Isn't it shameful that a country of 1.25bn wins only 2 medals at Olympics?
With Yogeshwar Dutt being knocked out in the first round of 65kg freestyle wrestling, team India lost its hope of bringing home a third medal from Rio.
Yes, ironically, we had high hopes for a third medal from the Olympics from Dutt; the two brought in are silver by PV Sindhu for badminton and bronze by Sakshi Malik for freestyle wrestling.
In Rio 2016, we had the largest-ever delegation of 117 athletes and could win only two medals. Compare this with countries like Iran - a delegation of 63 athletes won eight medals including three gold, Thailand - a delegation of 55 athletes won six medals including two gold, and Azerbaijan - a delegation of 55 athletes won 18 medals, including one gold.
Something that will take you by surprise is the stark difference in the population count of these countries when compared to India.
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| In 116 years of India's Olympic journey, we have won just 28 medals in all, with only nine gold. |
The combined population of Iran, Thailand and Azerbaijan is lesser than that of Uttar Pradesh. The population of Azerbaijan is about 9.5 million, far less than the people in New Delhi.
So the big question is, why the world's second-most populous country with 1.25 billion people can produce a meagre 117 athletes of Olympic standard and these too earned only two medals, no gold.
We need to also introspect why, in 116 years of India's Olympic journey, we have won just 28 medals in all, with only nine gold - eight in hockey and one in the individual event of shooting by Abhinav Bindra (2008 Beijing Olympics).
What can be inferred from these glaring statistics?
1) Sports other than cricket are not given much weightage as a career option, because neither they appear neither financially lucrative nor glamorous.
2) More than the government, it's the apathy of corporates and wealthy individuals towards other sports that has to change. Imagine, badminton coach P Gopichand had to mortgage his house to build his badminton academy in Hyderabad, which finally gave a silver and bronze in the sport in two consecutive Olympics (2012 and 2016).
3) At the grassroots-level, schools and colleges lack basic infrastructure that can encourage other sports, so even if someone has a natural talent in a particular sport, it gets crushed at the school-level itself.
4) The concept of sports school or college is still not seen as an option in India's education system.
5) In the last 116 years of Olympic exposure, we have not been able to produce many Olympians of international calibre, therefore we also lack coaches who can nurture and groom talent.
6) Other than hockey, that too only till 1980, India has not done well in team events in Olympics and no wonder, this is a poor reflection of our esprit de corps.
7) Finally, however much we may criticise Shobhaa De's comment on Twitter, as a country we only celebrate individual brilliance, rather than taking the Olympics seriously. We need to rid our mind of popular lingo such as "Kaun sa Olympics mein medal jeetna hai" (you don't really have to win a medal at the Olympics).
India has shown the world that from information technology to beauty pageants, from cricket to yoga, we can be world leaders and world beaters, so why not show the same spirit in the Olympics?