Olympic Gold Medal

We keep lamenting the state of Indian Sports at the beginning of each Olympic. I used to be naïve enough to believe that all those debates one heard on television would actually make a difference to the outcome of next years training, only to be disappointed with bigger debacles by our sportsmen and women.

Then I got to thinking why is it that the only sport that we do well in is cricket? What about the rest? It’s not like we don’t have enough talent. Come on if a country the size of Italy can win a gold medal surely we got people enough to get some medals. So what goes wrong?

As usual we play the blame game putting the blame on any and everyone we can think of except ourselves. We blame the government for not having good policies. We blame the schools for not supporting sporting activities. We blame the lack of money in sports to call it a career.

What about me and you? Aren’t we to blame as well. You might say I am no sportsman. I was never any good at any sport. I don’t have the talent to make it to the top level of competition. I only play to have a good time with my friends. How about your attitude? Is it not to blame?

If you were told that some one you know is spending day after day in training for a sport and is not working at a regular job, how would you react? Most likely with a, “What’s the matter with him?” instead of being supportive you would most likely try to talk him out of it. That’s how most of our medals disappear without even a flicker.

If we want our sports men and women to do well, we need to be out there cheering them. In case you haven’t noticed its been individuals with strong family and friend support who won the Silver Medal in Australia and the Gold Medal in China. So if you know someone who is good at sports go the extra mile and support them in any way you can. You might just be contributing to an Indian Medal at the Olympics.