Why Indian athletes continue to underperform in Olympics?

Tokyo Olympics is in full swing. China, Japan, The US, the Russian Olympic Committee participants, the Italians, Australians are ruling the medal tally table. NZ, a country of five million people, keep winning medals and continue to climb up the medal tally. The Africans are big on track and field as the Games continue.

One exception is India. A country of a hundred billlion people, massive economy, huge public investments, major world player, democracy, yet for the last hundred years, their medal tallies have never got above 10. Their best performance was in the London 2012 games with six medals in total. Indians used to consistently win the Hockey gold medals. Then they slipped in 1960 when they lost to Pakistan, recovered the gold in 1964, they slumped and slumped till they got a gold in 1980 in hockey and never again.

Then they started winning new medals in Shooting, wrestling, some weightlifting, a tennis medal in 1996, lots of promising players head out with big contingents every four years or so, much hyped in Indian media, but they invariably end up empty handed year after year.

I wonder if this peculiar anomaly tells us a story. What explains this? Olympics on the surface may seem to be about physical ability and mental prowess of athletes, but beneath lies a deeper truth of the spirit of Olympism that defines Olympics. My thesis is that, beyond money and training thrown at it, it is ultimately a society that values the spirit of Olympism and champions sportsmanship that ultimately wins the…