Rio Olympics Review: Athletes fell short despite last-minute Rs 20 crore surge

These are just two proposals mentioned in the minutes of two meetings of the TOPS sub-committee — on May 13 and June 17 — that were among the few shot down by SAI which felt the athletes had gone a “bit overboard” with their demands. “Athletes have to be accountable and responsible in what they ask for. This is public money given for their training,” former long jumper and TOPS committee chairman Anju Bobby George told The Indian Express.

All through the preparatory phase for the Rio Olympics, Indian athletes complained about the rigid and bureaucratic government machinery, which severely hampered their training programmes. But when the sports ministry finally loosened its purse-strings in the last six months, many of them appeared to lose the plot while planning their training.

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In March, the government had decided to “handhold the medal prospects” — projected to be around 10-15 — to ensure no compromise in their preparations. Then, from April to the second week of August, the SAI and sports ministry held 54 meetings to review Rio preparations.

Subsequently, proposals amounting to nearly Rs 20 crore made by Rio hopefuls were cleared. But a glance through the minutes of those meetings show that the athletes didn’t have a well-thought out plan for their preparations, which appeared ad-hoc and haphazard.

More than half of India’s Rio-bound members came up with training programmes only three or four months before the Games began. A majority of their demands was related to exposure trips abroad, personalised training stints under foreign coaches, employing physios and purchase of equipment.

But it came so late that it would hardly have impacted their performance. For instance, judoka Avtar Singh — who lost to a refugee athlete in the first round — went for a 36-day training stint in Hungary only in June. He later asked for a pulse rate monitor, just two weeks before the Games began.

In numerous cases — mostly in track and field, like the relay teams — athletes tried to avail funds till mid-July in a last-ditch effort to qualify for the Games.

They got most of the things they asked for but it did not translate into medals, or, in many cases, even respectable performances. Two days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that a three-member task force would be set up to prepare an action plan for “effective participation” of sportspersons in the next three Olympics.

According to Athletics Federation of India (AFI) president Adille Sumariwalla, the next four-year cycle should be planned better with all parties involved. “The athletes, federation and government need to plan better and there has to be a very tight monitoring. There have to be consequences for non-performance,” he said.

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There were occasions where SAI was under pressure to release funds due to the reputation of athletes and perception issues involved. Consider this:

* A fortnight before the Games, sprinter Dutee Chand complained about not having competition shoes to run with. Dutee was already allocated Rs 30 lakh under TOP Scheme but her statement caused an embarrassment to the government. Ultimately, when the issue reached the sports minister’s office, a senior SAI official said they wire-transferred Rs 2 lakh to her for a pair of shoes 10 days before the Games.

* As per the minutes of the TOPS sub-committee meeting on April 22, discus thrower Krishna Poonia had been out of action for nearly two years due to injury. In the interim, she joined the Congress party and contested the Rajasthan elections. She returned to action in April and demanded approximately Rs 40 lakh for a training stint at Chula Vista, USA, under her husband and coach Vijender Singh. SAI acceded to her request based on her reputation. Ultimately, she did not qualify for the Olympics.

The ministry and SAI have now decided there would be no exceptions in the next four-year cycle. “Everyone will have to fall in line, with a proper system. There has to be very strong calibration between desire of the athlete and what is planned by the federation as per the guidelines,” said a ministry official.

Some athletes wanted the government to spend not just for their travel, but also that of their families. They were insistent on taking their parents or spouses as part of the Indian contingent, either as coach or in some other official capacity.

In his review order to the committee set-up to examine shooters’ performance, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh raised the point of an athlete’s family member working with and accompanying them for tournaments overseas. The four-page order, dated August 24, reads: “(To examine) the effect, or otherwise, of kith/kin being accepted by government as coaches of athletes and practice of kith and kin accompanying their athletes privately, or otherwise, during and for competitions overseas.”

Incidentally, the only shooter with a spouse by the side during the Olympic journey was Heena Sidhu. She was coached by her husband Ronak Pandit, a Commonwealth Games medallist. He was also the manager of the entire shooting contingent. Sidhu received financial assistance of Rs 1 crore from TOPS. She did not reach the final in the 10m and 25m air pistol events, finishing 14th and 18th in both events.

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Discus thrower Vikas Gowda took his father Shiv along with him to Rio in place of his long-time coach John Godina, who decided not to travel for reasons not known yet. Other athletes who took their family members along included Sania Mirza (mother, who was the manager of the tennis team), golfer Aditi Ashok (father as a caddie), discus thrower Seema Antil (husband Ankush as a coach). Race walker Sapna Punia and shot putter Manpreet Kaur, too, were accompanied by their husbands at the training camp in Poland in June. All of them were paid for by the government.

Ironically, the country’s only two medallists were among those who received the least funding from the government, trained in India and under an Indian coach. Bronze medallist Sakshi Malik took just Rs 12 lakh under TOPS while silver medal-winning shuttler P V Sindhu was allocated Rs 44 lakh.

India’s next best performer, Dipa Karmakar, needed just Rs 2 lakh from the government. The gymnast was asked by the ministry to train at any country of her choice. However, she chose to continue training under her long-time coach Bisweswar Nandi at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi.

But these turned out to be exceptions.

“Compared to the past, funds were made available this time. But unless you plan well, it won’t matter much. Sakshi, Sindhu and Dipa showed the importance of sticking to your routines. If you keep doing that, the rest will automatically fall in place,” said Anju.