Fool’s gold: Our Olympics medal haul held up a mirror to the country
livemint.comA few grams of gold can elevate or depress a nation’s morale and stature. But first; why should any nation spend money on sports, especially one whose population substantially relies on subsidies? Nations invest in sports for three strategic reasons. The first is global positioning.
Sports are surrogates of warfare and derived from combat. Think of shooting, archery, javelin and discus throws, fencing, boxing and of course wrestling. The Olympic Games have always been a surrogate battleground for global power jockeying.
Recall Berlin, 1936, where African-American Jesse Owens demolished Hitler’s ‘Aryan supremacy’ delusion, beating every Caucasian athlete in four different events in the dictator’s own backyard. In 1980, geopolitical tension between superpowers spilled over to sports when the US boycotted the Moscow Olympics, protesting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In retaliation, the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
The blood, sweat and dreams of hundreds of athletes who had nothing to do with political ideologies were wasted by leaders playing their own games. Olympics also project a nation’s overall might. The US held pole position from 1948 to 1972, until the Soviet Union caught up in the 1972 Munich Olympics and crushed its rival decisively in the Montreal games.
The Soviet Union maintained its medal dominance till 1992, after which China began its global ascent. And despite India’s pride in every medal won and admiration for every athlete, our meagre tally of about 40 medals won so far, while China bagged 90 in Paris alone, reflects the country’s position. The second reason is national health.
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