SPIRIDON LOUIS: THE HERO OLYMPIC MOVEMENT BADLY NEEDED

Panathenaic Stadium where I had the opportunity to run a few meters retracing Spiridon Louis route 

When I ran those 200 metres to the finish line on the Panathenaic stadium in Athens, I had only one motive - I wanted to retrace an historic path by Spiridon Louis whose victory at the Marathon event in 1896 heralded the beginning of modern Olympics.

  

Those humble beginnings to Spiridon Louis began in Marousi where his livelihood was earned through transporting fresh water to the inhabitants of Athens - a task that required endurance at a time when water filled tanks was a dream. It wasn't a surprise when he chose a horse and a cart from the Greek King as a part of a 'promise' which allowed winners to be granted with a wish. He knew 'fame' had an expiry date and he went about his usual business after being hailed as 'Greek's national hero' post the 1896 Olympics.

LEGEND OF MARATHON

Michel Breal, a friend of Pierre de Coubertin used his knowledge of history to good use when the first modern Olympic Games were being planned in 1894. He suggested Coubertin to include long distance running competition (25.8 miles) for the Olympics which would add local interest. Not surprisingly, the organisers were delighted with this proposal. The legend of 'Pheidippides' would now be re-lived. The distance 25.8 miles equivalent to 40 km happens to be the approximate distance from the plains of Marathon to the city of Athens. Pheidippides, in his role as a messenger ran 40 km to bear the surprise news of Greek's victory over invading Persians. He blurted out a message which is translated "Rejoice, we conquer" before he collapsed and died. This legend lived on through centuries from the time of Ancient Greece to the turn of 19th century and now an integral part of the Olympic movement.

AT THE OLYMPICS

Before the start of the Olympics, the locals had a disappointing games with no medals to their tally. All hopes were on the Marathon event. As a means to motivate their countrymen, a lot of rewards were promised for a Greek winner. Wealthy and noblemen in and around Athens threw in their offers before the event began. Odds for a Greek win were high as the 21 participants out of 25 finalists were from Greece. However, if anything to go by the performance of American and Australian athletes at the earlier events, a Greek win would surely be an extraordinary effort.

THE RACE

The initial part of the race belonged to the trio of non-Greeks who were the three medallists from the 1500m event. Frenchmen Albin Lermusiaux led the pack for more than 3/4th the distance. Behind him was the Australian Edwin Flack and the American Arthur Blake. The only other non-Greek participant was from Hungary and he was some distance away. The American was the first to pull out after 23 laps and then it was the Frenchmen nine laps later. Edwin Flack who already had two gold medals to his name from the games had eight more kilometers to claim glory. However, he was in an unknown territory of running this long a distance. He was stretching his physical limits and stopped his race just three kilometers from the finish. The news had spread - it was a Greek who was now in the lead and unlike others, his daily job allowed him to endure and not collapse like the other race favourites. He entered the Panathenaic stadium with crowd cheering every step he ran and finished the race just short of 3 hours. Spiridon Louis victorious and the first success story of Olympic movement was scripted!

Spiridon Louis at the 1896 Olympics 

THE HERO OLYMPIC MOVEMENT BADLY NEEDED

Going by his grandson's words, Spiridon Louis accepted none of the cash rich rewards and instead opted just for a cart and a horse. Along with the unofficial rewards, he was presented with the Breal's Silver Cup for winning the marathon. He quietly went back to his hometown Marousi, married his girlfriend and led a low-profile life farming and later as a local police officer. His final public appearance also happened to be at the Olympics, in Berlin 40 years later where he was received with much fanfare. He recalled that hour which made him a Greek hero for life -  “That hour was something unimaginable and it still appears to me in my memory like a dream… Twigs and flowers were raining down on me. Everybody was calling out my name and throwing their hats in the air…” 

A Greek winning the prestigious and historic event positively pushed the cause of Olympic movement. For those scenes, the joyous crowd running short of praise for their newfound hero was just the final touch Pierre de Coubertin was looking for when he had envisioned the idea of 'Olympics' and its revival. If not for that emotional connection, I am pretty sure, Olympics as a concept would have taken a different course. 

TWO OLYMPICS, TWO MEDALS.. SAME YEAR - CHRISTA ROTHENBURGER LUDING

CHRISTA ROTHENBURGER LUDING  - AS A SPEED SKATER AND AS A CYCLIST  

It took me some time to learn the tricks of cycling only to realise I could just ride and not perform tricks. Skating, as far as it goes I have managed once to wear the skating shoes and tried them on the roads, before my friend asked me to give it back. My time was over and 18 years hence, I still haven’t managed to buy myself a pair of skates. And now I do not have my cycle either. That’s another story.

Anyways, the above mentioned thoughts came when I got reminded of Christa Rothenburger Luding who holds a strange distinction in the world of sports. Six months younger than my mother, she holds the distinction of winning medals in both summer and Winter Olympics. I first read about her when I was researching few facts for my Sports Quiz few years ago and happen to discover the fact - that she remains as the first and the last athlete to have won both winter and Summer Olympics medals in the same year.

