More Than A Mindset

For India to be counted on the international sporting stage, a radical shift is required in the way we look at sports and treat sportspersons

- Vivek Mukherji & Tanmoy Mookherji

By the time Michael Phelps climbed out of the swimming pool in Rio de Janeiro, bringing down the curtains on a stellar career, pocketing an unreal 23 gold medals—28 in all—there was an endless barrage of tweets and articles that compared his medal haul to that of many nations. After P.V. Sindhu’s silver, India’s total Olympic medal count is the same as the freakishly tall man with paddles for feet.

Two medals hardly call for celebration, considering that India sent the largest-ever contingent of athletes to the Olympics this year. The journey to Rio followed a largely predictable script. The London Games gave us our richest haul with six medals, if at all that can be called a haul. Returning with two medals looked like a miracle, especially after drawing a blank in the first 12 days.

Yet, delve a little deeper into the performances, and we see shining examples of hope. But these spikes of inspired performances are exceptions that prove the rule. Ultimately, it was a case of outlandish expectations giving way to small joys.

Back home, the reactions too panned out along predictable lines. Almost like a ritual that takes place once every four years, there was a considerable amount of hand-wringing and anguish. Experts dusted their armchairs to sit in front of the television and expound opinions, both of the informed and uninformed variety. But mostly, it was the latter that dominated the discourse. And, once the two medal winners returned home, the celebrations, mostly led by politicians, were so over the top that it left the world media, and even those who were the reason for the celebrations, pretty bemused.