Economics of a Medal

The third quarter of each leap year invariably brings us bitter-sweet feelings. Yes, these are the Olympic months – and, after swinging between hope and despair during the first half of the event, we eventually end-up with a handful of medals, and the nation erupts into exuberant celebrations. And simultaneously umpteen theories explaining the reasons for our dismal performance start doing rounds. Some of the theories which are doing round this year are – lack of a sports gene in Indians; giving excessive importance to one sport (read cricket) only; lack of sports infrastructure and training facilities in the country; and parents forcing their children to get admission in IITs and IIMs (rather than going into sports).

In spite of inspired performances by some of our sports-persons, the fact remains that we have had a dismal Olympics. The athletes who really fulfilled/surpassed the pre-Games promises can be counted on fingers. And it is something which all of us knew, deep in our hearts, in advance. Before every major sporting event, we start posing our faith in the capabilities of a few individuals. Often our faith fails to bear fruits, sometimes it does – but almost always the hopes and successes depend on individual talents and brilliance.

Different reasons being put forward for this state of affairs are ‘more or less’ true – but they identify only symptoms. The real malaise lies somewhere deeper. We have to understand that it is just not possible to pick/select some sports-persons, and then to train them to be champions. Things cannot work that way. Champions are said to be one-in-a-million, and that is literally true also. What I am trying to say is that champions emerge only when there are large number of sports-persons actively pursuing a sport. We have been selecting our representatives from a very small pool of players, and, therefore, they more often than not fail at the global scene.

But do we have any pool of talents on the heels of our known stars? The answer, we all know, is a resounding ‘no’. It is not rare to find our sports infrastructure remaining under-utilized (or being utilized by middle-aged amateurs). It is easy to crib that in our country parents want their children to go to IITs or IIMs, and not to Olympics – but why?

We cannot deny that any right-thinking parent would prefer an Olympic medal for his/her ward over an IIT/IIM degree. But let’s look at this from an economics angle – from a young person’s, or his/her parents’, point-of-view. Each year a few lac aspirants appear for IIT admissions, and more than a few thousand make it. A few more thousand make it to the second-rung engineering institutes, and more to the third rung. Same is with IIMs and other business school. Even the failures in these admission tests, have options remaining to make a respectable career.

On the other hand, only a few scores make it to Olympics once in four years; and out of these, a handful win medals and resultant accolades. But what about those who fall on the way-side. Do we know how many shuttlers, or gymnasts, or wrestlers, shed their tears, sweat, and blood, but could not make it because they were not good enough (or not lucky enough)? Do they have any fall-back option? By the time they realize that there is no more hope, is there any alternate career option left? In other words, champions are one-in-a-million, but what about the remaining nine-hundred-ninety-nine-thousands or so.

To excel in sports, we must have a large pool of players in each game – but sports is a very high risk career, at least in our country. It is a roulette of ‘all-or-nothing’ type, with survival of the fittest and luckiest only. On the other hand, conventional careers provide opportunities to aspirants of all levels and calibers.

If we look at the medal tally of Rio-2016, we will find that it is dominated by economically prosperous countries, where earning a decent livelihood is not a struggle (US at #1, Great Britain at #2, Germany at #5). Other countries on the medals table either have had a few exceptionally talented athletes, or have totalitarian regimes where careers are dictated by the authorities.

But, in a country where even earning a decent livelihood is such a struggle, how can it be expected of parents that they – after being aware of the odds – will want their wards to choose a career in sports. (That’s why I feel that the parents of our current sports-persons truly deserve all the accolade.)

Once a significant number of our countrymen start adopting sports as a career option, rest of the problems will be automatically taken care of. (Don’t we find that the facilities for ‘preparations for engineering entrance tests’ – without any government contribution – are even better than most of the engineering colleges in our country, just because there is a huge clientele.) But given the current state of affairs, it is highly unlikely to happen. Till the time our economy develops to such a level that a young man no longer needs to prepare himself for a fight for livelihood – we are doomed to end up as also-rans in such global events.