding had been provided for all the 16 disciplines in which India participated.
Further, crores of rupees were spent on individual sportspersons for hiring coaches, assistance towards pre-Olympic camps, hiring video analysts, training abroad, exposure trips, etc.
Despite having access to top-notch training and exposure tours, the athletes could not live upto the country’s expectations.
India needs a bold initiative to find and nurture talents from an early stage. Parents must encourage the students to excel in sports, not just in academics.
The government must give financial assistance to the talented players and ensure financial security of the meritorious sportspersons who have won medals for the country. In addition, the government must offer meritorious sportspersons more jobs and remuneration in order to encourage them to opt for sports as a career.