Born in the year 1959 in the city of Weisswasser (previously East Germany before unification in 1990) she competed in five Olympics editions in two different events. Her first participation was at the 1980 games at Lake Placid where she took part in the 500m and 1000m speed skating events. Although she didn’t manage to win any medals in the first edition, she did strike gold in her second attempt at Sarajevo Games (city previously in Yugoslavia and now in Bosnia-Herzegovina) in the 500m speed-skating event. Continuing her good form she went on to be the world champion in speed skating at the 1985 World Sprint Championship.

It was during the early 1980’s while she was being coached by Ernst Luding (whom she married 8 years later at the culmination of the 1988 Winter Olympics) she was convinced to take up track cycling during the off-season as speed skating and track cycling, both disciplines require speed and strength in addition to balance. Both events strike a resemblance - they take place in oval shaped tracks and hence the physical requisites required in both sports bear some similarities.

She received considerable amount of support from East Germany sports federation after the initial reluctance to allow her to compete in the cycling events. Having secured the permission from the President of the national Sports Federation, Christa took part in cycling championships and in the year 1986 she won a gold medal at the World Cycling Championships and thus became only the second woman after Sheila Young to become a world champion in both speed skating and track cycling.

TWIN STRIKES

The year 1988 turned out to be the best year of her life. She won the silver medal in the 500m speed skating and a gold medal in the 1000m at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Few months later, she was at the other end of the globe to the Far East in Seoul to participate in sprint cycling. Having earlier won medals at the Winter Olympics, she managed to win a silver medal in the 1000m track cycling event and thereby joining an elite league of athletes winning both summer and Winter Olympics medal.

Gillis Grafstrom from Sweden, Eddie Eagen from United States, Jacob Tullin Thams from Norway and very recently the Canadian Clara Hughes have achieved a similar feat - but none managed to achieve in the same year.

Before the German reunification in 1990, Christa competed for East Germany and afterwards for Germany. She remained a dominating figure for more than 10 years and was considered to be one of the world's best sprinters in speed skating. At the World Sprint Championships in speed skating, she became World Champion twice (in 1985 and 1988), won silver medal twice (in 1986 and 1989), and won 4 bronze medals (in 1979, 1983, 1987, and 1992). She has also won the 500 m World Cup 3 times (in 1986, 1988, and 1989) and the 1,000 m World Cup once (in 1988).

After winning a bronze medal at the 1992 World Sprint Championships (in which she was unable to win any of the 4 distances), Christa Rothenburger Luding ended her speed skating career.

At the turn of early 1990’s, International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided - that winter and Summer Olympics would bifurcate  and there would be a gap of two years between the events. Starting with Lillehammer in 1994, Winter Olympics was held and is being held alternatively with the main Summer Olympics event.

This decision ensured Christa Rothenburger Luding to remain the only athlete to have won medals in both editions of Olympics held in the same year. A feat, which is unlikely to be emulated. 

KABADDI, KABADDI - WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?

Last month saw the culmination of a successful inaugural tournament in Mumbai. It was played at eight cities across India and turned out to be a hit among spectators - who witnessed the events unfold inside the stadium along with millions of viewers on television. Finally, a non-cricket sport, very local to India has been marketed and presented as a successful business model.

Recognition for those hard-working athletes, return on investment for people with deep pockets, a platform with commercial benefits for broadcasters and entertainment for viewers. What more do you want? This is what a non-Olympic sport 'Kabaddi' managed to achieve through Pro Kabaddi League recently; a commercial sports property that has captured the hearts of many Indians locally and globally.

Punjabi immigrants playing Kabaddi in Greece 

WHAT IS KABADDI?

Kabaddi is primarily a sport played mostly by the Asian countries surrounding the Indian sub-continent. The origins of this contact team sport dates back to pre-historic times and has its inspiration from a scene in the Indian epic 'Mahabharata'. Many who have followed the tales of Abhimanyu - the sixteen year old warrior gallantly trying to break the seven-tiered army formation of the opponents 'Kauravas' can loosely connect with the modern sport of Kabaddi. 

Kabaddi (holding of breath in Hindi) involves athleticism, presence of mind, reflexes, guts, breath control and team work. It is simple to comprehend, played both indoors, grass, beach, just about any outdoor place. A game usually finishes within the clock striking 60 minutes. Seven members consist in a team with two teams participating in a game. One member (raider) gets into the opponent and battles with seven of them together (defense or the antis), while moving to either sides continuously exhaling with chants of 'Kabaddi, Kabaddi, Kabaddi' without getting caught by the opponent's formation. All the raider has to do is touch as many opponents as possible without getting caught by the defense (opponents) on a single breath. The raider can inhale only when he/she returns to their home court and deemed out if they are unsuccessful in making contact with the opponents. The raider exhales continuously until he scores a point! Phew  

Wrestling in the raider to the ground by the defense helps them to stop the raider from reaching his home court, inhale again and thereby preventing the raider to score points. It is a test of mind, body and a lot more!  

