A ten medal tally predicted for India by the London-based Price- Waterhouse Coopers prior to the commencement of the Athens Olympiad 2004 is a realistic target for Beijing 2008. India has the demography, talent and resources to realise this modest goal four years hence. The decks need to be cleared right now for a coordinated and intelligent national effort. Summiya Yasmeen reports A day ahead of the closing ceremony of the 28th Olympic Games which concluded in Athens on August 29, Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee declared that the “Athens Olympics were the Asian Games” and that “what we have seen here in Athens is the awakening of Asia”. Simultaneously in its issue dated August 30, the best-selling Time magazine featured a cover story titled ‘Asia’s Golden Games’ confirming the emergence of the hitherto also-ran nations of Asia as the ascendant stars of the sporting world. Both Rogge and Time were dazzled by the olympian achievements of China (32 gold, 17 silver and 14 bronze), Japan (16-10-12), South Korea (9-12-9), and Thailand (3-1-4). However despite being the world’s second most populous nation, India (pop. 1.2 billion) made an insignificant contribution to the Asian blitzkrieg in Athens. India’s embarrassing lone medal tally at the historic 28th Olympiad which attracted 16,000 athletes and team officials representing 201 nations and was telecast into 180 million Indian homes caused much anger and heart-burn especially in the nation’s 50,000 newspapers and periodicals. For the nation’s editorial pundits, the bitterest pill at the end of the 17-day sports extravaganza was the spectacular success of neighbouring People’s Republic of China (PRC) with whom India shares a 3,440 km disputed border in the north-east (which provoked a brief war in 1962 in which India was humiliatingly defeated) and deep ideological differences. Both nations are of comparable size in terms of population and landmass and each believes that its intellectual capability and development model is superior. Against this competitive backdrop the grossly disproportionate medals tally of 63:1 has generated seething anger and indignation about the quality of sports education and training being provided to young India. Lamented a lead editorial in The Times of India (August 19): “Since 1900, our sportspersons have won only three individual bronze medals. India’s claim over the two silvers that Norman Pritchard won in Paris 1900 is disputed since the UK claims the Calcutta-born sprinter as its man. A gold has remained elusive even in hockey, which India claims as its national game, since Moscow 1980… There is little to dream for in Indian sports…” The same day the lead editorial in The Hindu said: “…That a country like Cuba, with a population of just over 11 million, went into the Athens Games with a tally of 137 Olympic medals should give us an idea of what can be achieved if the focus and priorities are right. A (sports) budgetary allocation of Rs.466 crore is hopelessly inadequate for a country of India’s size and population…” Though teachers and educationists have known it all along, rather belatedly post independence India’s all-powerful politicians are beginning…
