Much has been made of the Indian athletes’ performance at the Rio Olympics. While opinions, as ever remain divided, the loudest voice has come in the form of barbs and digs. One of India’s social commentators and opinion-shapers – her words, not ours –went to the extent of tweeting that the Indian athletes were there in Rio simply for the joyride. “Rio jao. Selfies lo. Khaali haat wapas aao. What a waste of money and opportunity,” was her disparaging tweet. Newspaper editorials have been no less spiteful.
But even a cursory knowledge of the numbers involved here will prove the sheer stupidity of such observations. There are more than 11,000 athletes in Rio competing for a place at the top of the podium. Against this, there are only 360 gold medals on offer. Many, like Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, Katinka Hosszu and Simone Biles will head home with multiple golds. That leaves less than 300 athletes to taste glory in Rio.
Consider the case of the gymnast, Dipa Karmakar. There has been much indignation, in some sections of the media, that we are celebrating her 4th place finish. Those disparaging media and social commentators clearly are not bothered by the kind of obstacles that our athletes have had to overcome even before they could dream of participating in the Olympics. The support system for our athletes is so pathetic that some of Karmakar’s early vaults were made with a springboard fashioned from old automobile shock absorbers!
The actor, Salman Khan, supposedly a goodwill ambassador for the Indian Olympic team, referred to Karmakar as Deepika and Deepti at a public event in New Delhi. With friends like that, where is the need for enemies? It is when placed in such contexts, that we truly come to grasp the triumph of our athletes, regardless of how the medal tally reads.
Small wonder that some of the country’s sporting aristocrats, who exemplify sporting excellence, have been throwing their weight behind the much-maligned athletes. Sachin Tendulkar is in Rio de Janeiro, encouraging the athletes at every opportunity. Rahul Dravid, Butch Cassidy to Tendulkar’s Sundance Kid for so many years, was in complete awe of Karmarkar. Virender Sehwag and Abhinav Bindra have been hero-worshipping Karmakar in Twitter. The lesson to be learned here is so obvious – it doesn’t even have to be pointed out.
Looking at it in another way, we invented sport because it’s fun. Often quite serious, but fun all the same. But it also entered the mainstream of life because people believed that sport taught moral lessons. Sport made better people of those who took part. In short, sport built character.
But as sport became a profession and a business, the emphasis changed. We don’t watch sport to improve ourselves, or to watch other people improving themselves. We watch sport because it’s enthralling. More importantly it has become a tool through which wars/battles can be fought, between teams, clubs and countries. It is in this expression that vitriol finds outlet.
Today, most schools in India have nothing approaching even proper playing fields – forget about gymnasiums or swimming pools. We need to build a proper sporting culture first. And ensure that our talented athletes have access to good facilities. Then, you can spew your cruel barbs, if our athletes continue to struggle. But to do it right now, is to simply make yourself look stupid and pathetic.
