Moving on from Paris

The Paralympics 2024 concluded the over a month-long sporting festivities in Paris and Indian fans and followers of Olympic sports, still a number which has not reached critical mass, will come away with mixed feelings. More sad than happy, I dare say.

While at the Paralympics, Indian special athletes returned a historic best ever haul of 29 medals including seven gold (9 silver/13 bronze), the performance at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games saw India win one silver and five bronze medals, their third best returns ever.

So Tokyo, as alluded to in the previous write-up on this platform, could not be surpassed or even equalled and the final rank of 71 matched our worst ever in the standings, equalling that of the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Games.

Shooting redeemed itself after two consecutive medal less Olympics, with three bronze medals, representing the highest ever haul in a single sport for India at the Games. Manu Bhaker became India's latest Olympic sporting sensation, bagging two bronze medals to become the only Indian to win multiple medals at a single Olympics. Neeraj was beaten to gold by an astounding Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan while the men's Hockey team defended their bronze medal from the previous Games, to their huge credit. Aman Sehrawat, the only Indian male wrestler at the Games, also continued the sport's tradition of having won an Olympic medal in every Games since 2008, with a super bronze in the men's 57kg freestyle category.

Indian athletes also finished the dreaded fourth in as many as six events, highlighting what could have been.

However to sum it up, there really isn't any excuse. Not any more. Not from the previous Games actually. If one wants to be overtly critical, one can say that a majority of decision makers in sports in this country have no idea about athletes and competitive professional international sport and that we lack a sports culture, but even then such a poor return could be justified about two decades back.

The sports culture, ecosystem, infrastructure and corporate and Government support has grown humongous from the time Abhinav Bindra won India's first individual Olympic gold in Beijing 16 years ago. This poor tally now means there is something fundamentally wrong in the kind of athletes we are choosing to represent ourselves on the global stage. And the athletes themselves are not responsible for that.

This platform has always strongly believed that sports should be inculcated in the ethos of the youth of this country as a means to excel despite hardships and reverses. As an individual pursuit more than a joint pursuit, which instills among the athletes the belief that they are in it for themselves, to prove they are the best for themselves, not for anybody else. Sport should not be seen as a means for acquiring social security or upliftment or to promote State parochialism.

To drive such selfish pursuit of excellence the Government should provide all necessary support, not to athletes who have performed on the international stage, but to children, ensuring that talented kids at a very young age are identified and then provided an enabling environment of education, nutrition, coaching and a happy upbringing in order to ensure that they fully realize their sporting potential.

Otherwise, with the current situation, double digits in Los Angeles in four years time will also be a bubble which will burst.