Bronze=Golden? : A review of India at the 2024 summer Olympics

I might as well save this article as a template and use it four years later after the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, as the present and past of India at the Olympics has barely any differences to show and I am certain that similar points will be made regarding the nation’s performance even after nearly half a decade. Before getting too ahead of myself, lets see what makes me think this way. As of course everyone knows, India is the most populous country in the world with nearly 1.5 billion people, with many ranging from hundreds of different backgrounds culturally and historically. Surely such a rich and diverse pool of people would produce hundreds of world class talents in multitudes of different fields, especially such as in sports, given its anciently practiced history and many roots in India. But no, despite there being over a billion people in the country, India sends roughly just over a hundred athletes regularly to the summer Olympics, with the Paris 2024 edition having 110 athletes representing India. And from those 110 athletes, 21 of them secured a medal for India at the games, well technically 6 given the Indian Hockey team counts as an individual unit.

This however is not a surprise to anyone even slightly familiar with India’s Olympic history, as India has only two individual Olympic golds, Abhinav Bindra in shooting in 2008, and Neeraj Chopra in Javelin throwing in 2020, and also eight for the Hockey team during the nation’s golden years in the 20^th century, which have long been forgotten now. In fact, the nation prides itself immensely if an athlete secures even a bronze medal, eluding to the title of this article, as shooter Manu Bhaker’s double bronze wins at the games saw many dubbing her as the “golden girl of India”. Let me make it clear I am not demeaning her achievement’s in any regard, as she is the first woman to win an Olympic medal for India in shooting and the first double medalist in the same Olympics edition in the nation’s history. But this attitude shows the low bar of expectations many Indians have set for their Olympic athletes which may reflect poorly on the athlete’s personal demeanor during and after the games. Besides Manu Bhaker. The other Indian medalists were her air pistol teammate, Sarabjot Singh, rifle shooter, Swapnil Kusale, the already mentioned men’s Hockey team and wrestler Amit Sehrawat, all of whom secured a bronze, except for defending Olympic champion from Tokyo 2020, Neeraj Chopra, who unfortunately downgraded to a silver in the men’s Javelin throw event in Paris, as despite reaching a greater distance than in his gold medal win in Tokyo, he was still short of Pakistani, Arshad Nadeem’s monstrous 92.97 metre long throw that shattered the Olympic record, and secured India’s rival nation’s first ever individual Olympic gold.

After this event, there was a visible distraught present on Chopra’s face as he truly aimed for the gold once again and was heartbroken to not achieve it despite his best efforts, an emotion not visible among other Indian athletes at the games, including many who failed to secure any spots at the podium, especially by the barest of margins, which there were many of in Paris. Indian athletes have secured an unfortunate reputation of finishing just outside the podium at 4^th place, with India having an “impressive” six finishes at 4^th place in Paris. I say impressive in this manner, as the Indian media hailed these athletes for their performance in a prideful sense, when they achieved nothing to show for it. Yes these athletes gave a truly impressive performance at the games, but their position is indicative of the fact that they simply did not do enough to even make an appearance on the podium, and are applauded as if they have made their nation beyond proud. A strong example is with Badminton talent, Lakshya Sen, who impressively became the first male badminton player from India to reach the semi-finals of the men’s singles event, and became a strong medal candidate due to his world class displays to reach that stage. But after lackluster performances in the semi final and then the bronze medal match, despite glimpses of promise, faltered in form and finished 4^th, after which the country still praised him as if he won the gold medal, which was noted and criticized by his mentor and Indian badminton legend, Prakash Padukone, who honestly stated to the media “It's high time that players learn to withstand pressure, become accountable and start delivering results after receiving support”. These comments got a very divisive response from Indian community as many lauded Padukone for his honesty regarding the athlete’s demeanor during the Olympics, and many said he conveniently is throwing Sen “under the bus”. And I agree with the former, as many of these athletes are ranked as some of the best in the world, consistently performing in world championships and other multi-sport events such as the Commonwealth and Asian games, but completely collapse in form under the pressure of the Olympic games, often delivering underwhelming performances that may not be on par with their seasonal best, let alone personal best or an Olympic level.

This again was not present with Neeraj Chopra as mentioned earlier, who made his season’s best throw in the Javelin throw final, to secure the silver medal. And more heartbreakingly, the story of Vinesh Phogat at the Paris games, who despite not being a podium favorite in the women’s 50 Kilogram freestyle wrestling event, stunned everyone by defeating the category’s number one ranked athlete, Yui Susaki, in the opening round of the event, breaking her 82 bout unbeaten run and stormed her way to the final, securing a silver at the very least. However on the morning of the final, Phogat was disqualified from the event due to being just 100 grams over the weight limit for her category, which she could not reduce despite her best efforts which ended up landing her in the hospital, and of course any chance of a medal was nullified, an outcome which saw Phogat announce her retirement from the sport.

The statements and nature of this article may seem harsh or personal, but I say all this as an Indian who truly wants to see my nation’s best athletes at least give it their all on a global stage such as the Olympics, even if it does not result in a medal for the country. But with persisting   problems of athlete management, especially in regards of maintaining consistent form and mental health and motivation and external issues such as poor budget allocation and sidelining of many “irrelevant” sports by the Indian government, as well as a negative societal perception of sport which sees many disregarding sport from an early age in favor of education, due to the linear ideology that it is the only path to build a stable career, India will never have a future in sports despite the immense and massive talent present in the country. Which is why I say I will be back four years later to make the same points once again, as this Olympics and the ones before all point towards their being no change coming in the attitudes and system of sports in India in the foreseeable future.

See you again in 2028.