The Antis (defense) touched by a raider during the attack are ruled 'out' if they are unsuccessful in catching the raider before returning to the home court. And then the other team sends a raider and the battle continues. The team with maximum points wins. Gone are the days, when the teams battled on for hours... now it makes sense to have it time bound and thus a marvellous spectator sport. Simple isn't it?

THROUGH THE AGES

Kabaddi happens to be the national sport of Bangladesh and Nepal though much of its origins and development was in India. Kabaddi dates back to pre-historic times, a time when there was no concept of AD or BC. However, the official recognition of this sport came only in the early 20^th century. Kabaddi achieved the national status only in 1918 and the popularity was spread across the country in the coming years thanks to some of the pioneers hailing from Maharashtra - a populous state of India.

Small overview of Kabaddi

KABADDI AT THE OLYMPICS

In 1912, IOC (International Olympic Committee) had introduced a formal platform through which some of the 'folk' games and other regional games would use Olympics for the promotion of the sport. In the name of 'demonstration sports', several countries put forth their sport and promoted it well- which then resulted in them being part of the Olympic programme. Basketball, canoeing, kayaking, baseball, volleyball, tennis (was part of Olympics from 1896 to 1924), judo, taekwondo in Summer Sports and curling, speed skating, speed skiing, ice dancing, short speed skating were just few demonstration sports to begin with and later becoming a part of the Olympic programme.

Kabaddi too was given an opportunity to be part of this group and a grand promotion was given by the Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal from Maharashtra at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. I am not sure what happened after that. Did the Indian hockey team's achievements overshadow this promotional sport? or was it too Indian at that time?

A ROUGH START

India has been at the forefront for the development of Kabaddi to global audience for close to hundred years. With limited international exposure, it was indeed a challenge to promote the sport commercially. It was mere restricted to schools and colleges with few professionals playing at the national level. Since the birth of the national federation in 1950, the administrators have had constant battles and had to give way to either Hockey till the 1980's or Cricket from the 1980's in order to remain popular. Barring few Asian countries, there were no contests that made headlines and it remained a 'recreational' sport for most people in India - a sport played once in a while just for fun. That includes me! As a kid growing up, I played Kabaddi just for fun without ever dreaming a single day of becoming a 'Kabaddi' player.

FORMATION OF A RECOGNISED BODY

Till the beginning of this millennium, Kabaddi was making strides mostly in the Asia continent with it being a regular at the Asian Games since 1990. A mere 31 countries as founding members, the International Kabaddi Federation was formed in 2004. Not surprisingly, India was chosen as its headquarters in Jaipur and with an India holding the reins at the top.

All the continents (five rings, remember?) now have teams that participate in the World cup - a event which has been held since 2004 and held annually since 2010. There is no team yet to defeat India in the finals in both men's and women's division and only time will tell, if other teams are there just to make up the numbers.

SMALL STEPS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Kabaddi is a sport which is very popular in India. Each region knows this sport by different names, unique to their respective regions. Though it is not India's national sport (It is not cricket either... it is hockey) various states have 'Kabaddi' has its state sport.

Where does Kabaddi go from here?

I believe the revival of Kabaddi to suit television audience, spectator friendly and being played in a league format among teams spread across the golden quadrilateral of India is one of the success stories for India this year. Celebrities throwing in their names and money has helped in a great way to stay in the media.

In the last two decades, there is a surge in number of movies released in India with Kabaddi being the theme. Indians to a large extent love to be entertained and most do not mind paying money, spending time and sometimes loads of money to be at the receiving end of the entertainers. Kabaddi as a mass-sport, for the first time has come of age.

India probably is the right country to experiment on non-cricket sports. The consumption of sports is getting better with each year. The next ten years is  a test ground - where sporting revolutions will constantly hit the human evolution across the nation. A little late perhaps to join the bandwagon, but a tremendous business opportunity which would last longer!

Having Kabaddi as a Olympic sport is a long way ahead and I believe that should not be the sole focal point. Everything does not begin and end with being part of the Olympic programme. Taking a cue from the Olympic charter, Kabaddi as a sport exalts and combines in a balanced manner the qualities of body, will and mind. And plus, it is not a complicated sport!

In India, Kabaddi has triggered a  revival movement for so-called 'folk' sports and in turn it into a spectator sport. As long as it is entertaining and athletes keep developing, sport will evolve positively on its own. All it needs is investment and continued nurturing.

   

The first step of achieving something great is possible and is a common occurrence. Kabaddi in its new avatar (Pro Kabaddi League) has achieved the first target. However, very few have managed to remain relevant and re-discovered themselves for the better from time to time. How will it be say after five years? I would surely want to look back and have more to write on it... or even working on Kabaddi! 

Pro Kabaddi League 2014 - Success story in Indian sports 

Back from Isolation - Indian Olympic Story

It was in 2012 when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to take that drastic step - a decision which was necessary from administration point of view specifically at the conduct of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) post Commonwealth Games 2010.

