What goes behind in making of an Olympic medalist ?

A significant percentage increase of medals secured (111.11%) from the Rio Summer Olympics in 2016 to Tokyo Olympics in 2020 puts a smile on our faces. The memories of Subedar Neeraj Chopra's historic javelin throw on August 07, 2021, drastically lifted India in medals tally from 69 to 48. As much as the first medal (Gold to be precise) in athletics for India, first after 41 years in hockey, etc are caramelizing in our eyes, their preparatory phases are something which should be discussed with the same zeal.

• Mission Olympics 2020 :-

After the appalling run in the Rio Summer Olympics in 2016, Indian Army launched an initiative of contributing in the same, thus, launching Mission Olympics 2020. In this, potential and enthusiastic kids were selected and groomed for international sporting events. This included – Diet, Training, Equipments, etc.

They were actually given employment in the army along with salaries and their ranks and promotions were dependent on their performance(s) among various events. Eg : Neeraj Chopra was recruited by the Indian army in 2016 at the rank of Naib Subedar, who was promoted to the rank of Subedar (Junior Commissioned Officer).

• Khelo India Programme :-

The Khelo India programme was introduced to revive the sports culture in India at the grass-root level by building a strong framework for all sports in India and establishing it as a great sporting nation. It was a Central Sector Scheme (Scheme implemented by the Central Government machinery and completely funded by the Union Government). Being a Pan India Sports Scholarship scheme covering the 1000 most deserving and talented athletes across the sports discipline, every year, it is an unprecedented scheme, a first-ever plan to be implemented for creating a long-term development pathway for athletes.

It's objectives are as follows :-

* To enable the sportsman to pursue both studies and sports, the program aimed at identifying and promoting 20 Universities in the country as centres of sporting distinction.

* To ensure maximum entries for organized sports competitions, the programme encourages the school and colleges to organize programmes of high standards.

* Forming an active population with a healthy lifestyle is also the focus of this programme.

The aim is to impact the whole sports ecosystem inclusive of sports economy, competition structure, talent identification, coaching and infrastructure. The programme plans to engage youth living in deprived and disturbed areas into sporting activities so that they will be mainstreamed into the process of nation-building and weaned away from disruptive activities with the provision of ₹ 5 lacs per annum for 8 years by the High-Powered Committee.

Some of the sports included in KIP are Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Football, Gymnastics, Hockey, Judo, Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, Shooting, Swimming, Volleyball, Weightlifting, and Wrestling. Talking about the expenditure won't excite you like me, as despite the 54.05% hike in allocated budget from ₹ 578 crores to ₹ 890.42 crores, which is way too less when compared to the ones at the top.

• Target Olympic Podium Scheme :-

TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) is a flagship program of the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports which is an attempt to provide assistance to India’s top athletes. The Scheme looks to add a premium to the preparations of these athletes so that they can win medals in the Olympics.. The Scheme currently supports 104 TOPS Core Group athletes across 13 sports disciplines & Hockey (Men & Women) teams and 269 TOPS Development Group athletes across 12 sports disciplines.

In order to improve India’s performance at Olympics and Paralympics, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) started the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) in September 2014. This was revamped in April 2018 to establish a technical support team for managing the TOPS athletes and providing holistic support. The scheme is fully functional and has been extending all requisite support to probable athletes identified for the 2020 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games including foreign training, international competition, equipment and coaching camp besides monthly stipend of Rs. 50,000/- for each athlete.

TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) is a flagship program of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports which is an attempt to provide assistance to India’s top athletes. The Scheme looks to add a premium to the preparations of these athletes so that they can win medals in the Olympics.. The Scheme currently supports 104 TOPS Core Group athletes across 13 sports disciplines & Hockey (Men's & Women's) teams and 269 TOPS Development Group athletes across 12 sports disciplines.

In order to realize India’s Olympic medal dream, at the 2016 (Rio) and 2020 (Tokyo) Olympics, the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (MYAS) established the Target Olympics Podium Scheme (TOPS or TOP Scheme) in September 2014. To fulfill the objective of this scheme, a committee (TOPS Elite Athletes’ Identification Committee) was constituted to identify the elite athletes who could achieve the Olympic podium. MYAS is responsible for appointment of TOPS members with emphasis on ensuring representation from ‘High-Priority’ sports (Archery, Badminton, Boxing Hockey, Shooting and Wrestling).

But on the down side, merely ₹ 36.85 crores were spent for the approaching Rio Summer Olympics, out of which, almost half of the amount was swept away by shooting exclusively. Yeah, you read it right, a single sporting event consumed half of the allocated budget due to its high investing requirements like equipment, firing range, coaches, etc. Contrary to the efforts, India failed to secure even a single medal in shooting, both men's and women's categories.

During a discussion on sports as a career in Lok Sabha, Union Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore even stated in a parliamentary session, that the government is spending ₹ 0.03 per person per day (₹ 1393.21 crores for 121 crore population)

Results of these small but impactful steps are now known to even those who never heard of the welterweight category or javelin throw. But we still have a long way to go – aquatics accounts for the maximum number of medals that anyone could possibly clinch, ie : 49 medals for 49 events. Henceforth, the focus should be more on raising of swift and agile swimmers, rowers, etc.

While there's no doubt in raising the allocation of budget to sports pan India, there's also no denying the fact that diversification is the key to effectiveness, ie : Considerable distribution of funds (if not equal) among various sporting events, among men's, women's and Paralympians as well.