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Behind the Olympics: Where are all of India's medals?
So far this Olympics, Indian athletes have garnered a grand total of one medal-- a gold in the 10-meter men's air rifle event (whatever that is). This matches the total number of medals India earned during the entire 2004 Games-- one silver in men's double trap shooting.
For a warm-weather country of 1.1 billion, you'd think India might fare better than this. So where are all India's medals? Here are a couple possible explanations:
1. Cricket is not an Olympic sport. In many ways, cricket is to India what baseball is to the United States. It is the country's most popular sport, and India's national team is consistently one of the best in the world. But cricket games can last for days, and this does not lend itself to Olympic competition. There may be hope, though: Some are suggesting that a shorter version of cricket called Twenty20 should be added to the 2020 Olympics.
2. Many Indians eat strictly vegetarian diets. In many ways, vegetarianism is just as healthy-- if not more so-- than a diet that includes meat. But vegetarian diets can also be lower in protein, which is important in muscle development. About a third of India's population are vegetarians.
3. Much of India is still poor. Though India's economy is developing rapidly, much of its population remains poor. In general, people are only free to pursue athletics once they've achieved a certain standard of living. But this does not explain why countries like China, Romania, and North Korea are still able to do well in the medal count.
4. India's government has nothing to prove. Tyler Cowen writes in his post on the same topic that the dearth of medals can largely be explained by a "lack of government subsidies, combined with the possibility that non-democratic, authoritarian governments feel greater need to prove themselves on the international stage and to their people at home." This would explain why places like China and North Korea do well-- they subsidize Olympic training, and they view the Olympics as a place to prove their worth. India's government feels no such pressure.
5. Indian parents encourage academics over sports. Much of the reason India is developing so rapidly is because of the emphasis its government, and its people, have placed on education. Many Indian parents realize that the best way to help their children is to make sure they get an education, and yes, sometimes time studying must come at the expense of sports.
Be sure to check out Tyler Cowen's post for a few more explanations.
Filed under: Festivals and Events, India
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brian M Aug 18th 2008 12:41PM
Gee, thanks... competitive shooters the world over (only been in the Olympics since 1896) are sure to comment:
"Aaron Hotfelder (whoever that is)..."
Try having a touch of respect sometime and leave out the stupid commentary if you have no idea what it is. Or, gee, novel idea, go do some research and find out?
Gotta give respect to get respect, and you've demonstrated that you deserve none with 3 little words.
Abhishek Aug 18th 2008 6:07PM
As an Indian who was born and grew up most of his life in India I can say that its predominantly a combination of #3 and #5.
The primary individual goal is to enable the offspring to earn money in order to support their families. This is largely due to unplanned families and out of control population.
However this attitude is changing at large. Kids are more and more interested in sports, but largely to cricket as there is lot of money there. Other sports are largely ignored for the most part.
I am sure over next 10 or 20 years this will change much and we will see more involvement and success.
Sahil Aug 20th 2008 10:16AM
If it were before 20th of August, 2008 I might have agreed with this article. Not any more. Check the latest news -India's Susheel Kumar won a Bronze in Freestyle wrestling and Vijendra Kumar has assured himself of a bronze by securing semi-final berth in Middleweight boxing - can you imagine 3 guaranteed medals in this Olympics?
It might seem like a small figure but for a nation like India, it's a huge leap forward. 3 Indian boxers qualified for quarter-finals this year, a girl called Saina Nehwal defeated the top seed in Badminton but lost out narrowly in quarter-finals. Percentagewise, at least a quarter of Indian athletes have performed very well -our contingent was worth only 56 participants.
Hopefully, Vijendra Kumar now wins Gold medal. Already, the whole country is ecstatic over THREE medals. Can you believe it? Noone's talking about cricket here. This is what is really needed to succeed in Olympics -an INSPIRATION. For nearly 60 years of its independent existence, India lacked role models so that younger people could achieve greater heights in Olympics.
We already win GOLD medals in competitive events like Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. In the last 2006 Commonwealth games, India won the fourth rank with 22 Gold medals just behind Australia, England and Canada. In the 2006 Asian games, India stood 8th with 10 Gold medals.
We will host the 2010 Commonwealth games in New Delhi. It is hoped this event will boost young Indians to take up sports more seriously. We don't lack potential - we just are a pessimistic country and need to break free from this negative perception about ourselves. Once Indians learn to unleash their true potential in Sports, we will be unstoppable.
Ishinder Aug 21st 2008 6:34PM
Hope the indian government is listening. They definately need to provide the infrastructure to the masses.
Vinodh Aug 22nd 2008 9:30AM
On vegetarian diets ... Carl Lewis, one of the greatest athletes in history, and a nine-time Olympic Gold Medal winner in extremely demanding sprint track and field events was not only a vegetarian, but a vegan. He was a world record holder in the 100m dash for years and competed successfully till the athletically ripe old age of 36 in events that demanded sheer muscular power. He stood 6-2 and weighed a solid185 pounds. What's more is that he didn't start as a vegetarian, but ate everything through the early part of his great career. But, before he peaked, he switched, giving up even milk and dairy products. To even his surprise, he became much, much better, and never went back to meat. You can listen to him here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=744765316519516434
Edwin Moses, a 400 meter hurdles gold medalist for the US (and again, a world record holder for years) was also a vegetarian. So was American Football Heisman trophy winner Desmond Howard. In the ultimate muscle sports of body building and weighlifting, there are several vegetarians, including former Mr. Universe Bill Pearl and long-time world bench press record holder Bill Pearl.
These are just the athletes in 'power sports', where one could naively argue that protein in meat is needed. In endurance events, in skill sports, there are numerous other world class veg athletes.
The bottom line is that you don't need meat to perform athletically at the highest level. You do need protein, but not in the kidney-destroying, outrageous amounts taken in diets that include large amounts of meat. A solid diet with a mix of lentils and other veg proteins (like that which powered Carl Lewis to 9 gold medals) is fine. Some veg proteins are incomplete in amino acids, but this is irrelevant unless one literally eats ONLY the same food ALL the time. Otherwise, the amino acids missing in one vegetable protein source are complemented by those present in another. Of course, adding a bit of dairy, as in yoghurt, etc., and one is EASILY fine as far as protein.
As to why India is generally sucky in sport ... it isn't about vegetarianism. It's about training facilities, support, early cultivation and motivation of talented athletes. In countries that do well, all of these things are well developed. If India does the same, it should produce more and more world-class athletes ... and if some are veg, they'll clearly be in good company with Carl Lewis, et al. mentioned above.