There were huge cries, issues of false pride and other theatrics from Indian officials. The news of Indian Olympic Association being banned dominated the sports news segment for a day, or a two or if persisted a week and nothing more apart from the periodic cameos. It was usual business from then on. The corruption charges of the CWG 2010 went back to being a political matter than a sporting matter.

If CWG 2010 and various accusations are one hand; it is the manner in which the postmortem was conducted that irked many followers of Indian Olympics. Clearly, this was an administrative issue(s) and the so-called 'God fathers' of Indian Olympic movement ignored the media scrutiny and the threat from the IOC. They took that one extra step and elected candidates who were either charge sheeted or being prosecuted by Indian judiciary or on bail. Which era are they living in?

I believe the ban was justified. It tempered down the egos and the softened the temerarious officials - the tainted ones who put in their names without shame or consideration. Something had to happen and IOC made a bold move and banned the entire association till the time the internal crisis were resolved. A cut-off from the Olympic tree.

It took some time for the news to sink in, analyse, react and then formulate a game plan to get back into the Olympic fold. There were several mails exchanged and the pressure was less considering 2013 was a non-Olympic year. When the decision was finally taken, it was little late. The IOA as a organisation missed the Olympic train. 

Indian contingent classified as Independent Athletes marched into the Opening Ceremony under Olympic flag. These three athletes - a five time Olympian Shiv Keshavan, Himanshu Thakur and Nadeem Iqbal were the only ones to be 'independent' and without a national flag at the Sochi Winter Olympics. 

Indian Athletes under Olympic Flag at Sochi 2014 - Getty Images

One can script a drama surrounding these episodes and echoing various sentiments of many people involved in this. A new scene was shot two days ago when the new IOA officials were elected, ably observed by an IOC delegation headed by IOC member Robin Mitchell.

Narayna Ramachandran, President of the World Squash Federation and the brother of BCCI supremo N. Srinivasan, was elected as the new President; Rajeev Mehta and Anil Khanna chosen as the new Secretary General and Treasurer respectively.

"The IOC observers told the EB members of the IOC about the IOA elections being held in full respect of the recently passed NOC constitution, and this new constitution complies with all IOC requirements, including the main clause that no person convicted or charge-framed can run for a position within the organisation."

History was made at Sochi today - for the first time in Olympic chronicles that a suspension of an NOC has been lifted during the Olympic Games and with immediate effect.

What does this mean? The three independent athletes at the Sochi Games can now compete under Indian flag, can walk behind their national flag at the Closing ceremony and as a symbolic way of depicting the recognition of three Indian athletes - Indian flag will be raised at the Games village.

IOC officials have authored a perfect ending to this year old saga which will bring cheers to millions of sports fans in India and more so for the three athletes who are relieved to have seen this positive development.

Redemption is one thing, it is the next set of steps that are crucial. How different will the current set of administrators be from the previous incumbents?

Coming back from isolation is a small victory for Indian Olympic movement and there are many miles to cover before we can actually rejoice. For now, we are back and I only wish - it is to move forward.

Evolution with bursts of Revolution - An Indian Sports Story

Revolution and Evolution is a rhyming pair and a complementing couple too. For anything to materialise in life, I believe they must co-exist. A human life follows the pattern of evolution, however without the frequent spurts of revolution now and then, the process of humanisation would have been predictable, certain, very slow and a touch boring.

These ‘bursts of revolution’ change the course of evolution and to a large extent accelerate the process. Failure to adapt to the new conditions can be a master stroke and thereby retaining one’s individuality or be a lack of vision in not staying with the times. I am all ok with the fact of retaining one’s tradition, values, culture which makes globalisation interesting; in fact very intriguing. At the same time, closing the door(s) of improvement in the name of tradition is baffling.

Take India for example and I am amassed at the growth it has had in the past two decades. It is not a stranger anymore on the world map and there are many reasons to it which have been well covered by a lot of writers, opinion makers, creative artists and a lot others around the globe. Not all endorse and understand (a bit) my country in a way I see it, that’s fair enough. I too do not have the same words to feed into their ears. What exists, in spite of these sociological differences is that, there is a mutual admiration society.

And to go further, I take the example of sports - While growing up; I did not know what it meant to be ‘Behind the Scene’ of a sporting event. The events were shown live on television or transmitted via radio commentary or presented graphically and written poetically on the print media. Olympic Sports and its values was zilch to me as there was no uniformity of sports education growing up. I knew about sports because my parents played right until their youth before they were married and continued supplementing with information. What I knew was that, only a fanatic or a close relative/friend of a sports person was involved in the sports industry. Like many of my age that time, I too and previous generations to us played sports with basic rules applying the human ethics and general physical awareness. Sports were just another activity which did not involve studies. So, we all liked it, didn’t we? That was a long time ago or is it?

