Are we disappointed:
Being one of the oldest nation in the history, 2nd largest in population, 9th largest economy and biggest democracy in existence and yet such a poor performance at London, and on a contrast, tiny little countries with struggling economies and starving citizens who are dependent on other developed countries for food aid had clearly out performed Indians at Olympics, Are we (addressing Indians) disappointed with our performance at Olympics? But having all these facts aside why is India's glory and prestige at stake with the poor performance at Olympics, why are we upset about not winning a gold or should I say at least a respectable number of medals even after being a 1.2 billion head strong country?
I know there is no single answer to this and lets not get disappointed about not scoring at Olympics. Out of mere 54 (total events at Olympics : 304) events in which we participated we won 6 medals that is about 11% strike rate. This is as good as some of the top 10 countries at Olympics like Germany, France, Italy, Hungary and Australia which secured 6th,7th,8th,9th and 10th positions in the Olympic's world ranking respectively. Even though our strike rate is comparable we still stand at 55th position in world Olympic's ranking, and that's a HUUUUUGE GAAAP!!!
Sports (please don't include cricket in this category because it is considered more than a sport) in India is such an irony, i.e. we are so desperate about the medals where the country as a whole holds its breath and expects our outnumbered athletes to perform (do some kind of a magic) without even equipping them with proper gear. Pity!!!! isn't it.
All these countries had 300+ athletes participating in almost all the events at Olympics, we didn't even put up a fight in most of the games. I am not against cricket but, can we think of a Cricket world cup with out India participating in it. I bet my A** even if BCCI backs off, one of our beloved ministers for the publicity stunt comparing it to the Nations's pride and glory would throw away my hard earned money (I am a tax payer and you too are :)) to sponsor cricket team. I am not saying he shouldn't but trying to point out "Why he would sponsor!" and that in our country other sportsmen are underprivileged.
We have accepted that we are a cricket obsessed country, but are we so obsessed with cricket that we didn't even participate in more than half of the games at Olympics, 18% participation was poor.
Are we novice at Olympics :
Definitely not, but our athletes definitely are, we started participating even before independence (first attempt in 1896) and for the record, way before the current Olympic world ranked number 2, China started in 1952, and since then there is only a decline in our ranking. We were ranked 17th in 1896 and 55th in 2012. Ofcourse a lot of geographical changes had happened in the past so many years resulting in new international boundaries but we could have built upon on our past experience which we failed to.
Here is quick peek into our's and China's participation at Olympics. - Courtesy wiki.
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1896 Athens | did not participate | |||||
| 1900 Paris | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 17 | |
| 1904 St. Louis | did not participate | |||||
| 1908 London | did not participate | |||||
| 1912 Stockholm | did not participate | |||||
| 1920 Antwerp | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
| 1924 Paris | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
| 1928 Amsterdam | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 | |
| 1932 Los Angeles | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19 | |
| 1936 Berlin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20 | |
| 1948 London | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 22 | |
| 1952 Helsinki | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 26 | |
| 1956 Melbourne | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24 | |
| 1960 Rome | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 32 | |
| 1964 Tokyo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24 | |
| 1968 Mexico City | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 42 | |
| 1972 Munich | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 43 | |
| 1976 Montreal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
| 1980 Moscow | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 | |
| 1984 Los Angeles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
| 1988 Seoul | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
| 1992 Barcelona | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
| 1996 Atlanta | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 71 | |
| 2000 Sydney | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 71 | |
| 2004 Athens | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 65 | |
| 2008 Beijing | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 50 | |
| 2012 London | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 55 | |
| Total | 9 | 6 | 11 | 26 | ||
China at Olympics:
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 Helsinki | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| 1984 Los Angeles | 15 | 8 | 9 | 32 | 4 |
| 1988 Seoul | 5 | 11 | 12 | 28 | 11 |
| 1992 Barcelona | 16 | 22 | 16 | 54 | 4 |
| 1996 Atlanta | 16 | 22 | 12 | 50 | 4 |
| 2000 Sydney | 28 | 16 | 14 | 58 | 3 |
| 2004 Athens | 32 | 17 | 14 | 63 | 2 |
| 2008 Beijing (host) | 51 | 21 | 28 | 100 | 1 |
| 2012 London | 38 | 27 | 23 | 88 | 2 |
| Total | 201 | 144 | 128 | 473 |
[edit]
Are we not Higher, Faster and Stronger:
Please don't forget that we still, yes till date, stand Olympic's world number 1 in one sport, No one till date ever won more gold medals than us. We bagged 8 Gold, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze, totaling 11 medals in this particular sport. The Olympic work ranked number 2 in this sport just took 5 gold medals till date.
