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The Quest for Olympic Glory

R Jaygopal, Chennai, 1997.

As yet another Olympics come to an end, questions will be asked, inquiry committees set up, heads will roll - all for that yet to come Olympic glory. As the Olympic fraternity grows and competition increases due to fragmented countries entering as separate nations. Indias chances not only look slim but also are ever diminishing.

What does it take to step onto that podium, is a question often probed by countries who aren’t there yet. is it that elusive gold medal or the patriotic fervor of representing their country, or just the culmination of years of sweet, toil and hard work. It may even be a combination of all these. But one factor above all this is dedication. Dedication to achieve that yellow metal and to go on relentlessly in pursuit.

But when an Anthony Nesty or a Susanthika or a Jefferson Perez can do it, why cant our desi Ushas, Valsammas and Bahadurs do it? Aren’t they dedicated enough, talented enough or aren’t they focused enough to attain pristine glory? May be it is something about the coaching, one can never say.

Olympics of late have been hit by another phenomenon - Drugs - apart from terrorism. A spectre which has haunted most of the recent games. Take for example Ben Johnsons case - glory, recognition and fame were all his until snatched away minutes later. Do the fame etc., etc. all make mankind do such gory things so as to endanger life itself in future.

Can two miniutes on the podium make you do so much? Are the more successful countries equally adept at concealing drugs taken by its competitors. Then should India also follow suit. If so it will violate the very nature of the Olympic spirit.

Take for example - hockey, the reason for Australias reign in the world today was the coaching received from one of our Indian coaches. Another example that comes to my mind is that of Prakash Padukone, who used to practice along with the Danish star Morten Frost before the latter became a world champion in badminton, while the former slowly faded away.

Why then do we have to take recourse to foreign coaches when talent is available in India itself? Do our coaches put in that extra effort to earn more money while neglecting our countrymen?

Once again we narrow down to the aspect called dedication. Often on the world since one comes across our athletes cutting a sorry figure for lack of trying to go for the kill.

A remedial measure could be in as they call it tapping them young. While abroad sports are taken seriously and is part of the curriculam, here in India we are forced to indulge in sports because of the necessity to earn a living or to give a break from monotonous periods of study. And the diasporas of the Middle Income Group being academics lead to higher earnings while sports leads to poverty.

Performance of a country like China would negate that. In spite of its strict communist regime it has been able to take the sports world by storm, the reason being - focused training, methodology in coaching, a fixed goal and the right encouragement. The later point itself is enough to spur a sports person to greater heights.

Whereas in India we find bureaucrats and politicians at the helm od sporting organisations. Not only are they inefficient and corrupt but are also in the dark when it comes to sports. And with favoritism in selection permitting right down to the entry level at school, the development of sports in our country is severely shackled. This leads to our sports persons becoming the laughing stock in the international arena.

With crores of money being spent on building stadiums, hiring coaches from abroad, buying expensive equipment that accumulate rust and in sending teams for international meets, there seems to be no justification from the results achieved. Come Olympics or any other big meets, a host of officials and invitees set forth on a tour under the most silliest of pretexts like to study the conduct of the olympics in order to achieve similar success in conducting the National Games. As if a country that has conducted the Asian Games needs to learn the art of staging a mega event.

What was even more surprising was that the officials hardly got down to business instead going on a shopping spree and visiting relatives. Yes, this even included our Honourable Minister of Sports.

People who have got no business only seem to be there more than our teams. All these continue despite the hue and cry raised at the end of the Seoul Olympics in 1988 about how government servants and well wishers had a gala excursion at Seoul. A pointer to this could be the allegation of the wrestling coach of Pappu Yadav who managed to get a visa with difficulty and landed up at Atlanta only by the 20th of July by which time our great wrestling hero who was entered in a higher weight category lost miserably.

The allegation was that the concerned Indian officials were not present to help Pappu Yadav with his weighing in for well over three hours by which time our hungry hero who was trying to shed excessive fat at the sauna lost his patience and ended up stuffing himself at the restaurant, result of which was a generous gain of 4 kg in weight. naturally our sporting icon could hardly put up a fight in the 52 kg category.

The same goes for our boxers, who had a rather long stint in Cuba. I suspect the Cubans to be much smarter in not teaching the Indians all the tricks of the trade. Allegations or otherwise the question foremost in everyone’s mind is when will we hit the road to glory?. Are we ever capable of producing a champion out of a teeming population of 950 million?

Amongst all this darkness was a ray of hope in the form of Leander Paes who won an individual medal for the country after 44 years. His is a case of hyped up energy when it comes to representing the country. Some of our sports persons could take a leaf or two out of his book.

What then is the solution? Are we going to be a nation of also runs, forever fretting and fuming that we almost did it? The answers lie in whether we are able to rectify the system of its anomaly, experienced sports persons are given a free rein and elected to head the federations backed up with constructive support from the government.

Also there should be a change in the outlook of parents towards their wards who show a natural affinity to sports instead of academics. Till then it is back to hoping and praying that our sports persons will reach the nadir of sporting history. Chaos! Till we meet again at Sydney for yet another excursion and a debacle later on.