Olympics Is Upon Us, Comparison With Cricket Is Imminent

Olympics Is Upon Us, Comparison With Cricket Is Imminent

It is a fact of Indian life that cricketers including ex-cricketers and ageing superstars make it to the hallowed pantheon of celebrities leaving far behind the likes of Neeraj Chopra

S MurlidharanUpdated: Thursday, July 18, 2024, 10:53 PM IST
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Neeraj Chopra | Twitter

The Paris Olympic Games begin on July 26. Indian hopes are pinned mainly on the guy with the golden arm, Neeraj Chopra, who did India proud by winning gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in fact in 2021 under the shadow of the Covid pandemic. The Indian Olympic contingent’s performance as usual would be compared against the accomplishments of the Indian cricket team flush with the recent T20 victory trouncing the formidable South Africa in the finals. The team has been announced a whopping Rs 125 crore by the BCCI awash with funds.

For his stupendous efforts (the first track and field gold medal in Olympics) Chopra was offered Cash award of Rs 6 crore by the Haryana government, Rs 2 crore by the Punjab government and Rs 1 crore by the Manipur government. BCCI chipped in with Rs 1 crore as did Chennai Super Kings. Byju’s the edtech major now in doldrums chipped in with Rs 2 crore.

India is great in cricket but finishes pretty low in the Olympics podium sweepstakes. A gold medal once in say five Olympics is all that we achieve as against 39 won by the USA in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In the just concluded T20 at Barbados, 20 nations participated but in 2028 Los Angels Olympics when Cricket stages a comeback into Olympics after a hiatus of more than a century, there could be many nations participating. And that is when the real strength of cricketing nations such as India, Australia, South Africa, England and even Pakistan would be truly tested. Sporting nations such as the US, Russia and China can be counted to catch up with and surpass the traditional cricketing nations. Why even Afghanistan has been showing that cricket need not be the sole preserve of the traditional cricketing nations. To be sure, they may not be dethroned in one stroke but would definitely feel the heat of competition in successive Olympics starting 2028. Be that as it may.

Has cricket weaned away potential Olympic medal prospects? There are anecdotal evidences and apocryphal stories of good athletes wisely casting their lot with cricket enticed by greater financial reward in store. But then as they say money makes the mare go. The advent of IPL has spelt big money that brings youngsters from hinterlands into the cricketing fold thus accentuating the problem of non-cricketing sports getting cold-shouldered. Of course, youngsters cannot be blamed for chasing the moolah and worshipping the mammon just as able-bodied youngsters cannot be blamed for preferring to flaunt their physique on the silver screen rather than in playgrounds and track and field. It is a fact of Indian life that cricketers including ex-cricketers and ageing superstars make it to the hallowed pantheon of celebrities leaving far behind the likes of Neeraj Chopra whose Olympic gold medal is arguably worth far more its weight than the glittering T20 world cup. Come to think of it, the Octogenarian former superstar Amitabh Bachchan reigns supreme in the galaxy of celebrities for endorsement. Neeraj Chopra figures much below a few ex-cricketers in the celebrity honors. The nation is so besotted with cricket and films that children participating in quiz programs are flummoxed when asked who Neeraj Chopra is. PV Sindhu the badminton bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics too finds her in the bottom of the celebrity sweepstakes.

When private capital was shy, the government occupied the commanding heights of the economy by setting up steel and aluminum plants. Likewise, when the sports ecosystem looks askance at non-cricket sports, it is the duty of the government to step in and catch them young, nurture them and groom them into potential podium finishers. Chinese sporting ecosystem follows this model. But in a democratic set up it is difficult to force youngsters to embrace non-cricket sports.

The Indian government offers a measly Rs 75 lakh to Olympic gold winners. It must raise the bar sufficiently high. But then onetime financial award pales before the promise of recurring match fees that cricketers get. Meanwhile the Indian Olympics Association must step up its lobbying skills and persuade the International Olympic committee to include rustic Indian sports like kabaddi and kho-kho at least for short term gains as in the long run sporting nations of the world whose populace is endowed with better physique are bound to catch up with these esoteric Indian sports as well. Every nation lobbies for the inclusion in the Olympics of the games it is good at. Watersports in the Olympics has from 2016 seen the inclusion of dazzling beauty contests, as it were, on the pool going by the name of artistic swimming. The rules of hockey have been tweaked over the years to suit Western nations to the detriment of India and Pakistan, the two nations that were renowned for their artistic game with wily stickwork holding the spectators in thrall. So, there is nothing wrong fundamentally in the cricketing nations successfully installing the game in the Olympics and, who knows, in due course tweaking the rules of the game to suit them.

When the curtains come down on August 11 on the Paris Olympics, there would once again be a passionate debate on how a nation with the largest populations rests content with one or hopefully two gold medals and a handful of silver and bronze medals, with no convincing answer emerging.

S Murlidharan is a freelance columnist and writes on economics, business, legal and taxation issues

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