Now, we are fighting for the Sports Bill, a huge document which is making rounds from a long time in India. It is the Government of India’s initiative with a purpose to streamline the Indian Olympic Association. Its implementation so far has been limited or to say less penetrative. While the Government is spending a lot of money on Olympic Sports, the National Olympic Committee of India is many miles away from Nirvana. I believe unless Sports is of national priority and a long term government policy, it is very difficult to implement a set of rules and regulations. Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in my view was established so that it can lobby on behalf of Indian Olympic movement and create a platform where more athletes could concentrate on their activities than dwell on petty politics; instead; let them spread the value of Sports and act as the voice of the ideals that were drawn up by few good men of the yore who drafted the Olympic Charter.

I believe IOA has failed on this aspect and looked for excuses for their repeated failures and still continue to do so. It took Commonwealth Games to bring the ghosts of IOA from the closet. What if India never hosted CWG in 2010? Few businesses would have made less money or more money depending on which side of the spectrum they are; Indian government would have spent the same money elsewhere and the IOA would have continued to be a member of IOC. A lot of the working stuff who did their bit in the Organising Committee and volunteers would have worked in different industries and there would have been less support to the few activists who appeared to have rebelled for a long time with a cause but achieved little to no results.

India is a land of people living under innumerable cultures and of different beliefs. There is a struggle for basic amenities, presence of turbulent neighbours’ since Independence and these are some of the factors that put sports in the lesser priority category. Is housing more important or a play ground? Basic infrastructure or Sporting Infrastructure? Food or dietary supplements? Clothing for Protection or for performance? Education to create a better self or to excel in Sports?

In an ideal world, these problems must never be an alibi for sports organisations that are entrusted to look after this and create a systematic sports culture. Sports for a lot were and are a means to escape studies. It was outlawed as it interfered with many of the growing kid’s education and the practice is still on. Parents, Schools and families seldom give importance to sports. It remains an extra-curricular exercise and not co-curricular subject. It is a candy and not nutrition. Back then, very few Robin Hoods existed in our society and now we have a slow raise in fan following. Again, when we talk of numbers it is easy to justify but when we consider the percentage, the graphics would do the talking.

With all these and many other factors, sports continue to shine with its gloss increasing with time. Field Hockey and then Cricket, probably the only two team sports that were consistently part of and competed at the International level. Individuals came and left, but the effect did not trickle down to others in case of individual sports baring Tennis and to an extent Badminton. Shooting, Boxing, Football and Wrestling has potential. Hockey, after having won eight gold medals by the time LA Games (1984) were about to begin, faded and devolved with time. Failure to adapt and an organisation led by the thoughts that, hockey was in success auto-pilot mode failed to have contingencies in place. To put it bluntly, it crashed. Thirty – three years hence, we are still in the process of restoration and even the small intervals of revolutions failed to take off once it was on the run way. The answer to this delay will be a thesis subject, and of my interest the day I shall take up my doctoral studies. Hockey is not in a transition state at the core, it is merely lacking direction, guidance and management to take it forward. Where is our Messiah hiding?

I would not like to talk much about cricket as it has outgrown everyone’s expectations in the world. I believe India has one of the best infrastructures in the world to play cricket at the moment and the people who are running the game will just have to sort their power struggles. For now, the sport is safe and unless a meteor strikes heavily, the influence and popularity will not fade that easily.

I had to wait 12 years of my life to see an Indian athlete wearing an Olympic medal; Leander Paes at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Individual sports are a luxury and till today, it requires a special effort to go through the hurdles of representing the country. How many athletes would be happy to just participate and not bother under what flag? That is a debatable point, as it is not a ban on competing. It however has repercussions, as the funding from the International Olympic Committee and the International Federations get curtailed and Indian Government can only spare a few hundred millions of rupees for sports. Very few private enterprises with deep pockets are into individual sports. For the size of India, it is not enough. We can be content with whatever we are given, but cannot expect to be world challengers or beaters if this continues.

If Sports Ministry gets involved in running the affairs of Indian Olympic Association, the ban will continue unless the interference is aligned with the Olympic Charter. IOC requires non-governmental intervention while running the National Olympic Committee. Bulk of the money is provided by the Sports Ministry to the athletes and their welfare which comes as minimum requirements and for some in the form of Government jobs. So naturally, the political honchos expect IOA to behave while IOA use the governmental interference clause to live on the edge of being banned. That tight rope was cut last December and the struggle is on to be reinstated back to the Olympic family. The ban on IOA remains and was not changed at the recently concluded IOC General Body meeting.

The only solution for IOA is to mend their ways and for certain egotist individuals to come out of their incumbency. An instance like this is when the democracy of India fails to remove the cynicism of a sports enthusiast. There is hatred, there is anger, a lot of malice, dirty politics, power struggles, incapable of letting it go and other adjectives that matches the aforementioned frequency. The efforts of certain athletes and sports rights activists are of limited use. Are they fighting in what appears a lost battle already? Or are they doing their little bit and need more of the same from others?

