DNA Special: When will India win more medals in Olympics like US, China?

All of you must have been happy to see such a warm welcome to Olympic players in India today. This week, people did not talk about India's cricket match against England, but the whole country was talking about the hockey match against Britain. This enthusiasm for Olympic players in India is a sign of a big change. But are 7 Olympic medals enough for a country of 135 crores?

Today, we will celebrate the success of our Olympic players, but at the same time, we will also talk about how much more time will it take for us to win as many medals as America, China and Japan.

After Jai Hind in Japan, our players are earning praises in India. After they touched down at the Delhi airport today, people were seen dancing and singing. Not just Delhi, the whole country is welcoming these players wholeheartedly. But we are afraid that this celebration and this feeling of respect for these players may end in 24 hours and people may forget them again.

In the history of the last 121 years of the Olympic Games, India has achieved its best medal tally this time. Our Olympians have won one gold, two silver and four bronze medals. However, this number of medals could have been more. Out of 127 players from India in the Tokyo Olympic Games, 55 players entered the quarter-finals and subsequent events. Of these, there were only 43 players who reached the semifinals, in which the men's and women's hockey teams were prominent. Apart from this, 5 players reached the final matches for the gold medal in individual competition.

In simple words, out of a total of 33 sports, India could have won the gold medal in 5 sports but got only one and this one gold medal also came after 13 years. If the players of India had won all these final matches, then India would have been ranked 17th instead of 48th in the medal tally of the Tokyo Olympic Games. However, this entry of India in the final matches is also an indication that we can get more medals in the coming Olympic Games.

Think of it like this that in the 2016 Rio Olympics, India had sent its 117 players, out of which only 20 players were able to reach the Quarter Final and subsequent events. But this time, this number has gone straight from 20 to 55, which is good news for India. This time, India participated in 18 sports out of 33 sports. And after 41 years, India is in the top 50 medal-winning countries. However, after these games have ended, today we will tell you what India learned from the Tokyo Olympics and what did we do right this time?

This time, we may have won 5 medals more than the 2016 Rio Olympics but India's performance in the Olympic Games hasn't been stable. India won 6 medals in the 2012 London Olympics and 3 medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But this performance was not sustained later and our country needs to learn from this.

When India does not get a medal in the Olympic Games, many people of our country have only one question on it and that is - why didn't we win? The people of our country like to criticize their players on such occasions. Although this criticism also lasts for a few days and then everyone forgets the issue. But today, we want to ask you a question and that is - how many of you want to send your children to sports coaching? 

The question of many of you would be in no. In India, parents send their children to the Olympiad of Maths and Science, but they do not want to send them to the Olympiad of sports. On the birth of children in our country, parents say that their child will grow up to become a doctor, engineer or IAS officer, but no one says that he will grow up and bring medals for the country. That is, in our country, people want a champion like Neeraj Chopra, but they are not ready for that champion to be from their own house. And the biggest reason for this is the lack of trust in India's sporting culture.

Our country has won only 35 medals in 29 Olympic Games so far, and this number is inclusive of Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. Of these, India has won 7 medals this time. Whereas America has won 39 gold medals in this year's Games alone and they are in first place in this medal tally with a total of 113 medals. The second place is China, which has won 88 medals, of which 38 are gold medals. Japan is third on this list, having won 58 medals. The total population of Japan is about 12.5 crores, that is, half of the population of Uttar Pradesh. But despite being a small country, its performance in Olympic Games is better than many big countries and the biggest reason for this is the sporting culture there.

There are many reasons for India's poor performance in international competitions like lack of investment in sports, weak infrastructure, players not getting much encouragement, and people's passion for cricket. These are all reasons for poor performance and they cannot be ignored. But there is a bigger reason than that because of people's attitude towards sports in India. There is no sporting culture in our country. And you can understand this with some examples.

The total population of Kenya is about 50 million and there is a lot of poverty. Their players do not have many resources and expensive coaches and neither are there modern coaching centres. Despite this, Kenya performs well every time in the Olympic Games. Kenya has won 103 medals so far as compared to 35 medals in India. This time as well, Kenya is in 19th place with 10 medals. Like Kenya, Brazil also has a lot of poverty. Out of the 21 crore population there, 1.5 crore people are below the poverty line. But despite this, Brazil is ahead of many countries in the international competitions of sports. Brazil has won 5 World Cups of Football so far and has 150 Medals in Olympic Games. This time also, it has been in 12th place by winning 21 medals.

These are the two countries where players do not have many resources, but due to their sporting culture, they dominate the world of sports. Whereas in India, children have to struggle a lot to play. First, they struggle with the taunts of society. Then they struggle against their family because often parents also tell their children that they will ruin their life by playing sports and the right effort is met in schools. In India, children are made to realize at an early age that there is nothing in sports. If they want to do something, then only education will come in handy.

India has a culture of reading and teaching maths and science, not sports. Stephen Hawking once said that the people of India are experts in mathematics and physics. Similarly, India ranks second in the number of scientists in the world. Around 1500 scientists from India are providing their services across the world. That is, what we learn from these Olympic games is that sporting culture needs to be promoted in India and this will be possible only when sports will be promoted at school and college level itself and not just be limited to one period.

A big thing here is that medals are not won by prize money. Because if this were the case then Singapore would have won the most medals. The government of Singapore gives the highest prize in the whole world to the player who wins the gold medal, about 7 and a half lakh dollars i.e. Rs 5.5 crore. But despite this, they did not get a single gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics.

However, it's not just about the budget here. No player is made on budget. Budget is just like an ingredient in the recipe for medals. The most important thing in this recipe is the attitude of people towards sports. Even today in our country, if many parents come to know that their child has gone to play with other children and missed his Tuition class, that child would be barred from going out. That is, we all want medals in international sports but do not want to send our children to the field of sports for that medal. And this shows that India does not have a sporting culture.

One big thing here is that sports is a state subject. And to promote it, the state governments are free to make their own policies and they can increase and decrease the budget of sports for this. State committees and committees of different sports also work according to the state governments. Therefore, if India has to change its fortunes in the field of sports, then the state governments will have to play an important role in this.

At present, a 5-match test series is being played between India and England cricket teams. But for the first time in the country, the players who have won medals in the Olympic games are being discussed more than cricket. From this, you can understand that people in India are shifting from cricket to other sports. Cricket is played only in 12 countries. And the country whose team wins in these 12 countries is considered as the World Champion. While 206 countries and territories participate in the Olympic Games, but in our country, people do not give as much respect to the winners of these games as they give to the cricketers. However, after the Olympic Games this time, this tradition has started to change and now the power centre of sports has also started changing.