33rd Olympics: What to learn from Paris

The 33rd Olympics came to a close in Paris after a colourful day of performances at the International Sports Complex. The United States retained its Olympic championship with the women's basketball team winning by a single point in the last minute of the final game of the final day. The big lesson for the countries including India to learn from this Olympics is the competitive spirit that the United States showed until the last minute to overcome China, which was in the lead from the first day. India has won six medals including one silver and five bronze in the Olympics this time. Javelin star Neeraj Chopra, who was the gold medalist in Tokyo, won the silver this time. Manu Bhaker's fingerprints were on two of the three medals won from shooting. Swapnil Kusale is another medalist in shooting. The men's hockey team retained their bronze medal in Tokyo and gave PR Sreejesh a fitting send-off. In wrestling, Aman Sehrawat won bronze, becoming the youngest Indian medallist.

India had won seven medals including one gold, two silver and four bronze in Tokyo and was ranked 48th in the medal table but they had to finish 71st in Paris because there was no gold. India had sent a 117-member team to Paris hoping for ten medals. The central government had spent 470 crore rupees for the Olympics. Sportspersons were provided facilities to train and participate in competitions at home and abroad. Excellent trainers were brought from abroad. Therefore, the hope of ten medals was not excessive. However, once again it has been proved that it is not so easy to win a medal in the Olympics. We lost the opportunity that would have helped us to go beyond the target of ten medals when we had to finish fourth in seven events by a narrow margin.

Manu Bhaker could have won a third medal. Manu finished fourth after finishing second in the 25m air pistol final. Arjun Babuta also came fourth with a score of 208.4. The Indian athletes finished fourth in skeet shooting by one point and by one kg in women's weightlifting. In archery, the Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara combination trailed by one point in the tiebreaker equivalent shootoff. Lakshya Sen's loss after leading the Badminton semi-finals and bronze medal matches cannot be chalked up to bad luck. Both defeats pointed out that Lakshya needs to learn the ability to handle pressure in big matches. Vinesh Phogat's ordeal in wrestling should not have happened.

The experience in Paris proves that Indian athletes need the fortitude to not back down until they reach their goal. Ministry of Sports should focus on preparing our players not only physically but also mentally. Sports psychologists were also included in the expert team this time. However, if we inculcate the lessons of coping with stress during training, we can achieve twice at the Olympics in Los Angeles happening four years from now. Congratulations to India's proud athletes for winning medals in Paris. Let the journey continue with the realization that there is still a long way to go.