The last medal we bagged was in the year 1980 in which we grabbed gold and since then not even a single medal till date.
We call this sport as our National game. No one wins at Olympics just because they are running high on luck but only because they are running Higher, Faster and Stronger exactly as the Olympic motto dictates. We dominated this sport not just once but 8 times (no luck can run you through 8 times).
Here is a classic example how only skilled, hardworking and determined athletes could not make it :
After 1984 things changed, Olympics committee introduced hard turfs and the Asian countries which were dominating since then didn't even win a single medal later on.
Why!!! ? Because synthetic pitches change so many aspects of the game and they are expensive, since then European countries have dominated the world of Hokey.
Are we saying that we can't afford a synthetic pitch for our 8 times champion national team ? well, HELL NO, we can't afford!!!
What are we talking that is shocking.... yeah but here are some facts :
- I didn't struggle to recall the recent news about our national team's struggle for the shoes to play in a tournament and when they came back glorious they were paid peanuts.
- In 2012 Olympic speed walking event our Indian participant was given running shoes which were of no use to him. He had to sponsor his shoes all through out his training which was almost impossible to manage with his meager income but he still managed and participated at Olympics.
- The 2012 Olympic national athletes (Tintu Luka) being trained at Usha school of athletics, trained on mud track and occasionally traveled to Mysore to train on hard turfs which is 4 hours from their place.
This is 2012's situation, think about the situation in 1984 when the playing turf changed. I could probably not even imagine what and how our star players have felt and were left helpless back then.
You could be exceptionally outstanding at sometime but only till you keep brushing it and we failed at that and not to forget that you also need a "brush" to brush it.
What actually made the difference :
The athletes of these countries were decorated top to bottom with the medals when they went up high on podium, not only because of their mere participation, but primarily because of the unparalleled display of dedication, hard-work and determination by the individuals and equally supporting infrastructure and good, planned governance shown by their respective nations.
China for that case runs about 3000 government sponsored sports school and numerous private schools across the nation in which about 300,000 students are trained out of that about 40,000 students are graduated to the elite sports institutions in China out of which about 14000 make it to the national team out of which about 3000 are trained for Olympics out of which only about 350 make it to Olympics.
It is indeed a very well planned and well executed centralized communist system which is often compared with the Soviet-style Olympic training and often criticized.
Children as young as 5 years are put to rigorous training all around the year in the boarding schools, they seldom see their parents.
At recent Olympics the Chinese athlete 26 year old Wu was not even informed about her grandparents who expired almost a year ago and also kept her mother's condition (suffering from cancer) secretive. Another athlete was criticized by the Chinese authorities for not bowing to the country's flag before bowing to her parents when she won a medal, they see it as dishonoring the country. Clearly it is a race for the medals, taking the passion and fun part out of it. Very much similar to IPL, Cricket lost its charm with IPL, I don't see any more passion in the game and never watched a single IPL match till date. Again I am not against cricket but pointing out that there is no more sportsmanship n passion about it.
This way of training is even criticized and questioned by many human and child rights committees. Don't get me wrong here I am not supporting Soviet-style training neither I am saying we should allocate reckless budgets like UK, both of them trying to make a mark of their supremacy at Olympics to show and prove their dominance to the world, but same can be pursued purely driven by passion and supported by planned governance. Remember the importance of the "brush". :)
Hoping against hope:
Hope against the hope a few brave hearts still made it against all the odds, their passion and determination kept them pushing faster, higher and stronger. I hope they and many more will continue to do so.The hope against the hope is for those people in power and who have the ability to bring change and difference to show up and support by putting planned systems in place and by giving them a well deserved brush.
-Sun
