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“Ever wonder why the world’s largest economies, the United States and China, always top the (Olympic) medal table, while India is nowhere to be seen?”

At the just concluded 2024 Paris Olympics, India did not win any gold medals, only 1 silver and 5 bronze medals, a result that made this country with a population of over 1.4 billion and aspiring to host the 2036 Summer Olympics "embarrassing". In response to this, the Indian media Economic Times raised such a question on August 12 local time, and bluntly stated in the title: Why can't India even get on the stage to compete with China in the Olympics?

The report said that in the 40 years since returning to the Olympic Games in 1984, the Chinese sports delegation has won 303 gold medals at the Summer Olympics, while India's 10 gold medals have just reached double digits, a full 293 gold medals less. Looking at the Paris Olympics alone, the Chinese sports delegation won 40 gold medals, and even India's "old enemy" Pakistan also won 1 gold medal, and this gold medal was won by a Pakistani athlete who defeated an Indian athlete in the men's javelin event.

The report believes that although both China and India are populous countries, their investment in sports is "very different". Compared with China, which has established a professional sports management organization and system, India's sports management is full of loopholes and inefficient. In addition, China has made Beijing the world's first "double Olympic city" with its strong infrastructure construction capabilities, but India, which wants to bid for the Olympics, has also encountered fraud and political controversies in its only two experiences of hosting major competitions.

The Indian delegation at the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics The New York Times

The Economic Times believes that India, the world's fifth largest economy, only won six medals in the Paris Olympics, despite the country's more than 1.4 billion people pinning their hopes on many well-known athletes and the hockey team. The biggest fundamental problem may be "insufficient investment." In other words, only investment can bring returns.

Yannick Colaco, co-founder of Indian sports live streaming platform "FanCode", believes that people cannot look at Olympic events in isolation, and the influence of athletes cannot be judged only by medals, but must also include their overall performance. He stressed that in order for sports to truly grow and develop, a large amount of investment must be made in the structure, infrastructure and channels of sports at all levels throughout the year.

The report mentioned that India may have surpassed China to become the world's most populous country, but the two countries are far apart in terms of investment in sports. Some media reports show that India's annual investment in sports is only about 1.13% of China's.

In addition to funding, channels and sports management are also important. China has established a comprehensive sports management system headed by the State Sports General Administration, which is the main agency responsible for formulating national sports policies and strategies. In India, sports management has encountered many difficulties. Sports management agencies such as the Indian Football Association, the Indian Olympic Association and the Indian Hockey Association have been ordered to suspend activities, warned, and even banned by international organizations many times.

The report mentioned that China has successfully hosted two Olympic Games - the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. "The 2008 Beijing Olympics had two highlights - the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube, which are still special tourist check-in spots."

The Economic Times first "imagined" that India is not incapable of developing world-class infrastructure, and it can certainly provide it if needed. But the newspaper then said that for India, which wants to bid for the 2036 Summer Olympics, the only experience it has in hosting the games is the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games, and both of these games damaged India's reputation due to suspected fraud and political controversy.

In India, a government initiative called Khelo India, which aims to revive sports culture, has been one of the main driving forces behind building sports facilities at the grassroots level, similar to provincial sports academies and amateur sports schools in China.

However, Indian media found that China's most prominent feature is the "Olympic sports strategy", which focuses on achieving good results in elite sports competitions. In order to improve the efficiency of capital investment and maximize the output of Olympic medals, China also focuses on sports based on technical skills.

Previously, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly reiterated his vision of making India a sports power. "Indian sports will continue to develop, and more and more companies will step up to contribute to improving the Indian sports ecosystem, and the government will continue to work hard," said Kolako of FanCode.

In this Paris Olympics, India's biggest hope of winning the gold medal was Neeraj Chopra, the gold medalist in the men's javelin throw at the last Tokyo Olympics, but he ultimately failed to seize this opportunity. In the men's javelin throw final of the Paris Olympics held on August 8 local time, Pakistani athlete Nadeem broke the 16-year-old Olympic record and won Pakistan's first Olympic gold medal in track and field.

Since independence in 1947, India has won two Olympic gold medals in the past 77 years. In addition to the men's javelin gold medal won in the last Tokyo Olympics, India's other Olympic gold medal came from shooting, won by Abhinav Bindra in the men's 10m air rifle event in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. So far, India's best performance in Olympic history was in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning a total of 7 medals. In previous Olympics, the Indian Olympic delegation often only won 1 or 2 medals.

Source: Observer.com