Yes and No - the very fact that Indian Sports is under constant discussion makes it interesting for the future; how long are we prepared to fight to make IOA a proper governed body? Do we have the courage, patience and optimism to see it happening? I believe so and this I rely on evolution and the current on-going battle (from the year 2010) to force IOA to mend its way is the revolution that is complementing the evolutionary process of Indian Sports.

For now I let go of my little frustration. I see and hear a lot of kids in India playing different sports, have more playing facilities and resources than I did. They are well informed too on international sports. Things can be much, much better than what it is. Let me be a pragmatist and step back a little and see what’s happening. I see there has been an improvement at the grassroots level, which keeps me in a good mental health and optimistic about Indian Sports and for its future. 

A New City, a fresh Sport and a Modern Mr. President? - My Picks for the next key IOC decisions

September 10^th and the place is Buenos Aires, Argentina – A landmark decision(s) would take place on many levels in the ‘World of Sports’, and in particular in the diverse world of Olympics. Once every two years, this mega event alternates between the moderate summer climates to the bearable winter ambiance across the globe.

Three key decisions will be made during the 125^th IOC (International Olympic Committee) Session which starts on 4^th of September and culminates with the election of new IOC President. We will get there later.

First of the key decisions will involve three candidate cities namely - Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid presenting their cases, one last time in front of all the board members of the Olympic Committee in their bid to win the rights to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

Who will it be? Honestly, I am no Nostradamus. However, I do have an inclination towards Istanbul in spite of the recent activities that are taking place in the country positioned in both the continents of Asia and Europe.

I have personally transited through Istanbul and never visited the city or Turkey in general. The question is not about how beautiful the country is; it is about its ability to host the event. If, they are being shortlisted after intense bidding in the past 3-4 years, it is only because the organising committee feels confident of making it happen and IOC delegation committee feels they have a chance. Besides, hosting games in Istanbul will open up the market to new communities and spread the message of Olympics to a wider audience.

On the other hand, the candidate city of Istanbul faces tough competition from the clinical and disciplined committee representing Tokyo and from Madrid, which is recovering from the financial crisis and have to revamp their economy such that there is no repeat of Athens, post the 2004 Olympics.

I believe Istanbul is currently placed in a similar situation in a bid to win the election, reminiscent of Tokyo bidding successfully to win the 1964 Summer Olympics hosting rights.  Tokyo, post World War II and the damage they had sustained wanted to be recognised as a developed economy. And hard work was the only way out, combined with a purpose to become one of the leading economies in terms of innovation and market, and also turn around the catastrophe of the 1940’s. Tokyo was the first Asian city and Japan, the first Asian country to host Olympics of any sort; they went on to host Winter Olympics in 1972 at Sapporo and at Nagano in 1998. Interestingly, Tokyo was supposed to host the 1940 edition of the Summer Games.

Their success stories inspired South Korea to host the 1988 Seoul Olympics to an extent and the National Olympic Committee of South Korea are currently busy in their preparations to host the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. And to add to the South East Asia’s list - Beijing successfully hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics. I believe 12 years and 2 years (if Winter Olympics is also considered) is a short time to host the same event in the same region, when the aim should be to reach out to new unexplored cities, sporting wise and in the context of Olympics. 

Out of Comfort Zone must be the way to move forward in order to have more impact and spread the ideals of Olympic movement effectively to regions, previously unknown.

Madrid, irrespective of the current crisis, if awarded, will become the 2^nd country from Europe to host the Olympics after London 2012 within a span of eight years.

FIFA have opened up their horizon by previously awarding South Africa in 2010, Brazil in 2014 (they had previously hosted in 1950), Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022. Will Olympic Games follow a similar pattern? The anxious committees will know as do the rest of the world on 7^th of September this year.

Immediately, after the host nation issue has been settled, the members will vote for an additional sport for the 2020 Summer Olympics among Wrestling, Squash and the combination of Baseball and Softball. Whilst, baseball and Wrestling were previously part of the Olympic calendar and in case of Wrestling it still is till 2016, Squash is among the under-dogs so to speak. After having initially voted out early this year by a panel based on review post the 2012 London Olympics, Wrestling has made a strong comeback to remain in contention. Rugby 7’s and Golf will be new additions for the 2016 edition, as announced in the 2009 Olympic Congress held at Copenhagen.

Coming from India my heart feels for Wrestling, as it is a medal prospect for the Indian wrestlers. I am inclined to give Squash an opportunity as it is a great spectator sport. Wrestling federation, FILA is confident of making it while the other two are not the clear favourites at the moment. Wrestling’s inclusion will indeed put a question mark on the review conducted by the IOC post the London Olympics, when it was suggested to drop wrestling from the Olympic calendar in the first place. Personally, I would like to see the popularity of squash increase and would look forward to its inclusion.

And now, to the finale, the election of the President of IOC - Jacques Rogge, ex- Olympian and the current President took over the reins from Juan Antonio Samaranch in 2001. I would have personally liked if he continued one more term and he would have, if there would have been any provisions for that. Rogge’s greatest achievement personally would be to bring in transparency in the system and streamline the processes within the IOC. He will be leaving the post in a much healthier state. A soft-spoken, I had an opportunity to briefly chat with him, which lasted about less than a minute. He was kind enough to ask about me, instead of avoiding me and smile for a picture. 

