Rio 2016 | From terrible officials to no-show from shooters: 7 talking points from our Olympics failure

The Rio Olympics have ended and the largest Indian contingent of 118 athletes competing in 15 disciplines have managed to get a solitary bronze and silver. PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik - none of whom were prime contenders to win a medal at Rio may have saved India the blushes but there's no denying the fact that the nation ended with their worst performance in 12 years. Both Sindhu and Malik should be hailed for their incredible feat, but in the clatter of congratulatory messages the Indian public and the policy makers shouldn’t lose sight of the overall big picture which isn’t exactly rosy.

Here are some of the questions that come to mind looking back at the last fortnight.

Was London an aberration?

Indian medal winners in London Olympics (AFP)

India doubled its medal tally in London from three in Beijing. In the warm after glow of victory, there was a feeling, that Indian sports was on the right path and double digit medal tally was in the offing in the near future. Much of the hype behind Rio stemmed from the London result as it was assumed that India would hold on to its previous performance and add a few more. The setback in Rio hence begs the question if London was an one off incident, where it was a happy coincidence of many of our sporting stars being at prime of their form rather than a concerted effort by sporting authorities to churn out an assembly line of champions. Is this result a reality check Indian sports needed which will force all the stakeholders to get back to the drawing board? 

Did media hype negatively affect the athletes?

There was huge amounts of media predictions before the games about how India is all set to churn out it's best ever performance in this Olympics. Even the government added to the frenzy. The final results though show that many medal contenders probably got bogged down by expectations and performed well below par. While in this day and age of media, such hype can’t be avoided, may be better media management by association and stress management for athletes is the way to go.

Will the officials show some empathy?

OP Jaisha (Getty Images)

News reports of how marathon runner OP Jaisha had to travel the entire stretch of over 42 km without water because the officials bungled up is the cause of latest outrage. There are other such shocking stories of players being given peanuts when they were invited for official soirees, of the babus travelling first-class and athletes taking the arduous economy class route to Rio. The centre-piece of the Olympics is the athletes who have persevered to qualify and not the IOA members or those belonging to the different sporting organisations. Till the time that sensitivity creeps in, it is unlikely that Indian sports undergo any radical changes.

Will there be a proper post-mortem of India’s shooting fiasco?

Jitu Rai (AFP)

Shooting has been the greatest disappointment and chief cause of India’s dwindling medal tally. First time, post Sydney, India have returned without a medal in shooting. This time, the officials, players and the press were sure of a golden shooting spree but it finally turned out to be a dud. Only Abhinav Bindra came close to a medal (10m air rifle) and Jitu Rai qualified for final (10m air pistol). The rest shot blanks and failed to live up to their expectations. The shooting association has already come up with some explanations to rationale the no-show including over-dependence on personal coaches but whether an honest introspection sans ostracization of players will happen or not is the big question.

Why India is losing the plot in weight lifting and boxing?

Boxer Vikas Krishan (AFP)

These are two sports where India have traditionally done well in the past by notching up medals. Some didn’t win medals but came close. But India’s performance was pretty lacklustre in both these two disciplines in this edition of Olympics with only pugilist Vikas Krishan igniting some hope before bowing out to a much higher ranked opponent in quarters. The doping fiasco in Wrestling and Boxing association being in doldrums has meant that our talented sportspersons have lost out. Once serious medal prospects, Indians are now struggling to qualify in both the disciplines. Will Indian government or the courts intervene to get the house in order?
 
Was the entire Narsingh fiasco worth the hassle?

Narsingh Yadav

Wrestling Federation of India took a bold step by sending Narsingh Yadav to Rio, even after he was implicated in a dope scandal. The NADA clearance notwithstanding, it always looked like a bleak case for the wrestler as WADA is known to have stringent provisions for such cases. Without any tangible proof of Narsingh being a victim of sabotage, did WFI really push their luck by sending the star wrestler? As we know, finally Narsingh couldn’t compete and his first round competitor got a bye. A spot was wasted. Was this sheer bravado with impunity towards law, a misadventure of Himalayan proportions or was it a genuine gamble gone wrong. Finally India lost a spot and someone needs to held responsible for this fiasco. 

Why was India's performance in track and field so underwhelming?

Seema Poonia in the qualification round (AFP)

Hardly anyone expected India to win medals in these events, but it is generally assumed that athletes will try to match their personal best or near it and not get disqualified! While India’s 4*400 men’s team got disqualified, women 4*400 m relay team came 7th in the hits. Except Lalita Babar (Who set a new national record), none exceeded expectations. The marathon runners Kheta Ram and Gopi did admirably well, Manish Singh Rawat finished 13th but rest of all were way below their personal best. What is the reason that athletes are being a mere shadow of their best performance at the Olympics is a question many sports fans have wondered about. The likes of Seema Poonia have blamed lack of personal coach behind it. The truth should be found out so that in future Indians give their best shot and are not reduced to mere footnotes.
 
Can India develop a sporting culture?
Now, this is a question which has no easy answer. From developing the grass root infrastructure to proper targeting of funds towards youth talent spotting programmes, there are many things which need to be done to get India competitive at a global stage. While we are often amazed by the medal hauls of countries like Great Britain, it comes for a cost as India’s only individual gold medallist Abhinav Bindra pointed out.

The centre allocated paltry Rs 1592 crores for sports ministry for 2016-17, hike of only Rs 50 crores from last year. All total, taking states into consideration, the cumulative money spent on sports was Rs 3,200 crores, reports India Spend. The National Sports Development Fund and Target Olympics Podium (TOP) are trying to nurture talent but clearly it hasn’t been enough. According to Indiaspend, the amount spent per athlete earmarked for Olympics varies from Rs 5.2 lakh to Rs 9.8 lakh, but that is woefully less than that spent for athletes in US and Great Britain. 

More corporates need to adopt prominent sportspersons. The government can encourage them further through incentives. It is a long drawn process but a systemic planning can overhaul the system. The government should also particularly help athletes like Dipa Karmakar, Lalita Babar, Dattu Bhokanal among others who have shown their talent and can reach the podium with little help and support from others.

As fans, we will root for the athletes, hopefully not only during Olympics but also during other events of national and international importance. But hopefully we will find answer to some of these questions in the next four years. It is over to Tokyo 2020 and a hope that India come out stronger overcoming the Rio bruises and blushes.