It is depressing that countries, smaller in size than India, are able to grab more medals in sporting events. If we want to be a global leader, we need to promote sports
With the many laws on importing gold into India, it is ironical that given Indian's affinity to the metal, it is failing to use the one legitimate method of bringing home the gold. Indian ingenuity in bringing in the shiny metal has no bounds, ranging from adorning every inch of one's self to concealing it in every nook and cranny of bags and parcels. And yet, the one way by which Indians could bring in the gold, not only freely, but with accolades, is not even close to being an option. For a country, so enchanted by the mere sight of gold, India's performance and participation in the Olympics and international sports events is disheartening, if not shameful.
According to official records, India's first participation in the Olympic games was in 1920, when the country first sent its ‘team' to the summer global sporting event and was recognised as an independent sporting nation. Since then, nearly a hundred years later, India has managed to win a total of 26 medals: Nine gold, six silver and 11 bronze. Out of the 26 medals, 11 were won in hockey, four in shooting and wrestling, two in athletics and boxing and one each in badminton, tennis and weightlifting. India ranks 37 in terms of number of medals won in the world. In london Olympics, India ranked lower than countries like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Cuba in the total medal count. Countries like Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Uzbekistan had more gold medals than India. How do we justify that countries smaller in size than New Delhi are performing better then we are in these eventsIJ
Some argue that there is little talent for sports other than cricket and hockey in our country. We have 1.2 billion people, out of which, there must surely be one person, who can throw a javelin or a shot putt at an international level, one person who can jump higher than 2.2 meters, one person who can run a 100 metre dash in 10 seconds. Others argue that our climate and geographical location are not ideal to train the athletes of that caliber. Our country, spanning from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, has every climate, environment and landscape available in the world. Another argument states that the Olympics do not play to our comparative advantage in sports. What advantageIJ CricketIJ Food competitions have a higher chance of entering the Olympics than cricket. Only a segment of the worlds population plays the sport, world competitions last as long as the entire Olympic games, if not more and the logistics of creating cricket grounds for countries which have no interest in cricket is insurmountably unthinkable. On the other hand, everybody in the world eats. And finally, many say we do not have the resources to create such talent. If a country like Trinidad and Tobago, with a total gross domestic product of $27 billion can manage to support its athletes, India, which is the third largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, with a $2.17 trillion economy, can surely afford to send more than 100 athletes to the summer games.
To put things into perspective, China, the one country that can resemble our own population at 1.4 billion, has sent on average 395 athletes to the last four summer games. India on the other hand, has sent an average of 69 athletes. The highest number of athletes India has ever sent to the Olympics is 83 in 2012. In the same year, Kazakhstan, with 1.4 per cent of India's population, sent 115 athletes to the london games, earning themselves, 13 medals, seven of which were gold.
Finding talent in our country is not hard, but it requires dedicated effort from Governments, who so far have been as narrow-sighted as the Indian population. Cricket is divine and its players gods. It is statistically impossible that in 1.2 billion people, there aren't enough athletes who can excel at each sport in the Olympic games. It is about giving it a chance. Open tryout for all Indians aged 14-30, held across the country, will surely yield a few positive results. Recruiting 40-50 internationally renowned trainers will not cost that much. There is surely a runner in the mountains of Uttarakhand or North-East, a swimmer in Tamil Nadu or the south and a rowing team in Kerala. It is matter of finding them and finding the right people to train them.
The claim that India still leads the number of gold medal wins in hockey is legitimate but ridiculous. Our last hockey victory was in 1980. Abinav Bindra is a national hero, but we cannot be satisfied with one. India's emergence on the world stage cannot simply rest on our economic or scientific success. If we want to be recognised as a global leader, sports too must be considered as a measure.
(The writer is associate fellow at the Observer Research Foundation)