With Jacques Rogge at the Olympic Museum, Lausanne in 2009

There are six candidates in the frame to take up his role - Dennis Oswald (Switzerland), Thomas Bach (Germany), Sergey Bubka (Ukraine), Richard Carrión (Puerto Rico), Ser Miang Ng (Singapore) and Ching-Kuo Wu (Taiwan). Honestly, it doesn’t matter to me as a person, which country the next IOC President would represent. I look forward to an inspiring leader, vocal yet willing to take the back seat and allow the recruited members to run the show. The elected person should carry forward the work and legacy, ensure sports reach out to new geographical locations and aim to better the standards that prevail currently at the IOC.

Change is a difficult destination and the process of change is often seen as an uncomfortable journey. However, it must not be an excuse for not embracing the unexplored avenues and for lack of transparency.

My mind goes back to 2001 at the 112^th IOC session held at Moscow, when Jacques Rogge was elected as the IOC President after 21-years of Samaranch’s stay as the President. Since then, 12 years is the maximum, a president can remain at the helm.

Istanbul, one of the candidate cities in the lost to bid the 2008 Summer Olympics, was actively part of that 2001 IOC Session. Since then, they have unsuccessfully bid for the 2012 edition and prior to that for the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics.

This is third successive time Madrid will be in the final round having previously lost to London (2012) and Rio (2016). Will Madrid be third time lucky?

Tokyo remains the only city that has previously hosted the Games. Will the past and strong hosting experience help Tokyo? Or will it be Istanbul, who will have to answer a lot of questions in the coming days from the members looking at the current scenario.

Hilton Hotel in Buenos Aires will be busy come September and by the time day ten of the month would conclude and end a week long IOC Session, there will be a new face addressing the sports world as the current IOC President, a proud International Federation reading out a ‘thank you’ speech and a successful city, which will spend the next seven years preparing for the event come 2020. 

LONDON OLYMPICS 2012: AN INDIAN HOPE

On 27^th July 20:00 Greenwich time – the biggest multi-sport spectacle shall begin not just across London, but possibly in every country in the world. I am sure most of the earth’s human population would be glued to televisions, or on the internet to watch the Opening Ceremony.

2012 is London’s time to host the quadrennial event and preparations were on since the time they won the bid way back in 2005. It seems a long time ago, I was still an engineering student then and now all those years of work put by the London Organising Committee will be witnessed by a lot of people. They get their praise, will have share of criticisms but that’s modern life – you can never be in the limelight without accompanied by share of praises and controversies.

Well, controversies shall be aimed at the Organising Committee – be it over budget, security mess and few humanitarian and labour issues. I was in London back in 2009; I drove on the way where most of the work for Olympics was being done. It is a great feeling to be an Olympic city, isn’t it? Not many outside the sporting fraternity agreed to this. “London isn’t a developing economy so they don’t need Olympic Games to showcase the city or the country in general to the world” – echoed few concerned voices. Let’s get world economics into perspective - there was absolutely no mention of ‘recession’ when the Games were awarded to London. In fact, this could have been any city across Europe and America who were bidding for the Games. With Beijing having already hosted the Games, we can eliminate Asia as one of the candidate cities.

Amidst many issues and triumphs, here we are hours before the start of the 30^th edition of Modern Olympics. This is the time to look at the success stories of individuals and teams who have been preparing for the Games for that one moment of glory. During the Olympics – it isn’t about the Organising Committee; the talk of the town will be the athletes, so it should be. The mere mention of athletes will be termed ‘success’ – as Olympics is about them and rest of them just play a supporting role.

Being an Indian, I am pumped up for these games than ever before. Main reason being, this is the best chance we have to improve our record and evolve as a sporting nation.  

For a moment, let’s forget there are better countries in the world who have been consistently winning from years. No other country measure to the size and ambiguity as India do. Sports, let’s face it isn’t a top priority in our country. There are larger issues at stake, but doesn’t mean sports must be ignored. Every sector has a department and because of the failure of other sectors, it doesn’t mean we have to not give importance to Sports. I have heard people saying – Sports doesn’t fill a poor man. The issue isn’t with Sports; it is the other departments that are supposed to be looking into that. Honestly, it is sad that Sports have been overlooked for so many reasons in the name of reasons given aplenty.

Even while sanctions have been made from the Government, there weren’t and aren’t enough skilled and visionary people working for the federations to make the best use of facilities given. You don’t need to have the best facilities, but we have been poor in optimising the resources. Be it the way money spent sporadically in the name of Sports or lack of enthusiasm, and looking Sports as one of the ways to get to power. This isn’t abnormal by any standards – The whole world operates this way and sporting world isn’t different, but not at the cost of overlooking the basics. Developed countries (Sports or Politics) play power games at a higher level where as it starts from the low level here – Reality check.

