Contingent size at the Olympics: 81 vs 530

As many of you all must be wondering what kind of title is this? Let me unravel that this is not a number fight as we all know that 530 is humongous in front of 81. It is actually the comparison of the Indian and USA contingent size at London 2012 Olympics. London Olympics are now less than a week away but unlike previous editions, the hopes of record medal tally are high because of record number of participants competing this time.

But a country having population of more than 120 crores and is the largest democracy, has produced a contingent of mere 81 Olympians whereas USA the force to reckon with in Olympics has squad size of 530 which is epic in itself. In the previous edition, USA bagged 110 medals in total – which is more than record number of participants sent by India this time. Why is a country with such humongous population constantly failing to produce a large number of Olympians? Even the small countries like Bermuda, Cuba, Jamaica, Kenya and Ethiopia which are both population and economy wise way below us are bagging more medals than us in Olympics.

Undoubtedly, India made a huge leap in the sporting field when they successfully hosted 2010 Commonwealth Games, and after bagging record 101 medals in CWG and 65 in 2010 Asian games the expectations of more than 100 Indians qualifying for Olympics were high. But the athletes disappointed by faltering at big competitions like World Cups, Asian Championships, etc. and losing their Olympics quotas.

Even this situation is not the key problem – the countries mentioned above Bermuda, Cuba, Jamaica and Kenya - all have even smaller squads than India but they have the quality which ensures them more medals than India. India lacks a quality squad and that is where all problem lies. In my opinion, out of the 81 athletes only 7-8, at most 10 are medal hopefuls which is really shocking.

Although after the 2010 Commonwealth Games, India is improving in the sporting field, the pace of improvement is so slow that it will take more than 10 Olympics to even come close to USA . We can’t always blame the Indian government. They are providing funds to players and federations to be spent in training, travel, diet, etc. but it is the responsibility of various federations which are marred with corruption, that the funds don’t reach the players which hinder their practice and preparations which decimates their Olympics hopes.