August 26, 2008
Indian run at Olympics
The just concluded Olympics at Beijing definitely took the world wide sports to much higher standards. The magnanimity of the event and the caliber of Chinese organizers to deliver it so successfully are breathtaking. Bravo to China and its Organizers!!
“Olympics” is the culmination point of sports around the world. It is the battle ground to prove your mettle in front of the whole world. The proud ness in the eyes of the Olympians to hold their medal is unexplainable. You make your entire country proud of you and make your country proud in front of the whole world. Needless to say India hardly had any presence in the Olympics until now.
It is nothing but shame to have more than one billion population and not have won one individual gold medal until now. Something is seriously missing.
India Shining? Well, may be India is shining in the IT horizon but it has not even waken up in the athletics area. There is a popular notion in US that “Indians are academically strong but athletically weak”. That is so true and desperately requires some serious patching.
What is needed to win in Olympics: Talent and Support.
Talent – undoubtedly it is just talent that will make you a winner. There is no dearth of it in India. It is just that it is not tapped well.
Support - this is the main key for success. You need to harness and tap the talent to international standards. Unfortunately this is missing seriously in India. The practice facilities are very poor in standard. There are no good coaches. The athletes almost live anonymously. No financial help and encouragement from Government or institutions. So how can anyone pursue their interest without financial back up? The golden swimmer from US, Michael Phelps attributes all his success to his coach “Bob Bowman” who realized his talent and coached him since age of 11. Champions are made, not born!!
Abhinav Bindra – Kudos to him to break the jinx. He not only just won the gold medal but dropped many jaws and opened many eyes. Victory gives self confidence and self confidence gives you victories. So, you have to break into this cycle somewhere. That’s what Abhinav just did. But it is not without huge back up and support. He is well off and can afford his own practice lounge. Also he got financial back up from none other than Lakshmi Mittal. See the results!!!
Why only Cricket ? - It is high time that we realize there is lot of sport beyond Cricket. Half of the world doesn’t know what Cricket is!! It may be our favorite sport but it should not overshadow other sporting activity in the country.
We have the brain muscle and power of execution. The fact that Nandan Nilekani is drafted into advisory board of London 2012 Olympics speaks for itself. Private organizations can now afford and should start adopting athletes and encourage for Olympic cause. Look at the success of recent IPL where huge money is pumped in by individuals and franchises. Companies like Reliance, Tatas etc should adopt athletes and mould them to world class competitors.
Above all it is the Government who has to take the ultimate responsibility and take it as a challenge. Stress need to be given on athletics and extra curricular activities along with education. There has to be a strong Olympic Organization committee which can deliver real results. It needs a real leader who can show some results. Someone like Lalu, yes you heard me right, needs to be assigned for such a task. No matter what his prior reputation was, he is the most successful “entrepreneur” among our political circles right now. He turned the gigantic Railways from almost sick industry to a profit making Organization.
It is shame that our own Sports minister (MS Gill) expressed that “it would be great even if we win one medal this year”, before the start of this year’s Olympics. This is the mindset of our Government and ministers. There has to be a holistic change in the mindset right from grass root level to achieve such highest recognition.
Think positive and Think Big!! Wake up government - all other nations are sprinting away!!!
- Uppaji Kothapalli
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