With the Winter Olympics now in full force, it got me thinking about India’s involvement in the sports. I got excited, dreaming of a Cool Runnings’esque situation with amazing athletes running on ice or skiing down the slopes.
Sadly, only three men out of India’s one billion plus population made it to the winter Olympics in Vancouver this year. I have to say that I was very disappointed, given all the hype over athleticism in India, particularly over the unbeatable skill of the cricket players. After a little more digging, I discovered that it wasn’t the skill (or even the snow) that athletes in India were lacking, but rather the money. Athletes in India do not receive money from the government and rarely see endorsements from companies in India’s booming industry unless they work for these companies themselves. Even in the case that they are working, they consequently have little time to train. Furthermore, they probably won’t be seeing money from Stephen Colbert anytime soon.
However unfortunate the situation may be, Indian athletes have hope-in the railroad industry. In the article “In India, Many Top Athletes Work on the Railroad†by Elliot Hannon of the New York Times, the Indian Railways is providing Indian athletes a secure income that supports their athletic endeavors and a flexible work schedule that allows athletes to train (no pun intended, Click Here). The Indian Railways even sets aside jobs specifically for top athletes to give them opportunities to represent their country. They give them this support in exchange for their hard work in their respective sports. And in the off chance that one of these athletes decides to slack off on the field, they bear the consequence of having to work full time, a slight impediment to their training schedule. When the railway athletes bring home a medal, as a few do in the summer Olympics, they come home to bonuses and promotions rather than endorsement deals and advertisement opportunities.
Even though the railway is a great chance for athletes to achieve their dreams of becoming an Olympian, I still see the Olympics as a missed opportunity for India. Seeing as the Olympics are a great source of pride for the United States and countries all over the world, why aren’t the Olympics as highly valued in India? The country offers a wealth of amazing athletes in astounding numbers, but how is it that there is so little support for them in a time when India is becoming such an industry giant that’s so heavily focused on improving its economical image?
- Danielle Steussy
This is an interesting blog post, Danielle. I remember watching a story on CNBC on the emergence of India a couple of years ago, and they were explaining why India has so many more well respected engineers and other professionals than the US. Their answer is that education is cherished in India while in the states it plays second fiddle to sports and other activities. Think about it. You are more likely to see a picture of a high school athlete on the front page of a newspaper than a student who just won the city spelling “b”. That mindset is completely flipped in India, where a student receives much praise for educational accomplishments and many of them spend countless hours studying rather than playing sports. Until the people of India start to feel the same way about sports as Americans do, I don’t think we will be seeing any influx of Indian athletes anytime soon. If you do not believe me about how most Indians feel about education, just follow Heymanth around one day. He is taking 4 classes, participates in the SIM team, works at a motel, helps Jay Singh with this website, and sits in other classes that he finds interesting. Now, can you tell me he doesn’t value education a little differently?
What an interesting article Danielle! I hadn’t really thought about the fact that there are very few Indian athletes in the Olympics. The incentive program the railway offers is really unique and the article was very interesting and informative.
I agree with you that the Olympics are a missed opportunity for India, but my feelings is that this is going to change. We have to remember that India is only 60 years old – a very young country. Moreover, it was not until recently that some of the people even have the resources to train for an Olympic event. When living in poverty, you have much more important things on your mind than practice.
However, I think this will change. There is a celebrity culture in India (Bollywood) and an Olympic athlete celebrity culture could absolutely emerge. It would take some medals and some dynamic personalities, but India seems primed to grow in this area. A couple success stories is all it takes to get the youth interested in Olympic sport – and then a whole new generation of Olympic athletes can take shape.
I find it amusing how much mention Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart get on our blog – I see where our priorities are!
This is a great article, Danielle. It is interesting that Indian Olympic-hopeful athletes often work for the railroad or for the police or military. Might as well pay the bills with a job where you get to flex some muscles instead of sitting in a cubicle or customer service call center!
I think Jason Silver, our budding sports manager, might like to visit GoSports (http://www.gosports.in) while we are in Bangalore! As we see more emphasis on athletes in India, it is likely that sports managers and endorsements in India become more common. The article mentioned Limca, the soda company, and their sponsorship of athletes. As we learned last week, they were acquired by Coca-Cola; I wonder if we will see more US-owned companies that have a presence in India providing sponsorships to Indian athletes…
The Indian Olympic Association has stated that Delhi will bid for the 2020 Olympic Games. I think that a home Olympic event will drastically change the presence of Indian athletes. With reduced travel costs, many athletes will likely take advantage of the opportunity to train and prepare for the local games. The pride in earning the bid to host would likely lead to an increased drive to earn medals in 2020.
Thank you for the shout out Catherine! Go Sports seems like an amazing idea, capitalizing on the athletic talent that India has to offer. I hope to learn more about them, and since they are headquartered in Bangalore, might just have to drop in and observe. I think that a country like India has the potential to become a sports powerhouse, yet the lack of financial backing is what is really holding back the progression of their athletes. I have never heard of a system where a business employs athletes to train, while using the threat of full time work schedules as motivation to train harder. This is quite unique and seems like a legitimate way to spur on athletic performance.
The low output of Indian Olympic athletes has been a trend over the years. In the Summer Olympic Games, in Athens in 2004, India sent 73 athletes, in 2008 in Bejing, they sent 59. In comparison, America sent delegations of 619 and 594 respectively. When it comes to Winter Olympics, it gets even more dispersed. In 2006 in Turin, India sent 4 athletes, and recently sent 3 to Vancouver, while America sent 211 and 216.
Many of the powerhouse sports nations spend hundreds of millions of dollars training and preparing their athletes for competition. This can be due to the social and economic history and development of each nation too. India, as Lindsay mentioned, is a very young nation and as India keeps growing economically, they will have the resources to spend on athletics. This is a great goal to aspire to, but won’t come to fruition for a while; it will take time for India to build up its athletic resources. It should be interesting to see how these athletes perform against the best in the world, and hopefully they can win some medals!
This is an interesting blog post, Danielle. I remember watching a story on CNBC on the emergence of India a couple of years ago, and they were explaining why India has so many more well respected engineers and other professionals than the US. Their answer is that education is cherished in India while in the states it plays second fiddle to sports and other activities. Think about it. You are more likely to see a picture of a high school athlete on the front page of a newspaper than a student who just won the city spelling “bâ€. That mindset is completely flipped in India, where a student receives much praise for educational accomplishments and many of them spend countless hours studying rather than playing sports. Until the people of India start to feel the same way about sports as Americans do, I don’t think we will be seeing any influx of Indian athletes anytime soon.
Unfortunately, none of the three Indian athletes who attended the Vancouver Olympics won any medals. Kesavan for the luge, and skiers Lundup and Namgial won’t be coming home to any bonuses or promotions.
An Indian athlete has never won a medal in the winter Olympics, which have been primarily dominated by countries like Germany, Canada, Russia (and/or the Soviet Union), the United States, and Norway.
For the summer Olympics…
In the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, Kumar, Bindra, and Kumar won bronze, gold, and bronze medals for boxing, shooting, and freestyle wrestling, respectively.
In the Athens 2004, India’s Rathore earned a silver medal in shooting.
Malleswari won a bronze medal in women’s weight lifting in the Sydney 2000 Olymipics.
The few athletes produced by India, when compared to its vast population, clearly demonstrates some limiting factor must be holding back India’s potential. Until a greater emphasis is placed on athletics, more athletic facilities are built, and more money is funneled into sports, India will continue to be out-shined despite its enormous potential. Its athletes stand little chance when put up against athletes from western countries where athletics are encouraged from an early age and sports facilities are readily available.