India’s Olympic odyssey: The hype

India’s Olympic odyssey: The hype
While a lot of noise is made over India’s dismal show after the Olympics, little is done to prepare sportspersons for the events. Ravi Dhaliwal reports on how poor infrastructure and training may erode India’s medal hopes in Beijing

Jesse Owens had once famously remarked, “Olympics — a lifetime of training for just ten seconds.” The quote sums up a sportsman’s frame of mind during the preparations for the biggest sporting event. In India’s case, we are used to scrutiny only after the eggs have hatched, and most of the times, the ugly duckling is out. We criticise the athletes, the sport bodies, the system and the fate of a country of a billion and it’s inability to hold its own in the world arena. But the big question — Why did we fail? — has more relevance before the action begins, rather when the report card has been issued. Our patriotic ego is bruised when the medal tally cuts a sorry figure, but one look at the training and preparatory facilities would help clear the air and also the ‘expectations’.

A visit to the National Institute of Sports (NIS) and after speaking to a cross section of experts engaged in the preparation of Indian squads, revealed that there was little or no scientific support forthcoming for sportspersons taking part in the Olympics.

Otherwise how does one explain the sudden departure of top athletes to Malaysia and other European countries from the NIS to train at a time when experts say “they should have been together.” With the senior athletic camp in full swing, the Athletic Federation of India (AFI), suddenly decided to send all those athletes who have qualified for Beijing to train outside the country’s shores. A top AFI official, preferring anonymity, disclosed that since there was no scientific support forthcoming, they decided to send their athletes abroad.

Earlier, a major role was played by sports physiologists, psychologists, bio-mechanic experts, system management experts, videographers and nutrionists in training of teams for international events. However, this time there is none to provide that vital support.

A official revealed that SAI had imported Rs 80 lakh of equipment for the faculty but now it is lying in a state of complete disuse. Things have come to such a pass that the incharge of the Bio Mechanics department has been shifted to the Works (Engineering) section ever since a scandal involving financial irregularities broke out in the Institute.

A former Olympian disclosed, “ National Sports Federations (NSF’s) hold camps at the NIS because it used to boast of a good sports science faculty which now has been rendered redundant. In future federation’s might think of holding their national camps at the Bangalore SAI centre or at other places.”

Prominent among those who have been sent abroad are the 4 into 400m women’s relay quartet of Chitra Somen, Manjit Kaur, S. Geeta and Mandeep Kaur. A lot of people are saying the quartet has a good chance of being in the contention for a medal. However, AFI experts, including foreign coaches, disclose that for all practical purposes they are far too behind as far as Olympic standards are concerned. They also cite the fact that after the Asian Grand Prix which concluded a fortnight ago at Karat (Thailand), the team was ranked a lowly 15th in the world. Many feel that with the Olympics just around the corner, the quartet’s timing should have improved, which has not been the case. The team’s 3.30: 42 seconds timing at Karat is giving sleepless nights to the AFI.

Indian actually do have a ray of hope as far as the discipline of boxing, the king of combat sport, is concerned. For the first time ever, 5 pugilists have qualified. They are Akhil Kumar, Dinesh Kumar, Vijender Kumar, K.L Lakra and Jitender Kumar. Chief coach G.S. Sandhu and his deputy BIJ Fernandez exude supreme confidence about their wards’s performance in Beijing. The boxer expected to perform the best is the unpredictable Akhil Kumar who on way to qualifying has already pinned down many Olympic-bound boxers from other countries. However, he is carrying an injury and an eagle’s eye is being kept on his fitness by his coaches. Akhil, who this year has performed beyond the expectations of many experts, has already undergone surgery in South Africa on his hand and is now in rehabilitation.

In weightlifting where just one women lifter-Monica Devi- has qualified in the 69 kg weight class, nobody, barring officials of the Indian Weightlifting Federation (WFI), expect a medal. At trials held recently in the Army Sports Institute (ASI), Pune, where the camp was shifted from the NIS after doping allegations surfaced, she lifted 224 kg while in reality a medal can be expected if she lifts anything above 240 kg which is a long shot. Karnam Malleswari competing in the same weight category in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, bagged the bronze with a lift of 239.5 kgs. This comparision is enough to know where Monica will stand in Beijing. Despite this, WFI insist that Monica will be on the Delhi-bound flight from Beijing with a medal hanging around her neck.

In wrestling in the free style category (no grapplers this time qualified in the Greco-roman category) again looking for a medal will be akin to finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. The three who will be making up the numbers in Beijing are Rajeev Tomar, who out performed ace grappler Palwinder Cheema to book an Olympic berth, Yogeshwar Dutt and Sushil Kumar. Nobody is expecting a medal anyway in this contact sport. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) officials say it will be a good exposure trip for the boys. But can an event of the magnitude of the Olympics be called an ‘exposure’?

Let us give India’s showing at previous Olympics some perspective. Surinam, Algeria, Turkey, countries much smaller than our own and whose cumulative population might fit into Calcutta with elbow room to spare, have won a gold each. Or let’s put it another way. In just one Olympics (1992), Jamaica won more individual medals (6 silver, 1 bronze) than we have in more than a century. Still, next month, the IOA will be sending a jumbo squad to Beijing. And also just note how many officials make it on the tax payer’s money under the garb of organising the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth games.