The world's greatest sports spectacle - the Summer Olympic Games 2008 will be over soon in Beijing on Friday. Indian officials are busy celebrating. The pressing question going around Delhi is whether they should really celebrate?
For one, a nation of a billion-plus people - the world's most populous democracy - has dispatched a small squad of 57 athletes (and 42 officials, in 2004 we had 227 officials with 75 athletes :-)) to the Games. In other words, with a total of 28 sports and 302 events to compete in, only a meager 57 Indians athletes were qualified and managed only 3 medals. Contrast this with the United States, which marched into Beijing with a powerhouse contingent of 596 athletes (106 medals). China had 639 (96 medals) and even tiny Estonia has 47 representatives (1 gold + 1silver). In terms of the total Olympic medal tallied, India ranks even behind Nigeria, a country whose economy is one-twentieth of its size.
Yet with 3 medals,the IOA is celebrating and busy taking the credit. Not that they should not be celebrating, but more than that, they should make a sincere attempt to sit down and introspect.
Why did we win only 3 medals? Why did we not win any team event? Forget winning we did not even quality for any of these event. Indian ruled hockey for decades and this year we couldn't even qualify for Olympics. Same is the story with other sports such as Soccer, basketball.
No one can take away the credit from Abhinav Bindra, Sushil Kumar and Vijender Singh. They deserve what they have earned. It's only because of their hardwork and efforts, India could manage the individual medals. But one really wonders what IOA/Indian government contributed in their success.
Months before the Olympics, I read stories about the sub standard facilities provided for the Indian rowing team. The Badminton team didn't even have shuttles for practice sessions. (Abhinav Bindra had made his own investments in setting up the world class shooting range for practicing.) How can we expect them to compete against the world class athletes and then deliver?
Can we look at the below mentioned 5 Point formula to improve our state in Olympics?
1> Shift Focus -> We Indians need to take little focus away from Cricket and start focusing on other sports/games. Media should play a bigger role in this. Corporates to focus equally on all the sports. In fact Government should lay down policies for the cooperates so that they can spend equally on other sports as well.
2> Talent Hunt -> Organize leagues/championships on similar pattern as that of cricket leagues (Ranaji, IPL etc)
3> Corporate responsibilities -> Corporates to adopt one particular region and invest equally on all the sports in their respective regions. They should be given specifc targets in terms of Olympic medals. Based on the performance, SOPs/facilities to be extended to these Corporates.
4> Increased Sports Budget -> India's annual sports budget to be increased from a paltry $280 million (You know how much China's budget is $ 2 billion dollars). Also the budget should be properly utilized for getting best world class coaches, world class equipments etc.
5> Disciplined Sportsmen -> and equally important for the sportsmen to stay focused and not to get carried away by the little success and the endorsements.
If these initiatives are followed through there's no reason why a nation of billion-plus people cannot have more podium finishes at the Olympics.
But again we just talk, discuss and write about the situation. I am sure nothing will change in the coming years. Situation won't be much different for 2012 London Olympics thna today. Just praying if we can preserve the existing medals at least.
God please spare Bindra, Sushil Kumar and Vijender at least from getting spoiled by the Reebok's, Pepsi's and the Adidas's.
For one, a nation of a billion-plus people - the world's most populous democracy - has dispatched a small squad of 57 athletes (and 42 officials, in 2004 we had 227 officials with 75 athletes :-)) to the Games. In other words, with a total of 28 sports and 302 events to compete in, only a meager 57 Indians athletes were qualified and managed only 3 medals. Contrast this with the United States, which marched into Beijing with a powerhouse contingent of 596 athletes (106 medals). China had 639 (96 medals) and even tiny Estonia has 47 representatives (1 gold + 1silver). In terms of the total Olympic medal tallied, India ranks even behind Nigeria, a country whose economy is one-twentieth of its size.
Yet with 3 medals,the IOA is celebrating and busy taking the credit. Not that they should not be celebrating, but more than that, they should make a sincere attempt to sit down and introspect.
Why did we win only 3 medals? Why did we not win any team event? Forget winning we did not even quality for any of these event. Indian ruled hockey for decades and this year we couldn't even qualify for Olympics. Same is the story with other sports such as Soccer, basketball.
No one can take away the credit from Abhinav Bindra, Sushil Kumar and Vijender Singh. They deserve what they have earned. It's only because of their hardwork and efforts, India could manage the individual medals. But one really wonders what IOA/Indian government contributed in their success.
Months before the Olympics, I read stories about the sub standard facilities provided for the Indian rowing team. The Badminton team didn't even have shuttles for practice sessions. (Abhinav Bindra had made his own investments in setting up the world class shooting range for practicing.) How can we expect them to compete against the world class athletes and then deliver?
Can we look at the below mentioned 5 Point formula to improve our state in Olympics?
1> Shift Focus -> We Indians need to take little focus away from Cricket and start focusing on other sports/games. Media should play a bigger role in this. Corporates to focus equally on all the sports. In fact Government should lay down policies for the cooperates so that they can spend equally on other sports as well.
2> Talent Hunt -> Organize leagues/championships on similar pattern as that of cricket leagues (Ranaji, IPL etc)
3> Corporate responsibilities -> Corporates to adopt one particular region and invest equally on all the sports in their respective regions. They should be given specifc targets in terms of Olympic medals. Based on the performance, SOPs/facilities to be extended to these Corporates.
4> Increased Sports Budget -> India's annual sports budget to be increased from a paltry $280 million (You know how much China's budget is $ 2 billion dollars). Also the budget should be properly utilized for getting best world class coaches, world class equipments etc.
5> Disciplined Sportsmen -> and equally important for the sportsmen to stay focused and not to get carried away by the little success and the endorsements.
If these initiatives are followed through there's no reason why a nation of billion-plus people cannot have more podium finishes at the Olympics.
But again we just talk, discuss and write about the situation. I am sure nothing will change in the coming years. Situation won't be much different for 2012 London Olympics thna today. Just praying if we can preserve the existing medals at least.
God please spare Bindra, Sushil Kumar and Vijender at least from getting spoiled by the Reebok's, Pepsi's and the Adidas's.
No comments:
Post a Comment