Playing spoilsports

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After witnessing India marching in the inaugural parade of the 2012 Olympics in London, one cannot help but wonder, “Did the Indian parade have all qualified athletes?”

The bitter reality is that our authorities had not taken every athlete for the opening gala. Few of our qualified athletes such as national record holder Tintu Luka and Race Walker K. T. Irfan were in New Delhi watching the Games just like most of us, instead of being in the thick of action with Usain Bolt, Kobe Bryant, Michael Phelps and many other superstars.

Why does this happen? It is just a small 81-member team, so why can’t you take all of them as a unit for the opening ceremony, when the world is there to see us?

And we realise this is nothing new, it has been a recurring issue with India at every Olympics. Missing the rare opportunity of embracing the ‘Spirit of the Games’ has been a sad tradition in our country.

“When will our authorities realise that representing the country at the Olympics means to experience every moment of it. Sadly, in our system athletes are flown from the country just a few days before their competitions,” said Olympian Mercy Kuttan, who took part in the 1988 Seoul Games.

Is it a cost reduction technique? “No. But, why should it be made such a big issue?” questions a protocol liaison officer with the Indian Olympics Association. “Few athletes just wanted to stay back and prepare, it is not done deliberately,” he argued.

When we enquire how it works within India, M. Velayudhankutty, office bearer of the Kerala state athletic association says: “You will not even find such a practice in the national games or inter-state meets.

The Tamil Nadu team arrives as different units, from Coimbatore, Madurai, Chennai and so on and likewise is the case with most other States. So there is no wonder the system is followed even at the international level,” he says.

So is there any proper justification for denying our Olympians the real ‘feel’ of the Olympics? Even if there isn’t, you can be certain that people who waited the whole night and felt disappointed will not be able to digest any of these excuses.