My number one apprehension in writing this piece is that my editor would say that a column on the Olympics is already dated. Yes, it’s been less than two weeks since the so-called ‘greatest sporting event’ ended. Less than a fortnight ago, crores of Indians streamed in to watch Neeraj Chopra do his javelin throw, where were expecting Gold. We fell into national despair when Vinesh Phogat was disqualified for being 100grams overweight, taking away our shot at a gold medal. And yet, how we moved on! The games ended, and we went on to the next big thing on social media. Geez, my editors are right, this column may well be dated. Why didn’t I write about the upcoming assembly elections?
But this “obsession while games are on and quick discard when they are off” is precisely where the reason lies for our yet another pathetic performance in the Olympics. Sorry for the harsh words. I know we live in times where mentioning India as anything but perfect means you become suspect, of being part of a global deep state conspiracy or something like that. However, if you are somewhat of the old-fashioned tough-love category, you will appreciate that sometimes the path to progress lies in calling things what they are. And yes, given our profile and size as a nation, we were bad at the Olympics (again) this time. This is not to throw shade on our half a dozen or so medal winners. No, please guys, you were the saving grace! The ‘izzat bacha li’ of a far, far below expectations show in Paris this year. The individual winners are to be commended and celebrated, for sure. But to only do that and ignore the macro data is doing our nation a disservice. Our neighbour China won 91 medals this time, with 40 golds. We won 6 medals, and 0 golds. Sure, we hear stories of little kids in China being tormented since they are toddlers in a quest to win medals. Still, that does not explain this massive gape between the two populous nations.
Some say Olympic medals is a form of soft power. The term soft power itself is an oxymoron, but fine. Even if they are a soft power, it is only so if a country has a reasonable tally! If Olympics after Olympics, the medal tally shows that we are below North Korea and Kazakhstan (yes, we were this time), then how are the half a dozen non-gold medals leading to soft power? Rather, isn’t it a pretty clear demonstration of soft weakness?
In that light, is it better if India just gave up on the Olympics? We obviously don’t spend enough on sports as a nation. Some of our weddings cost more. However, we still spend a fair amount – a few thousand crores. And it’s not yielding results. When Abhinav Bindra won a Gold in 2008, reams of articles said about this being a turning point for India at the Olympics. That we are now going to reach per-capita-GDP levels where we will see more and more medals trickling in. Corporates came on board, NGOs were formed with the sole quest of winning golds, slogans were created, and we thought medals will just flow in and we will create champions in a consistent, planned and clinical manner. None of this happened. All we get is the occasional a freak-of-nature, six-standard-deviation talent, which in a land of a billion and a half is entirely possible, and that gets us a few medals.
Maybe then it is better to give up even trying in the Olympics. It brings back the age-old question – should the sports budget be spent on making a few elites, Olympic champions or rather, be used to make more neighbourhood parks and sports facilities around the country, where children and grown up can just enjoy sports without the competitiveness. There’s no easy answer. Ideally, you need both, and they are linked as well. A good sports infrastructure for common citizens will invariably throw up champions, rather than trying to pump up a few athletes in hope of winning medals. Building a national sports ethos and infrastructure is of course a long process, and I am not even sure if Indians care as much for it. Sorry, we’d rather have exam tuition centres.
Thus, we could give up on the Olympics, but for one issue. The once-in-four-years shame. For those two weeks, we could reschedule the IPL or the T20 World Cup (where realistically only 4 countries compete). This will distract us enough, away from the global games. We can also throw in an assembly election or two, which will keep us busy as well. And if some of those voyeuristic reality shows co-operate, they can launch at the same time too. That’s it. The two weeks of Olympics will go by in a flash, and we would barely notice. The IPL would be awesome, the best part – an Indian team will surely win!
Or, and that’s a big OR, we can decide to really take the bull by the horns. We can acknowledge we aren’t good at this, yet. Then rather than chanting slogans and chest-thumping about our support for India (reality check: cheering harder doesn’t necessarily get more medals), we actually do what it takes to win not one or two, but two dozen gold medals. We don’t just focus on five players. We revamp the entire sports eco-system of the country. We put solid resources for sports. We have a quota for athletes in top universities, so that they have some security about their future. We put our heads down, have humility and say that we will work harder. We do not say ‘this is India’s time, and we are going to start winning now anyway.’ Nobody, neither an individual nor a country is entitled to ‘their time.’ One has to work hard to make their time happen. The Olympics result clearly show our inflated sense of self-worth compared to what we really are at the world stage. We “feeling great” doesn’t make us great. We winning makes us great. It’s time we stopped trying to just “feel great”. It’s time to start doing what will actually make us become great.