India’s heartburn in Paris Olympics

While the euphoria over performances of ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat, javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and shooter Manu Bhaker brought a smile to India, which had sent 117 athletes/sportspersons to the Paris 2024 Olympics; there were shocks and disappointments and a wave of camaraderie too.

Vinesh’s disqualification due to her being overweight by 100 gms before what would have been a historic final for India in the 50kg wrestling category, stunned India and inspired legendary American world wrestling Olympian champion Jordan Burroughs, to support Vinesh through a series of tweets. It triggered trolls humiliating her, as also positive tweets by the government and several sports celebrities, supporting her and standing by her in her and the nation’s crisis.

The Paris 2024 Olympics brought out the camaraderie between India’s ace javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who won Olympic Silver and Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem, who won the Olympic Gold. While Neeraj played a great role in procuring a good quality Javelin for Arshad, Neeraj’s affection for Arshad and vice versa after their victories was heart-warming. A golden moment came when Neeraj’s mother told ANI news agency, after his victory: “The silver is like a gold medal to us—the one who won Gold (Arshad Nadeem) is also my son. Everyone goes there by working hard.’’

The Paris Olympics brought out some stern comments by legendary sportspersons who were present at the Paris Olympics. Badminton legend Prakash Padukone, who witnessed the Badminton semifinal of Lakshya Sen vs Viktor Axelsen, openly showed his displeasure at the manner in which Sen lost the match. Padukone candidly told the newspersons that, “all the support and finances needed to perform at the top level were given to the Indian players. It’s not like earlier times when our players lacked facilities and funds. So, it’s high time our players step up and win as expected.’’

Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on 25th July, 2024 had revealed that, "Indian athletes will compete in Paris Olympics across 16 sports disciplines, including archery, athletics, boxing, badminton, equestrian, golf, hockey, judo, rowing, shooting, swimming, sailing, table tennis, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling. The athletes have been provided facilities of coaching camps, exposure to international competitions, etc., which has been funded to the tune of approximately ` 470 crores, through various Government Schemes and CSR funding from the Public Sector Undertakings as well as the corporate sector."

Padukone’s remarks have not been well taken by other sports experts who felt that the coaches should also take the blame and not pat themselves only when the player wins. Also, what about politics in all the sports federations where politicians rule and create an atmosphere of groupism and discrimination? Also the expenditure for Olympic training for sportspersons is much less compared to other developed countries.

Nevertheless, Padukone minced no words when he further stated that, after Milkha Singh in 1960 (Rome Olympics) and P.T. Usha in the 80s (1984 Los Angeles), we have so many fourth-place finishes. "I think that it is high time that the players also take responsibility. At least for the results in this Olympics and the previous one, you cannot hold the federations and the government responsible for the results. They have done whatever they can,” he said.

So, is it time to ask the question of what do Indians do if sportspersons lack, the killer instinct, the consistency, the persistence, or is it somewhere down the line, we must ask the question of whether the pollution of petty politics in sports federations is causing heavy losses to our precious sportspersons in terms of mental and emotional stress? Time to act, not just think!