Why India doesn’t have 100 medals in Olympics?

India finished London Olympics with 6 medals – India’s best ever show – a show by a nation ranked as third largest economy (measured at PPP) with 121 crore people. India ranked 55 in London Olympics medal tally, way behind Cuba, North Korea, or Ethiopia. But it was not a poor show by Indians, comparing with our past performances. Congrats from heart to all the athletes, all those who won medals and those who fought but didn’t win – it was a brave effort from all in the Indian squad.

Why we ask this question only during the two weeks of Olympics ( once in 4 years!)?

It is a frequent question during Olympics time : India, why, though a big country with huge population is not showing a corresponding medal count  in Olympics? But the reality is that we ponder this issue only during the two weeks of Olympics in 4 years. Rest of the time we never think about Mary Kom, Sushin Kumar or Gagan Narang. But we have time to disccuss about IPL cheergirls, Dhoni’s haircut, Sachin’s MP status ( or whether he need Bharat Ratna or not ) etc. Does this Cricket obsessed nation deserve more than 6 medals in Olympics? Are we bothered about the hardships taken by our Olympians for their success?

What to do to increase the Indian Medal Count?

To make it short, let us think together why India is not a main power in terms of sports and what are the solutions to make it big.

1. Sports is not something which is widely encouraged in Indian families. We encourage our children to become IIT or AIIMS toppers, but few families provide facilities for their kids to develop the outdoor skills in them. Only if sports start from home and school, India can hope for more medals in any big game events. Sports must become a compulsory subject in school curriculum, with marks awarded, counted in the total marks.
2. In India, no sport other than Cricket receives main stream attention. Cricket takes a lion share of people’s attention and it is affecting the future of other games too. In India, which is a land of diversity with differences among people on a variety of aspects including region, religion, caste, language etc, fortunately we have one thing which unites all – and that is Cricket. Hence we can never neglect its importance.  What we need as a solution is the same strategies of marketing of Cricket – the marketing and commercialization techniques to attract the one billion audience.
3. Yes, Government of India is not funding too much on Sports. India, cannot afford to spend too much on sports when one third of its population lives in poverty and when 50% children suffer from malnutrition. But no nation can neglect the importance of sports, it gives a feeling of nationalism, besides helping to build a healthy generation. Often it may not the financial support but the moral support that may be lacking. We need to develop a generation with healthy mind and healthy body.
4. Arguably  more opportunities – Training centers – Good coaches. We need to identify our future Olympians at the earliest and provide them with best of the class facilities.
5. And as last thought, we need to stop the two week lamenting on India’s performance during Olympic time. Think if we deserve more.
6.  Just support our warriors who did great in-spite of the poor encouragement and infra structure. We are sorry for what we have done to you so far. But you have made us proud!.