Full on Sport

Football, Racing, Rugby + More

General

Why Is India Rubbish at the Olympics?

As the world geared up to watch the Summer Olympics in 2024, more than a few eyes were cast over the all-time Olympic medal table. The United States of America sat comfortably at the top, which makes sense given how many people come from the US. China was also on the list, which is something that also tracks for the same reason.

Yet a country that is notable for its absence towards the top of the medal table is India, which sat in 59th for gold, silver and bronze medals combined prior to the Games in Paris. It begs the question, why is one of the most populous countries on the planet so genuinely poor at the sports that make up the Summer Olympics?

The Most Populous Country on the Planet

India's first individual Olympic medal as an independent country 1952
India’s first individual Olympic medal as an independent country 1952 – Basargimahesh, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In 2024, the population of India stood at approximately 1.428 billion. That meant that it was considered to be the most populous country on the planet, with roughly three million more citizens than China. Simply in terms of numbers, you’d assume that India would do well when it comes to the Summer Olympics.

In reality, however, the country went in to the Games in Paris having won just ten gold medals, nine silvers and 16 bronze medals in the history of the Olympic Games up to that point. That is in spite of the fact that the country had taken part in only three fewer Summer Olympics than the United States of America at 25.

The list of countries with more total medals than India includes ones that don’t even exist any more, such as the Soviet Union and both East and West Germany. Significantly smaller nations like Romania, Cuba and Belarus sit above India, as do those that you’d more commonly associate with the Winter Olympics in Austria, Norway and Switzerland.

India has the same number of total medals as the Republic of Ireland, which has a population of around five million. It is remarkable that India hasn’t won more medals almost by accident, never mind design. Regardless, though, the country underperforms, but the question is: why?

Gross Under-Funding

In terms of medal per head, no country has performed worse than India at the Summer Olympics. In the previous three decades, the only gold medal picked up by India came in the men’s 10 metre rifle in 2008. That was one of three medals that the country won that year, with previous years seen as successful if even a single medal was won.

A big part of the reason why the country under-performs on the global scale is the lack of investment in sports. In spite of the money being poured into the likes of the space programme and the ever-increasing number of billionaires there, it is still a remarkably poor nation when it comes to income per capita.

It doesn’t help that sport has never been one of the government’s major focusses. India is known for its cricketing ability, not sprinting or judo. Even the Indian Olympic Association admits that Indian athletes haven’t been given the support that they should’ve over the years. Even the athletes themselves haven’t always put sport at the top of their agendas.

Another part of the problem has been that money that has been funnelled into sports programmes would often go missing, thanks in no small part to the major corruption that can be found in numerous areas of life across the country of India.

Other Priorities

For many Indian families, there is no desire to support children who want to become sports stars. Indian families are far more keen to see their sons and daughters enter careers such as dentistry or accountancy. What little money a family has will be put towards further education before it is put into sport.

Sport, it is felt by many, won’t bring the money that is required to help to support a family. Sure, the likes of the Premier League in England or the National Football League in the United States of America have huge sums of money washing around them, but when was the last time an Indian star made it big in either?

@nextshark

Congrats Sindhu! Well deserved. Link In Bio for more ❤️ #badmintonplayer #badmintonskills #tokyoolympics #olympics2021

♬ BEATING THE ODDS – Yoo Soo Kim

Then there is the fact that India has big cultural and caste traditions that play a part in the outcome of what people do with their time. Rather than seeing themselves as individuals, many Indians see themselves as a member of a caste, religion or tribe.

Should someone excel in a particular sport, they will often be discouraged from pursuing it at a higher level by the wider community that they’re from, as well as by their friends and family. On top of that, different castes tend not to play sport together because of the social stratification that is in place in the country that means the higher castes won’t be willing to play with the lower ones.

Might Things be Different in the Future?

The success of cricket in India is such that it is where most of the money tends to go. As a result, the top athletes are drawn to the wicket rather than any other sports, simply because it means that they will be able to earn some money. That might not be the case forever, though.

The Indian Prime Minister in 2021, Narendra Modi, decided that it was time to help raise India’s profile through sporting success. Private ventured began to help, stepping in by helping to train elite athletes away from just the cricket, whilst state money began to be put towards the grass roots in the hope that that will allow for future success.

There is an argument that we’ve already seen it paying off. When India took part in the Summer Olympics of 2020, which actually took place in 2021 owing to the global health crisis of the time, the country left with seven medals. The breakdown was one gold, two silvers and four bronze medals.

The gold came in athletics, with one of the silvers being in weightlifting and the other in wrestling. The bronze medals came thanks to badminton, boxing, field hockey and another wrestling. It is no coincidence that India’s increased success came as the country sent its largest ever contingent of athletes, with 126 Indian competitors going to Tokyo. Might that be a sign of things to come?