The Tokyo Olympic Games came to an end, and the Indian delegation ended up with 1 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze.
Although the number of medals did not reach the expected double digits, seven medals from track and field, boxing, weightlifting, wrestling, hockey and badminton have surpassed six in the London Olympics, setting the best record in India's 100-year Olympic history.
Among them, Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal in the men's javelin throw with a score of 87.58 meters on the penultimate competition day. This is not only the first Olympic track and field gold medal in Indian history, but also the second individual gold medal in Indian Olympic history. Its historical and practical significance is self-evident, and some people even regard it as a gift from the rise of India's great powers.
After chopra won the gold medal, Prime Minister Modi and Indian Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur sent congratulations and praised chopra for writing a new chapter in history.
The Indian Express reported that chopra won the gold medal in men's javelin.
India's Embarrassed Great Power Olympic Tour
Can a gold medal have such a big row?
Yes! Because the "grandfathers" of the Indian Olympics are really poor. Since the 2nd Modern Olympic Games 1900, India has only won 10 gold medal and 35 medals.
Among them, men's hockey is the most brilliant event in the history of Indian Olympic Games. From 1928 to 1956, he won six consecutive championships, and * * * contributed eight team gold medals, but then he fluctuated and gradually lost his dominance. In other Olympic events, India's competitiveness is even more lacking.
After the men's hockey team won the eighth gold medal with 1980, India failed to win the gold medal for 28 consecutive years. It was not until the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games that Indian shooter abhinav bindra won the men's 10 meter air rifle, which made India win the first individual gold medal in the Olympic Games, breaking the embarrassing situation that India had no champion in the Olympic Games for decades.
Bindra's gold medal seems to be a flash in the pan, and it has not turned a new chapter in the Indian Olympic Games. In London, England on 20 12 and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 20 16, the number of gold medals of the Indian delegation continued to drop to zero.
Take the Rio Olympic Games as an example. India, a "big country" with a population of 65.438+0.3 billion and the world's largest economic aggregate, won only two medals-one silver and one bronze-which was not only left behind by poor countries such as Tajikistan and Ethiopia whose per capita GDP did not exceed $654.38 +0.000, but also surpassed by small countries such as Bahrain and Fiji with a population of only several hundred thousand. India's performance in this Olympic Games can only be said to be disappointing.
That's exactly what happened. Almost every four years, Chinese and foreign media will ask the soul question: why is it always difficult for India, a "big country", to win an Olympic gold medal?
What are the reasons for India's poor Olympic performance?
Although there are different opinions in the market, insufficient investment may be the most direct reason for India's long-term poor performance in the Olympic Games.
According to the report submitted to the two houses of the Indian Parliament in 20 16, the central government and states in India invested only 0.03 rupees per person per day, while the United States and Britain invested 22 rupees and 0.5 rupees per person per day respectively. Even the Caribbean island country Jamaica's per capita sports investment is more than six times that of India, reaching 0. 19 rupees.
At the same time, the Indian government's funding is heavily biased towards athletes who have achieved excellent results or are expected to win Olympic medals.
For example, after winning the Olympic gold medal, Bindra not only got nearly 400,000 US dollars in cash, but also his shooting team was regarded as an important medal winning point in the Olympic Games, and the funds were tilted accordingly. However, it is difficult for a large number of athletes who have not achieved results to get government funding, and many athletes have to raise their own training fees before they become famous. Before the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Bindra participated in all international competitions with his own pocket.
Abhinav bindra (data map/print media)
Therefore, only a few well-off athletes can overcome the limitations of material conditions and concentrate on training.
Bindra's father is a famous Indian industrialist, and he himself is the CEO of a technology company. In order to create the best training environment, Bindra Sr even built an international standard shooting range and swimming pool for spa in his backyard, and hired a group of professional coaches to guide Bindra's training. Therefore, Bindra's success depends not only on his own talent and hard work, but also on his enviable "earning ability", which can be said to be exactly the same as those Khrushchev warriors who brought dry food, weapons and horses to fight for their country in ancient India.
Bindra is just an isolated case. For more Indian athletes, to some extent, funding is more critical than how to improve their competitive level.
Shiva Keshavan, the Asian record holder of sledge and the flag bearer of three Winter Olympics, is considered as the greatest Indian winter athlete. However, due to the exhaustion of funds, Keshawa was forced to suspend his participation in the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics for nearly two years. The cost of participating in the 20 14 Sochi Winter Olympics comes from social crowdfunding, not from the Indian government.
Lack of funds prevents many Indian athletes from investing in full-time training, and instead choose to work and practice in the "iron rice bowl" departments such as railways, police and the army.
This is because, on the one hand, the government's public service income level is high and stable, which can effectively reduce their financial burden. On the other hand, there are many "fishing posts" in India's public sector, which means that they have less work pressure and can take care of training. If they get good grades in international and domestic competitions, they can get promotion and salary increase.
However, this model is "compromise" after all, and it is difficult for athletes to devote themselves to training and preparation, and sometimes even have to interrupt training, so the competitive level is naturally lacking.
It is worth noting that chopra, the current gold medalist, joined the Fourth Rajpur Rifle Regiment with the rank of warrant officer after winning the World Youth Athletics Championship in 20 16, while Milla Bai Chanu, the current silver medalist, was appointed by Manipur State Government to join the state police force after winning the prize.
Chopra is at the game.
In addition to the lack of special funds for athletes, India is far behind in the construction of sports facilities.