So next time, before we compare India to any other sporting nation – let us take a moment to reflect if that actually makes sense. Mere comparing to other countries exposes our shortcomings in the lack of understanding as to how our country operates.

India, the sporting country passed the baton from hockey to cricket after the success of Indian cricket (World Cup 1983) which coincided with downfall of hockey. From 1984, it has been a downward slide for Indian hockey at the Olympics. History speaks about us being the 8-time Olympic champions – Well the last time was a good 32 years ago. Now history is anything but forgotten – as we live in those moments and try to pacify ourselves than trying to correct the present mess, hockey is in.

Post independence, there has been only handful of people to have won medals for India. Barring Hockey, we have had seven athletes who have won the medals for India. K.D. Jadhav won the bronze medal for Wrestling at Helsinki (1952 Games) and it took a 44 years and a gap of 10 Olympics before we had another individual winning the medal. Leander Paes did it and all the countrymen were over the moon. I was 12 years then and it was my second Olympics after having watched the 1992 Barcelona Games for the first time on TV telecast. It took me time to understand the meaning of it, but I was thrilled because he won. Putting some historic perspective - Sports was either winning or losing back then, and not much emphasis was given to the process of either. Personally it is different now – and I don’t have that innocence anymore. Leander Paes winning was also the first Indian medal since the Hockey Gold at the Moscow Olympics. In a way, the bronze tennis medal was a turning point and made Olympics as a focal point in Indian sports.

Karnam Malleshwari became the first woman to win an Olympic medal for India (weightlifting 69 kg category) at Sydney and so there were some celebrations in few sections of our society. It also coincided with a transition phase in India where you had a lot of women taking up jobs. Malleshwari’s medal gave a boost to the future of Indian women sports. In the last decade we have seen some good improved performances by Indian women athletes, but none went on to win the Olympic medal. But we are getting there.

Though we had tasted Gold medals, it was only at the team sport level. Silver medals individually were previously won by Norman Pritchard (1900 Games - two silver medals, a Brit representing British India), none came post independence. It was the double-trap shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who went a step ahead and took the silver medal. Indian sports seemed to have evolved, slowly and steadily. Three Olympics, three individual medals – it was high time wasn’t it, especially when looked from an Indian context?

India is compared to China in terms of economy and population. But the ideologies remain different and more often the foundation plays an important role in sustaining and giving any projects some effectiveness. To demonstrate as the next super power, China took the opportunity as hosts to showcase that they are to be seen as world leaders in sports as well. The greatest example one can give is demonstration.

China did just that, as they ended up winning 51 Gold Medals at the 2008 Games whereas India celebrated similarly for winning the first individual gold. I can safely say, more money was spent in India for that one gold medal than what China would have spent celebrating 51 Gold medals. That’s difference in culture isn’t it? Irrespective of our situations, I was happy to note that, progress was happening and 2008 Games ended up being the most successful games for India – winning three medals (one Gold medal and two bronze medals).

Abhinav Bindra became the toast of the country whereas Sushil Kumar and Vijender Singh weren’t left too behind.  I was delighted to see more than one medal in the medals tally. That was a first for me and those eyes still retained that innocence in 2008. In a way 2008 was the year when I took a serious decision to study Sports and make that as a career option. And here I am four years later, working in the sports industry having different perspectives about Sports than what I had and for the first time hoping, expecting medals from India. Losing my innocence? Or is this a process of discovering Indian Sports?

Yes, earlier I watched the games with an open mind. Not anymore - as much as I am open to how things pan out; I am never shy to offer my opinion. It isn’t just being patriotic and being blindly supportive, but it is now looking from a broader perspective. While I am not expecting miracles (that’s better left when not expecting), I am looking at some serious performances in the coming two weeks at London. Shooting, Boxing, Wrestling, Badminton, Archery and Tennis are the sports I and the entire nation will be looking at. As an Indian, I am expecting 5 medals from this edition. After having seen a lot of work going through in the last four years, five medals is not an unfair expectation. Five or more medals would do for me keeping the reality of our sporting situation in the country.

On an end note I just wanted to highlight - Sporting triumphs doesn’t fill our stomachs, but ask any fan or a follower/watcher of Sports – It provides a moment of joy to celebrate success as if it was our own. That is the power of Sports and in Olympics the joy gets bigger as it will be done on a world stage. It isn’t just about the medals overall but it is the way you play and as an addition, for going the distance he/she will be remembered for that particular moment,  the moment where words fail to explain the feeling. Joy, tears, pain, agony and disappointment becomes the five symbolic human expressions through we understand the reason why Olympics exist.

Like I said, I am looking at the Olympics only from a sporting perspective as the other issues should remain backstage for the next two weeks and when Paralympics begin at the conclusion of Olympics. There is a time for every discussion and the time currently is just about the Olympics –  It is about  10,500 athletes coming from 204 countries (few playing under Olympic Flag), taking part in 26 Sports over 302 events. For a first in the history of Olympics - female athletes from all those 204 countries will be participating. Now isn’t this world coming to one place?