India and the Olympics

 India was never a serious contender at the Olympics for many years, except in Hockey. In fact, Sharad Joshi, a poet and humorist, had an act called Olympics, where he described Olympics as an event where Indian teams go, lose and get back. This was satire, but not too far off the mark. That was in the seventies or eighties.

Fortunately, we have a resurgent India, and we believe we can win. Some of our athletes have turned in performances that were world-class. Some won and some did not, but it's important that many came close, and some did win. I remember meeting P.T. Usha at Calicut, who had lost out on a medal by a fraction of a second. She started an academy for athletes, to train them for track and field events. 

The government also has got its act together, and for many events, various official organisations now offer professional coaching or training, to prepare selected competitors over a few years. Mental preparation may also be a part of it. Sindhu produced two medals after many years of being at it, and ups and downs. 

The self-belief is a major part of it, I think. All the best to the likes of Aditi Ashok (golfer who came fourth, but was second till day 3), Neeraj Chopra (Gold in Javelin), and all others who showed the way, and supported them. It can be done!

Olympic sized Competitions

We can certainly create some competitions where we will have the Gold for the asking. If nothing else, we can win the Creativity Olympics.

1. Speeches. If you go by speeches made, we leave American Presidential candidates far behind. We have been pretty much making/hearing the same speech for around 70 years, which could be in for a medal, you think?

2. Good intentions. Whatever we may do, our intentions are always good, and cannot be faulted. So, here's another, for good intentions.

3. Inseparability of officials from players. It's hard to say if the players are playing games, or the officials. There are so many of them. Maybe if the officials can compete among themselves, we might win a few gold medals.

4. Media hype. Perfected in cricket, we can create hype about almost anything, and do a few debates after that to continue that through the night. Gold Medal material?

5. Excuses. Not just realted to games, but in all walks of life, we are a Golden Benchmark for excuses. Smart ones, stupid ones, untenable ones, ill-thought and illogical ones. We have them all, and this is a unique attribute we have. We are on a road paved wit Gold; we shouldn't complain.