Dipa Karmakka won the fourth place in gymnastics vault at Rio Olympic Games. However, during the training, Kamaka even had to replace the anti-fall mat with a height exceeding 1 m because she didn't have a professional vault. Similarly, due to the lack of professional training equipment and venues, Keshava had to put wheels on his sleigh and practice on the highway.
It is in this environment that athletes prepare for the competition. If they can get good grades, it can be said that "a clever woman can't cook without rice".
The corruption, inefficiency and unprofessionalism of Indian sports authorities have also seriously restricted the development of Indian sports.
For example, the once brilliant Indian Hockey Federation was disqualified in 2008 because its secretary-general took bribes and illegally selected athletes to join the national team.
For another example, when India hosted the Commonwealth Games in 20 10, the official budget increased from $230 million in 2003 to $20 10/0/600 million, which did not include the infrastructure construction related to the Games, making it the most expensive Commonwealth Games in history. However, the officials involved in this serious corruption case were still elected to the Indian Olympic Committee, which even led the International Olympic Committee to cancel the membership of the Indian Olympic Committee in the name of government intervention in the 20 12 Olympic Committee election.
In addition, major sports associations in India are extremely unprofessional and lack long-term planning.
According to the statistics of "Sports Governance in India: 20 16", among the 27 sports associations in India, only the chairman of the Indian Athletics Federation is a former athlete, only 9 sports associations have former athletes in their leadership, and 12 sports associations have not disclosed the relevant information of their chairmen or association members; In terms of future planning, only two sports associations have long-term plans, and most of them have neither work plans nor activity budgets.
In fact, most Indian sports associations are controlled by bureaucrats or politicians, and it is their main duty to seize political interests and accumulate political capital, while promoting related sports undertakings is not their focus. This inexplicable institutional setup will inevitably produce a series of absurd "Sao operations".
For example, at the 20 16 Rio Olympic Games, the General Administration of Sports of India refused to send a physiotherapist from Camaka to Rio, claiming that it was "wasteful and unnecessary" for the physiotherapist to accompany him. It was not until Kamaka entered the final that she was forced to change her mind at the last minute.
Similarly, in the women's marathon of Rio Olympic Games, O.P. Chhatri, the record holder of the Indian women's marathon, fainted on the field because of lack of water because the staff of the Indian delegation neglected their duties and forgot to provide drinking water and sports drinks for their athletes at the designated place.
Screenshot of Asian Network News Report
In addition, Pawandeep Singh, the chief medical officer of the Indian delegation to the Rio Olympic Games, is a radiologist and has no experience in sports medicine. And how his father, Dr. Singh, the vice chairman of the Indian Olympic Committee, was elected as the chief medical officer, the answer is self-evident.
The development of sports in India is also restricted by its social culture.
Most Indian families want their children to achieve a class leap through formal education, but sports is not regarded as an effective way to change their destiny because of the above-mentioned problems such as insufficient investment, poor infrastructure and accumulation of institutional defects.
At the same time, influenced by the caste system and social differentiation, high-caste people regard manual labor as a symbol of low status, so they are unwilling to participate in sports; Due to poverty, the low caste population, which accounts for the majority of the population, faces the challenges of malnutrition, lack of facilities and lack of choices. This means that although India has a huge population advantage, there is a serious shortage of people who can really participate in sports, especially in international sports events.
Besides, the most popular sports in Indian society, such as cricket and Cabadie, are not Olympic events, while other sports are relatively less popular in India. Accordingly, due to the lack of attention, many sports events are not commercialized in India, resulting in insufficient funds to promote the formation of a virtuous circle of sports industry ecology such as personnel training, facility construction and logistics support.
Sports in India are still making progress, and its potential should not be underestimated.
Objectively speaking, after the Waterloo of Rio 20 16 Olympic Games, Modi government paid more and more attention to the Olympic Games and the whole sports cause. Kiren Rijiju, former Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports of India, also expressed his hope to build India into a sports "superpower" in 2020. In recent years, the Indian government has also taken many reform measures to solve the problems that have long plagued the development of sports in India.
For example, in 20 14, India launched the "Target Olympic podium program" to provide funds, training facilities and logistics support teams for top athletes in India. For example, javelin thrower chopra, who won the championship at the Tokyo Olympic Games this year, was supported by the "Olympic podium plan".
For another example, India launched the "Khelo India" program in 20 18, aiming at establishing sports culture at the grassroots level by tapping sports talents and improving sports events and infrastructure. The program will provide 1000 Indian teenagers with a scholarship of $7,000 a year for eight years to help them receive physical training, thus solving the long-standing dilemma that Indian families are unwilling to let their children enter sports.
In addition, the pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare Fund has also been improved, which aims to help former elite athletes maintain a relatively decent life after retirement. As a supplement, more and more non-governmental organizations, such as Olympic gold medal exploration and JWS sports, began to provide financial support for Indian athletes.
Perhaps, the day when "one gold is hard to find" is so far away from us that it is difficult for us to understand the jubilation of India after winning the Olympic gold medal again; Perhaps, we will laugh at the optimism of Indian netizens that "India is still a sports power even without a gold medal", but we should still note that India is trying to reverse its poor Olympic performance.
Although India is far from the top of the Olympic medal list, in the future, we may see more outstanding Indian athletes show themselves on the international stage.
This article is the exclusive manuscript of The Observer. The content of the article is purely the author's personal opinion and does not represent the platform view. Unauthorized reproduction is not allowed, otherwise legal responsibility will be investigated. Pay attention to the observer network WeChat guanchacn and read interesting articles every day.