India at the Olympics: Is India primed for most successful Olympic Games yet at Paris 2024?
When wrestler Bajrang Punia won the bronze medal in the men’s freestyle 65kg event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, it marked a pivotal moment in India’s Olympic history. It wasn’t India’s first medal in wrestling or a gold medal. But it was the country’s seventh medal at the Tokyo Games, making it India’s most successful Olympic edition ever. Every edition that follows will be judged compared to Tokyo, and the Paris Games starting this week is the first among those. Safe to say, there are great expectations from Paris.
It is a kind of deja vu moment for Indian sport. The sentiment was similar ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics after India’s then all-time highest medal tally of six (two silver and four bronze) at the London Games in 2012. What followed was a disappointing outing in Rio with only two medals – PV Sindhu’s silver medal in women’s badminton and Sakshi Malik’s bronze medal in the women’s freestyle 58kg wrestling event.
But a lot has changed, not only since Rio but even Tokyo. For starters, the Indian government has spent 470 crore Indian rupees (approximately 56 million USD) across a range of sporting disciplines in preparation for the Paris Olympics. While exact numbers for Tokyo are not known, reports suggest that the investment has been significantly higher this time. The fact that athletics was granted Rs 96.08 crore out of the total 470 crore, almost 18 times higher than the 5.38 crore spent on the sport in the previous Olympic cycle, says a lot.
Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra wins the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Athletics getting the biggest chunk of the total investment has a lot to do with the impact javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal in Tokyo has had on the track-and-field disciplines. Chopra became only the second individual gold medalist in India’s Olympic history (after Abhinav Bindra’s shooting gold medal in 2008). He has since become a superstar in India; dare I say, akin to the cricketers. Chopra and athletics’ example shows just how much a single Olympic medal can propel a sport, and if the colour of that medal is gold, nothing compares. While Chopra is now a hot favourite to become the first Indian athlete ever to win two Olympic gold medals as he enters the upcoming games as the reigning Olympic, Asian and World champion in men’s javelin, a stronger overall medal tally in Paris across multiple sports could thus be instrumental in shaping the future.
The medal contenders
Among the other big medal hopes are weightlifter Mirabai Chanu – the silver medalist in the women’s 49kg event in Tokyo and shuttler PV Sindhu – who already has two Olympic singles medals to her name and could become the most decorated Indian Olympian ever. Sindhu’s fellow shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who were the world’s top-ranked men’s doubles badminton team until recently are also in the reckoning.
Boxers Lovlina Borgohain, a bronze medalist in Tokyo, and Nikhat Zareen, a two-time world champion in the build-up to Paris, are also particularly strong contenders in their categories.
India has sent its biggest-ever shooting contingent to Paris this time. While the sport experienced medal droughts across the last two editions, many hopes are pinned on shooting as India is among the global powerhouses in the sport. Among the biggest medal hopes are shooters Sift Kaur Samra, the current world record holder in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions, and Manu Bhaker, the only among the 21-strong shooting contingent to bag a quota for multiple events.
Lest we forget hockey, India’s most successful sport in Olympic history (eight gold, one silver, and three bronze). The men’s team ended a 41-year medal drought with bronze in Tokyo last time and are serious contenders once again.
The Indian men’s hockey team wins the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Wrestling, India’s next most successful Olympic sport (two silver and five bronze) also always carries strong expectations; Aman Sehrawat, the reigning Asian champion, and Vinesh Phogat, the first Indian woman wrestler to qualify for three different Olympics, are the biggest wrestling medal hopes in the French capital.
As far as springing a surprise is concerned, do not put it past the likes of 44-year-old tennis great Rohan Bopanna, who reached the summit of the men’s doubles world rankings earlier this year, and golfer Aditi Ashok, who came agonisingly close to the bronze medal in Tokyo. The same goes for track-and-field athletes beyond Chopra as well as the archery contingent.
Something is cooking off the field
For the first time, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has appointed a chief nutritionist who has put plans in place for each member of the contingent and will accompany the squad in Paris to constantly monitor and advise them on their diet and nutritional needs. In another first, a sleep consultant, who started working with the athletes a few months ago, has also been added to the support staff to take care of rest and recovery in the quest for peak performance. Additionally, The India House, a hospitality house similar to those hosted by some of the other participating nations, will be located at the Parc de la Villette in Paris and will give glimpses of India’s cultural and sporting heritage. It will also act as a home away from home for the athletes as well as fans.
India’s 257-strong contingent in Paris includes 117 athletes and 140 support staff members. The move to include more support staff members, including additional coaches and sporting staff, than usual, was a conscious effort by the IOA.
“Instead of the usual 3:1 ratio between athletes and support staff, we have worked hard to change it to slightly better than 1:1 ratio,” IOA chief PT Usha, a former Olympian herself, revealed in a statement. Those support staff members who cannot stay in the Olympic Village due to restrictions on numbers posed by the organising committee will stay at locations outside the village at cost to the government.
Indian badminton star PV Sindhu.
Paris Olympics crucial to future hosting bid
While in Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games, India will also have an eye on the future. It is no secret that the country plans to bid for hosting rights for the 2036 edition. Despite the selection of the host nation still a considerable while away, administrators from the Sports Authority of India’s Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) reportedly plan to do a “lot of lobbying” with the IOC in Paris.
“We are way ahead in preparing for the Olympic bid which will take place after Paris,” a member of the MOC said in a recent interview. “But we will have to do a lot of lobbying with IOC during the Paris Games and we are completely prepared.”
The performance on the field will be just as crucial. While becoming an Olympic powerhouse in the near future is too far-fetched a possibility, starting to become a force to be reckoned with more consistently could be quite important to India’s bid. A medal tally of eight in Paris will enter the record books, but that’s still far from what India can be capable of. What better way to build a stronger holistic sporting culture in the country than by winning more medals?
It remains to be seen whether Paris will go into the books as India’s most successful Olympic Games ever. But there’s a lot to suggest that it certainly can.
