India sets sights on hosting 2036 Olympics amidst challenges and aspirations

It’s now official: India will bid to host the 2036 Olympics, with Ahmedabad proposed as the host city. An audacious dream, some doubters may say. Despite being the world’s fourth-largest economy by GDP, the country hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory at the greatest show on earth, even though it has been part of the modern Games since as far back as 1920.

Just consider this: the total medal count stands at 41, including 10 gold, 10 silver, and 21 bronze medals. It’s the men’s hockey team that accounted for eight of those golds, while the two individual gold medals were picked up by Abhinav Bindra and Neeraj Chopra. The last edition in Paris had India finish in 71st position, with just one silver and five bronze.

A host nation certainly needs to do better than this — and that is the main concern for those driving the bid campaign over the next few years, including legendary athlete PT Usha, President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). She was the face of a high-powered delegation that visited the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, in July to make the country’s intent clear — and were handed a ‘to-do’ list if India is to emerge as a serious contender for the 2036 edition.

Not many would doubt India’s growing clout in sectors like industry, IT or healthcare, but its overriding image in the global sports ecosystem remains that of a cricket superpower or the erstwhile magicians of hockey. India did a decent job hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, the last multi-discipline showpiece in the country, and two editions of the Asian Games (1951 and 1982), but the Olympics is a different ballgame altogether.

When GN Focus reached out to Usha, the erstwhile sprint queen of Asia, whose agonising fourth-place finish in the 400-metre hurdles at Los Angeles 1984 is part of India’s sporting folklore, she sounded excited.

“It was a privilege to offer India’s candidature for the 2036 Summer Olympic Games. We discussed threadbare the things to do to strengthen our bid and have already set the ball in motion,” says Usha, whose tenure has been a bit of a rollercoaster, marked by cracks between her and the executive committee over the appointment of a CEO and a number of contentious issues disrupting day-to-day operations of the umbrella sports governing body for nearly two years.

However, that now seems to be a thing of the past, with Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, the Union Minister Of Youth Affairs and Sports, playing peace broker and urging all parties to put up a united front to make the Olympic dream a reality. It was therefore a refreshing sight to see the IOA top brass, alongwith the executive committee, wax eloquent during a meet titled Powering India’s Sporting Aspirations: IOA’s Vision 2036 last month.

“The biggest challenge for us is to try and place India among the top 10 in the medals tally in the next 10 years if we want to create a legacy. Other issues will take care of themselves,” says Usha. “This is a critical area where many factors are not entirely within our control. That said, we recognise the urgent need to improve. We have already set a plan in motion with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (MYAS), wherein we aim to convert our fourth-place finishes into medals and win gold medals at the Olympic Games.”

She adds, “The dynamics of a medals tally say that a single gold can put India within the top 30, but we are not going to limit ourselves to a single gold, we want many more. We aim to be in the top 10 in the next 10 years.”

This plan may sound lofty, but it is essential if India is to emerge as a successful host. While individual Olympic medals have been rare in India’s journey, few are better placed to speak on the sweat and tears behind creating champions than Pullela Gopichand. A former All England champion and Dronacharya awardee, his Hyderabad-based academy has produced both Olympic badminton medallists ¬ PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal ¬ and churned out an impressive assembly line of talent over the past 15 years.

Offering a reality check, the chief coach of the Indian national badminton team says, “A 10-year gap looks like a long time, but if you look at how developed nations prepare, we should have started the planning as of yesterday. For me, improving performance is the biggest concern as the other issues can be sorted out in due course. We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that we finished with six medals in London 2012, and 12 years later in Paris, the tally is still the same. We certainly need to do better than this,” says Gopichand.

What gives him hope, however, is that the chatter around the Olympics and its build-up now continues year-round — not just during and after the Games as it used to.

“The ecosystem for sport has undergone a lot of change in India over the last decade, with the introduction of TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) helping elite athletes with training and exposure, and the Khelo India programme promoting sports culture at the grassroots level.”

Anju Bobby George, the long jump ace who gave India its first-ever podium finish in the World Athletics with a bronze in 2003 in Paris, revealed that India is also looking to host three marquee events in the coming decade.

“While the Olympics is the ultimate dream, our government is also looking at staging the Youth Olympics and the World Athletics,” says George, who is Vice President of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and a key member of the government’s Mission Olympics blueprint.

Asked about the IOC’s concern over the spiralling number of positive doping cases among Indian athletes, George offers a candid perspective.

“You must appreciate that we have a huge population and hence, the number of tests is higher. Young athletes often see excellence in sport as a way out of poverty and are prone to such mistakes, but we are now planning to work inclusively with them ¬ involving the National Sports Federations (NSFs) and India’s National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) to strengthen our efforts through tighter monitoring, increased random testing, and enhanced education for athletes.”

Now that IOC President Kirsty Coventry has put a pause on the decision regarding the 2036 host for the next three to four years, the race to stage the Games has become more open. Qatar, which hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup, has already announced its intent to form a bid committee, while Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Indonesia are also in the fray ¬ a far cry from when Thomas Bach, Coventry’s predecessor, had to decide both 2024 and 2028 hosts due to a lack of interest.

The road ahead is tough, but India looks game for the challenge.

- Gautam Bhattacharyya, Special to GN Focus