ATHLETES OF INDIA AT 2024 OLYMPICS | PARIS

There are just two years left when the whole world will witness the future stunning performances by athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games which will commence on Friday, 26 July 2024 and end on Sunday, 11 August 2024.

India is hoping to outdo their own record this time. During the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the Indian athletes took 61 medals home that were just a bit short of the 66 which they had taken home during the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in 2018. Which has raised the standards for the next Olympic Games in Paris. 

Shooting was not included in the Birmingham Games and getting almost equal medals, despite the fact that shooters had earned 16 gold medals in the Gold Coast tally of 66 it shows the fact that Indian athletes have developed in other sports as well and that assures it is going to be an exciting show in Paris.

In Tokyo 2020 too, India was awarded seven medals including Neeraj Chopra's stunning gold in javelin throwing, showcasing bright future of Indian athletes. In CWG 2022 also India was seen winning medals at Lawn Bowls. The women's team was awarded gold, while the men finished with a silver medal, displaying the potential of our athletes in different sports where India had not had an appreciable performance history. India's performance at Birmingham with the eight medals won in athletics, which included the first gold medal ever won in triple jumps by Eldhose Paul is higher than the silver medal won in 1974 by Mohinderpal Singh Gill. More so, India had great performance in weightlifting and wrestling at both the Olympics as well as the Birmingham 2022, highlighting that our contenders have the capacity to bag medals in these sports, and their record of success for Paris 2024.

The recently concluded Chess Olympiad was hosted by India for the first time in history has proven the dominance of India in this arena of competition.

The instances of dedication shown by Indian athletes in the past show their commitment to their sport. As was the case with the 101-medal winning of CWG 2010, which was complemented by India winning six medals in the London Olympics in 2012; 2 silver with 4 bronze which was the best performance of India at the Olympics up to Tokyo 2020, when India was awarded seven medals. If shooting had been part of the Birmingham CWG as well, had Indian shooters been on similar level to their 2018 performances, the 2022 CWG haul will be our best performance in the CWG since New Delhi in 2010.

The difference in terms of standard between both the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics is widely known.

Paris 2024 is anticipated to be a lot more competitive compared to Birmingham 2022. Asian Games in Hangzhou have been deferred until 2023, and this gives our athletes a chance to enhance their skills and prepare well for Paris 2024 because it is guaranteed that they will face high competition. Although the Indian athletes are yet to be qualified to compete in Paris 2024, the solid base built by the country's constant improvement in performances at Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games is an energy booster and will also give an view of the corrective measures needed to ensure better performance.

Athletes, if given the financial aid, proper training and modern infrastructure, have the chance to be successful in the Olympic Games in the future. In this respect, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) has set up the 143 Khelo India district centers throughout seven states. Additionally it is also the case that the MYAS also announced 8 Khelo India State Centres of Excellence (KISCE) which are located within Telangana, Manipur, Karnataka, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh and Kerala and are managed by the respective state governments as well as offering coaches and facilities for training for young athletes. In order to address the issue of inadequate infrastructure, which is a constant problem within the country, by launching Khelo India; this programme was allocated about Rs 342.24 crore in 2018, which was increased up to Rs 500 crore by 2019, and finally to 890.42 crore by 2020. This program offers a financial assistance of 5 lakh over the course of eight years to talented athletes in the discipline of sports that is considered to be the most important.

But the Indian government has plenty to do in improving the welfare, infrastructure and training facilities of its athletes. The structure of governance in Indian sports is revealing inefficiency and lack of transparency, which opens the door for nepotism and corruption making a tournament less productive overall. This underscores the necessity of having proper governance structures to be implemented to protect the interests of the various participants, and to manage the huge amount of capital involved. To ensure the credibility of these tournaments and avoid the mistakes that could negatively affect Indian athletes’ future and sports, public private partnerships have to be improved.