As we all know Tokyo Olympics are scheduled from start from 23rd July to 8th of August.and we all have very high hope and expectations from our players.
Olympic is an international multi-sport event that is organised after every 4 years. The first Olympic was held in 1896 in Athens.it is also considered as festival of sports Each year it is organised in different country. India has so far won just 28 medals since 1900.let us look at the past when journey for Olympics was started for India.
india’s journey to olympics
India sent its first athlete (Norman pritchard) in 1900 to the Olympics . and it took 20 years to send India’s first contingent in 1920 which consists of 5 members( 3 athletes and 2 wrestler). the quantity of players since 1920 only increased. since then India has won 28 medals which includes 9 gold ,7 silver and 12 bronze medals.
The major contribution was made from Hockey. From 1932 to 1980 India won 8 gold medals in hockey that was the golden period of Indian hockey team but after that the quality of hockey in our country decreased. in 2000, karnam Malleswari won a bronze medal and became first Indian woman to win a medal in Olympics. after that last gold medal in 1980, the next gold medal came in 2008 Beijing Olympics when Abhinav Bindra won gold medal in men’s 10-M air rifle event who became first Indian indivisual to win a gold medal in Olympics. in same Olympics VijenderSsingh also won bronze medal and became first Indian boxer to do so.
2012 london olympics was very good for india where 83 members contingent participated in olympics. and india won 6 medals.wrestler Sushil kumar became first indian wrestler to win silver medal in olympics.saina nehwal won bronze medal and became first indian woman to do so.Mary kom won bronze medal in boxing.
after this wonderful performance in 2012 Olympics, expectations were very high in 2016 Rio Olympics but it did not went very well for India .because India sent a records 117 members but we were only able to win 2 medal which included a bronze medal from Sakshi Malik in wrestling and silver medal from PV Sindhu in badminton.it was a very disappointing year for India .But the question arises why India is not able to perform well in Olympics?
if we look at any other country like USA, they won 121 ,medals in Rio Olympics. ,which is 3-4 times what India has managed so far from 1900, despite having a population of 1.3 billion. I do not think population should be considered in this matter. there are many other factors which are responsible for India’s struggle in Olympics.
reasons of India’s struggle in Olympics
- Infrastructure of our country
2.proper funding of players
3. lack of awareness and sports should be given more attention and priority.
4.poor rehab facilities and inexperienced coaches.
5. player are cared and given facilities when Olympics approaches but they should get it throughout their preparation to Olympics.
6.cricket is also one of the reasons. India is a cricket loving nation where every 2nd child wants to be a cricketer. i m also a cricket lover, but we should also concentrated and take interest in other sports also. Like Australia and England, they are very good cricketing nation but they are also good in other sports.
