Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his speech from the ramparts of Red Fort on the occasion of 78th Independence Day, lauded the performance of Indian sports person in the just concluded Paris Olympics. The Olympians found a proud place amongst the audience, and the Prime Minister further facilitated them personally, later in the day. I do not recall any Prime Minister who has personally met so many sportspersons, time and again and followed up their performance so closely. The Prime Minister also repeated the resolve to host the 2036 Olympics in his speech. It is interesting to note that the BJP has pledged the conduct of 2036 Olympics in its manifesto released prior to the Lok Sabha elections this year. In tune with its vision of achieving the goal of a developed nation (Viksit Bharat) by the year 2047, the idea of hosting the Olympics needs to be taken seriously by the nation as a whole.
The Olympics is the ultimate sporting spectacle, and hosting this most prestigious event means that the host nation has arrived at the international scene. Summer Olympics are held every four years; the last one has just concluded in Paris, France. The schedule till 2032 has already been decided: Los Angeles, USA for 2028 and Brisbane, Australia for 2032. Therefore, India has to make a very serious bid now to stake a claim for the Summer Olympics in 2036.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clearly signalled his intention to host the mega event in 2036. In fact, he mentioned that India has the potential to be a global hospitality and event management hub. He once highlighted the successful conduct of the G-20 Summit in India in the year 2023. The Indian Government has been working silently to create a big sports infrastructure in the country. Initial preparation has already commenced for hosting the Olympics at Ahmedabad and in the vicinity. India faces a tough challenge from Indonesia and Turkey, who have already bid to host the 2036 Olympics. In fact, India is keen to host the 2030 Youth Olympics as the necessary prelude for the 2036 Olympics.
The final selection for the hosting of the 2036 Summer Olympics will be done by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after a deliberate and long-drawn process. It goes through the venue masterplan and the alignment of the host nation with long-term development plans. The IOC also looks at geopolitical stability and socio-economic factors in addition to funding strategy and public support. However, the nation’s economic might is generally the clinching factor, as evidenced by the selection of London, Paris, and Los Angeles as the venues for three Olympics by the year 2028.
With India already the fifth largest economy in the world and tipped to be amongst the top three well before 2030, it would be an opportunity lost if we do not seriously bid for the Olympics by leveraging our economic clout now. The hosting of the Olympics clearly signals the universal acceptance of our economic might and, coupled with the stability of the largest democracy, makes India an ideal candidate to host the Olympics as an Asian giant. Financially, hosting the Olympics may be expensive, but the dividends for India and the Indians are manifold in the long term.
The last major international event hosted by India was the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in Delhi, which was mired in corruption related to the creation of sports infrastructure. Before that, we had hosted the 1982 Asian Games, and once again, Delhi was the venue. While other specific sport international events like Badminton, Hockey, Cricket, etc., have been held in our country, a major sporting event equivalent to the Olympics has not taken place in India for a considerable time. Therefore, the clarity and dedication to host the premier Olympics in India in 2036 is just in time and needs to be pursued aggressively.
The path to the Olympics also leads to rejuvenating sporting culture in the host country with many collateral advantages. Besides the creation of world-class sports infrastructure, the economy gets a major boost, and a long-lasting ecosystem emerges. Tourism gets a major push, and the aviation sector is better connected. Big visible projects like bullet trains, metros, road and rail networks are introduced in big measure. It generates huge employment opportunities, and a lot of start-ups are finding their feet.
However, sports infrastructure alone does not create a sporting culture. We as a nation have to focus on various sports disciplines to become a sporting powerhouse. India finished with a respectable tally of 107 medals in the 2023 Asian Games, but the tally of one silver medal & five bronze medals in the Paris Olympics can, at best, be termed satisfactory. The present Government has kept the focus on multiple games where we can improve the tally as a nation, but sadly, we are a long way from becoming a major Olympic champion like China or Japan. For such success, Indian sportspersons have to concentrate on sports disciplines, which offers more medals. For example, 37 Gold medals are available in Swimming at the Olympics, but India drew a blank in the 2020 & 2024 Olympics. Thus, India has to improve in a big way in Athletics, Swimming, Shooting, Boxing, Weightlifting, etc., which offer more medals.
India’s youth are hooked on Cricket, a game played by not more than ten nations, and thus, it is unlikely to be an Olympic discipline. Even if Cricket becomes an Olympic sport, it still cannot offer more than two medals. It’s a matter of pride that India won the T20 World Cup recently, but frankly, it is not really a sport played by big sporting powers like China, Japan, Russia, etc. There is a lot of money to be made by playing cricket, and it is an attractive career option for the youth. It is increasingly difficult to motivate the youth to pursue other sports when they see big money in cricket. We as a nation seem to have improved in sports where financial incentives are more; Cricket, Hockey, Badminton and Kabaddi are a few examples of televised league events promoted by corporations and industry. Alas, Olympic discipline perforce has to be promoted by the government as these are not necessarily popular events.
With more focus on academics, Games and Sports do not find much importance right from the school days. The sports facilities in most of the schools are lacking or are barely available. Specialised Sports Schools are far and few. Thus, catching young talent is always a challenge. The various sports governing bodies and administration must also be managed more professionally. The incentives for the sportsperson are easily given by the State Governments and the corporate industry based on some local-level performance. This makes our sports person complacent and they do not try to improve their performance. In my opinion, no sportsperson should be given any incentive below the Asian Games’ standard. The so-called national level & state level achievements which entitle incentives should be scrapped. We as a nation have to set the bar high and push our sportspersons to excel at the international level.
In India, major employment providers like the Army and Railways have promoted sports in a big way so far. Now private participation and encouragement from the corporate is much better. We are on the right track to improve in some of the disciplines because of the realisation that the results come a long time after investment. Besides identifying the right talent, a huge amount of investment in training gives the expected dividends. The case of Neeraj Chopra of the Army winning the gold medal in the javelin in the Tokyo Olympics and the silver medal in the Paris Olympics is a case in point. For an Asian giant and an emerging global power like India, a long-term strategy is needed to promote the sports culture in India. Actually, it means identifying talent amongst 10 to 12-year-old boys & girls right now if such talent has to be delivered in the 2032 or 2036 Olympics.
As an aspirational nation with the vision of Viksit Bharat in 2047, India’s bid to host the Olympics in 2036 is an idea whose time has come. In the Modi 3.0 Government, we Indians should work collectively to pursue the aim of hosting the 2036 Olympics in India and also to push the medals tally in future Olympic games. All the stakeholders, including the opposition, should be united in pursuit of this national glory to make India a sports powerhouse at the earliest.
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