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One gold…a billion hopes

Rewind. 11th August 2008: Abhinav Bindra, tied for the first position with Henri Häkkinen of Finland takes aim for his final shot in the men’s 10m air rifle final at the Shooting Range Hall in Beijing. Bang! It’s a bulls eye. The country erupts into wild celebrations as Abhinav becomes the first Indian to win a gold medal in an individual event for the country in its 88 year long Olympic history.

Vaibhav Arora
Rewind. 11th August 2008: Abhinav Bindra, tied for the first position with Henri Häkkinen of Finland takes aim for his final shot in the men’s 10m air rifle final at the Shooting Range Hall in Beijing. Bang! It’s a bulls eye. The country erupts into wild celebrations as Abhinav becomes the first Indian to win a gold medal in an individual event for the country in its 88 year long Olympic history.Not too far from the venue at the mesmerising ‘Water Cube’, an American athlete called Michael Fred Phelps won his second straight Olympic gold in his quest to win eight golds and become the greatest swimmer in history (a feat which he later went on to achieve, breaking Mark Spitz’ 36 year old record for the maximum number of gold medals won by an athlete in a single edition of the summer Olympic games). A leading news website aptly summed up the situation saying, ‘Phelps wins his second gold at Beijing, India its first ever’. Bindra’s remarkable feat was later added on to by another two bronze medals, making it a total of three Olympic medals for the country, its highest ever haul in a single edition of the games. However, despite the heroics, India managed to finish at a dismal 50th position in the overall medals tally.
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So what is it that holds the Indian athletes back? If you thought sending a larger contingent could help, then consider this. A certain strife torn Eurasian country called Georgia managed to clinch a total of 6 medals (3 gold & 3 bronze) with a contingent of just 35 sportspersons. It is the same country which was considering withdrawing from the Beijing Olympics because their athletes wanted to go and fight alongside the Georgian army in the military conflict in South Ossetia. While it is definitely a time to celebrate and feel proud of the achievement, it calls for introspection as to why our athletes fail to perform at world level competitions. Though they won Olympic medals for India, none owe the credit to the government or any of the sports bodies in India. While Abhinav has his dad to thank for providing him a private air-conditioned shooting range at home, Vijender and Sushil fought their way through adversities with the help of local clubs and their coaches. What ails Indian sports While the promotion of cricket at the expense of other sports is a major reason for the poor showing of our athletes, it is not the only reason. In fact we have ourselves to blame. Why do Indian sportspersons perform poorly? This is a question that is revisited after every Olympics and forgotten after that. Even the media, which blames sports authorities for the poor showing is guilty of giving poor coverage to other sports barring cricket. Even if the government does not lend much help why doesn’t the private sector come forward as they do in case of cricketers by showering them with wealth after every match won. In fact a few private sector players who have come forward to help athletes have shown instant results. Take the example of Mittal foundation and former greats Prakash Padukone and Geet Sethi whose joint efforts have helped a great deal. However, while government and private sector funding are to be blamed, the players will also have to understand that good performances only will bring in the viewers and with them the moolah. The failure of other sports in the country was evident when our hockey team failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. Our star performers like Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Karnam Malleswari turned out to be one time wonders, failing when they are most expected to perform. The athletes who sight lack of facilities as the major reason for their poor performance should take a cue from athletes of other countries like Ethiopia and Georgia where the facilities are hardly any better. One extra bit of effort is all that makes the difference between a winner and a loser. Besides, just watching and appreciating other sports, we will also have to make an effort to push children into pursuing these, so that a team for the future can be built. The padhoge likhoge to banoge nawab, kheloge kudoge to banoge kharab (Studies will make a successful person while playing will ruin you) mentality has to be done away with. Indian sports today finds itself caught in a vicious circle where the sportspersons continue to blame the lack of facilities for poor showing while the authorities blame poor performance for the lack of facilities. Where are we heading Beijing Olympics besides being a spectacular event had plenty of lessons to be learnt, especially for young sporting nations like India. By topping the medals table and finishing with over 50 golds, China has proved that former sporting stalwarts like the United States and Russia are beatable. Having won our first individual Olympic gold at Beijing, courtesy Abhinav Bindra, we can expect better and brighter days in future. For those who are not aware, here is an interesting fact, China won its first Olympic Gold medal at Los Angeles in 1984, only to top the medals table just 24 years later. Even Britain, who managed to finish at a respectable number four in the medals tally at Beijing could manage to clinch just a single gold medal at the Atlanta Games in 1996. Going by these trends, India could be a major sporting super power in the not so distant future, provided that stern efforts be made to promote the games by the government, the private sector as well as the general public. The 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in India will offer us a glimpse of what lessons we have learnt and what can be expected in future. Even if we fail to implement such rigorous training regimen as practiced by China from the very outset, efforts should be made to follow in the foot steps of countries like the United Kingdom. Besides, having a strong built as athletes from some of the African or Caucasian countries is not that big a factor as athletes from China have proven. We could also concentrate on skill based sports that do not require a huge amount of physical prowess. Let us hope that Beijing marks the beginning of a new chapter in Indian sports. For full coverage on BEIJING OLYMPICS, Click Here »