Tokyo2020 has been the best Olympic for India, in terms of Medals won. Prior to this we
won 6 medals (2 Silver and 4 bronze) in London2012. This performance has
naturally brought cheers to 1.4billion people mostly starved of good news. Each
victory and loss has been celebrated with a sense of pride. The fact that a
large number of our Olympic participants belong to the underprivileged sections
of the society makes it even more special. The stories of these sportspersons
and their families’ struggle, grit, and perseverance are heartwarming and
highly motivating. These stories are much more valuable than the medals won.
The fact
that more and more Indian sportspersons are now reaching closer to medal is
reassuring. Of course we will win many more medals in years come.
The 27yr old Australian swimmer Emma McKeon has
won seven medals (4 Gold and 3 Bronze) at the Tokyo Olympic 2020. Overall, she
has won eleven Olympic medals (5 Gold, 2 Silver and 4 Bronze).
In comparison, India has won 35 Olympic medals (10 Gold 8 Silver and 17 Bronze) in the history
of modern Olympic. The first medal for India was won by Norman Pritchand - who
won two silver medals in Men’s 200m and 200m hurdles at Paris 1900, 121yrs ago.
For next medal, we had to wait 28years when Indian men’s hockey team won gold
at Amsterdam in 1928.
After 1928, India won medal in the Men’s hockey
event for next ten successive Olympics till Munich 1972. The only other medal
during 1900-1972 was won by K. D. Jadhav in bantamweight wrestling (Bronze
Helsinki 1952). Our contingent returned without a medal from Montreal in 1976.
Post Moscow 1980 Gold in the men’s hockey,
India failed to win any medals till Leander Paes’s tennis Bronze in Atlanta
1996. We have won medals in each Olympic since 1996. Our best performance so
far has been in Tokyo 2021 ( 1 Gold 2 Silver and 4 Bronze).
Eight of the ten gold medals have been won by
India in the men’s hockey event (the 9th being in Air Rifle Shooting by Abhinav
Bindra in Beijing 2008 and 10th by Neeraj Chopra for Javeline throw in Tokyo 2021). Other medals have come in Shooting (4); Boxing (2);
Badminton (3); Weightlifting (2); Wrestling (7); athletics (2); tennis (1) and
hockey (4).
I have been observing for past four decades
that we as a nation start with extreme hopes and excitement three months prior
to the Olympics. Media, corporate houses and now politicians also, make all
efforts to raise hopes and expectations of billion people. However, by the end
of the games, most of the excitement fizzles outs; hope turns into despair;
criticism overtakes the appreciation; media and politicians move on to the next
high TRP story; and sports enthusiasts mostly get back to their routine life
after throwing few sacks of suggestions and advice for the sportspersons and
sports administrators.
This cycle gets repeated for every major
sporting event (including cricket) without fail. This raises two questions in
mind that relate to politics and philosophy of sports:
(a) Despite so much disappointment and very
limited success (19 Olympic medals, and only 2 Gold, in 25yrs 1996-2021), why politicians and
governments are continuing to show so much interest in the Olympic medals?
(b) Why winning medals in Olympic is important at
all?
Politics of sports
In past two decades (particularly after advent
of IPL), sports has emerged as a large industry with huge employment potential.
More important, sport is becoming increasingly democratized, allowing large
number of people from underprivileged sections of the society (a fertile
political constituency) to participate. Looking at the profile of successful
sportspersons in recent years, it is evident that many sportspersons with
modest socio-economic background have excelled in their respective sporting
disciplines.
A lot of clamouring,
financial support and other efforts are made to make athletes competitive at
the international level. These efforts have certainly yielded good results in
past two decades. With larger corporate participation, the sports
infrastructure in the country is improving materially.
A number of sportspersons
have performed well at the international level. Anecdotal evidence would
suggest that one successful athlete might motivate 100k more to join the race.
The reluctance of the government in formally
declaring sport as an industry is however baffling.
Ever wondered, if we could produce a noble laureate in mathematics,
physics, or medicine! He could change lives of millions of the fellow
countrymen through his work. But that is not the priority of anyone. This
constituency is negligible from electoral viewpoint. Domestic NGOs and industry
are not sure whether India can retain a noble laureate, even if she produces
one. Overseas NGOs obviously see a conflict of interest in funding a scientist
in India.
Philosophy of sports
Various societies in the
world could be divided into two broad categories - (a) Ladder societies; and
(b) Cliff societies.
The ladder societies are usually upwardly mobile societies. In
these societies all get support and an equal chance to move up step by step.
The place at the top is strongly believed to be infinite; therefore, the
competition in these societies is mostly internal - people compete with their
frailty, depravity, fear, and vices like lust, anger, greed, haughtiness, and
infatuation.
Peace, asceticism,
abstinence, benevolence, goodwill, spiritual evolution are some of the key
words in these societies.
Cliff societies on the other hand are usually static
societies. The core belief of these societies is that the place at the top is
limited. The competition in these societies is therefore mostly external and
fierce. To stay at the top, one must (i) stop others from climbing higher; (ii)
be vigilant about those who have already reached the top, as they may try to
push you down; and (iii) be consistently at fight with the peers and try to
throw them off the cliff to secure your space at the top. Considering the
intensity of the external conflict, the internal malice in these societies
could remain unattended for unusually long periods of time.
Animal spirit, killing
instinct, survival of fittest, relative competitiveness, material comfort,
economic evolution, are a few of the key words in these societies.
All modern global sporting
events, like global industry & commerce, have evolved in the cliff
societies. These promote relative competitiveness as key sporting objective.
The necessity to win medals incites the "animal spirit" and "killing
instincts" in the participants. Unfortunately, this animal spirit and
killing instincts do not die at the podium. These stay with the participants
for long and impact their personal, social and economic life.
Moreover, this concept of
"relative competitiveness" (also known as first past the post) is a
major impediment to the quality in life, as the focus remains on doing better
than the competitors rather than doing best for the self and the society.
Traditionally, India had
been a ladder society. The concept of Ram Rajya is used to outline the tenets
which promote absolute quality, equality and harmony in the society, permitting
each individual to pursue his/her own chosen path with passion and dignity. Winning
Olympic medals does not fit into traditional Indian ethos, but excellence in
sports does.
Actually, traditional
Indian businesses were also based on individual/social excellence (arts and
crafts). The entire R&D effort remained focused on upliftment of entire
society rather than profiteering.
But as the episodes
involving wrestlers Sushil Kumar and Narsingh Yadav etc. show, a part of our society
might be transforming into a cliff society fast.
More and more of our
sportspersons are getting closer to international medals and trophies. Of
course we will start winning more of them in next decade or so. More of our
businesses are becoming globally competitive now. The natural corollary is that
we would see more businesses getting crushed or gobbled by these large
businesses over next few decades. Unfortunately, besides numerous cases of
abrupt bankruptcies and hostile takeovers, we shall also see many more cases of
road rage, domestic violence, divorce, back stabbing amongst professional
colleagues, etc.
The idea is definitely is not to undermine the effort and achievements of the sportspersons playing for the country. It is also not to suggest that participation in competitive sports makes people aggressive and violent.
The main idea of writing this is to trigger debates on whether (a) the means (money and medals) shall become goals; and goals (excellence and quality in life) would become illusions; and (b) winning medals in sporting events is more important than making sport an integral part of everyone’s life to inculcate habits like excellence, discipline, fitness, cooperation, tolerance for loss, etc.