Olympic losers: Why is India so bad at sport?

[Gibbs]

If genes matter then why are Dravidian sri lankans doing okay?

Not all Sri Lankans are Dravidian, Only Tamil Sri Lankans are..They constitute to only 17% of the population.. Others are either other races or mixed

 

[Jai.Singh]

Rank, Country, Number of GOLD Medals as of now :

48) India : 9Medals

66) Pakistan : 3Medals

-) Afghanistan : not in list

-) Srilanka : not in list

USA at top with 975 GOLD Medals..

 

[Kambojaric]

Nah Genes matter mate.. Along with ofcause sporting culture and resources to manage championship outfits.. For example there is a reason that disproportionate number of Sprint Champions comes from the Caribbean, Even those who have won medals for the US have Caribbean ancestry, Like wise East Africans excel in long distance events

So it's a combination of many factors

Only in certain sports. I remember reading about the "sprinter" gene that exists in the Caribbean but that is no reason for us to be so weak in sports such as table tennis, boxing, weightlifting, hockey etc. For example in hockey Pakistan and India dominated world hockey for about three four decades, but then the governing body changed the track to artificial turf and all of a sudden both of us started losing on a regular basis to the likes of Germany and Australia, teams that used to fear us before.
Why is that? Because whilst these countries could afford artificial turf on a large scale India and Pakistan could not. Whilst our players trained on actual grass, suddenly when they went to the olympics, the ball would fly away from their sticks because their is very low friction on artificial turf and our old "dribbling" hockey style was utterly useless on such turf. Because of lack of funding we could not move on with the rest of the world as only the very big cities such as Lahore or Mumbai had artificial turf grounds. The foundation of our players however was still made on real grass and that factor alone has made a worlds difference in our fall from the top.
India now seems to be recovering a bit as their government has invested more strongly in hockey infrastructure (along with forming an IPL type hockey league). We are still lagging behind however.

 

[neem456]

Goldman economists have predictions for rio olympics.

Country Gold Total

USA 45 106
China 36 89
India 1 8
Srilanka 0 0
Bangladesh 0 0
Pakistan 0 0

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...n-s-economists-are-forecasting-olympic-medals

 

[Gibbs]

Speaking a non-Dravidian language does not stop one from being a Dravidian. Here are Indo-Aryan speaking Sinhalese, do they look anything like Pakistanis or North Indians? No
Jayasuriya:

They look no different from Tamils.

most Sri Lankans inter marry and have mixed lineages.. Nobody said Lankans in general look like North Indians or they are of North Indian stock.. Neither are they hung up on appearances like others.. But genetics does not solely constitute on complexions.. If we're to cherry pick i can post pics of groups of Lankans that look like Middle Easterners or pic of Pakistanis that look like South Indian


Sinhala people make up about 75% of the population, And Moors, Malays and Burghers add up the rest along with Tamils both Lankan and Indian(Plantation)

 

[Gibbs]

Only in certain sports. I remember reading about the "sprinter" gene that exists in the Caribbean but that is no reason for us to be so weak in sports such as table tennis, boxing, weightlifting, hockey etc. For example in hockey Pakistan and India dominated world hockey for about three four decades, but then the governing body changed the track to artificial turf and all of a sudden both of us started losing on a regular basis to the likes of Germany and Australia, teams that used to fear us before.
Why is that? Because whilst these countries could afford artificial turf on a large scale India and Pakistan could not. Whilst our players trained on actual grass, suddenly when they went to the olympics, the ball would fly away from their sticks because their is very low friction on artificial turf and our old "dribbling" hockey style was utterly useless on such turf. Because of lack of funding we could not move on with the rest of the world as only the very big cities such as Lahore or Mumbai had artificial turf grounds. The foundation of our players however was still made on real grass and that factor alone has made a worlds difference in our fall from the top.
India now seems to be recovering a bit as their government has invested more strongly in hockey infrastructure (along with forming an IPL type hockey league). We are still lagging behind however.

It is also the fact with the introduction of Astro turf the game got much faster and more physical, Hence the sub continental teams really found it hard to compete on endurance and the physicality of the European sides, Indians and Pakistanis may still have the edge of the skill in Hockey such as dribbling and overall ball control but they lack the strength head to head with the other countries

 

[Gibbs]

Okay man, Sri Lankans look like Middle Easterners.

You have comprehension issues.. I said if you cherry pick , Anybody else could too..

Nobody said Lankans in general look like North Indians or they are of North Indian stock.. Neither are they hung up on appearances like others

Either way Lankans doesn't have this hungover on appearances dark, fair doesn't matter, As it does to some of you.. It's a very diverse community down there either way

 

[CorporateAffairs]

Anti National Congress and its leaders ate away funds mean for athletes.
Took bribes to select players.
Reason explained.

 

[Crying wolf]

Saudi guy won silver medal in 400m hurdles 2000 Sydney Olympic

 

[adil_minhas]

It is also the fact with the introduction of Astro turf the game got much faster and more physical, Hence the sub continental teams really found it hard to compete on endurance and the physicality of the European sides, Indians and Pakistanis may still have the edge of the skill in Hockey such as dribbling and overall ball control but they lack the strength head to head with the other countries

That is the main reason.

Also, there is no may. The level of skill in ball control and dribbling is still the best in the subcontinental players.

The game was changed by the whites to their advantage. Simple.

 

[Gibbs]

Saudi guy won silver medal in 400m hurdles 2000 Sydney Olympic

Good find.. Very little info on him.... Most online resources are very poor on info on non Western athletes

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics2000/athletics-track/944737.stm

 

[Kambojaric]

It is also the fact with the introduction of Astro turf the game got much faster and more physical, Hence the sub continental teams really found it hard to compete on endurance and the physicality of the European sides, Indians and Pakistanis may still have the edge of the skill in Hockey such as dribbling and overall ball control but they lack the strength head to head with the other countries

Whilst its true that European and Australian players are bigger and more physical than ours, that does not mean we cannot bring forward the same kind of players. Punjab/KPK is full of big guys (just take a look at Mohammad Irfan), but our whole hockey culture is centred around dribbling and finding gaps in really small spaces and that is because players grow up playing on real grass. We failed to adapt to the modern game because we tried to imitate our players from the past. Further players are paid pitiful amounts of money so how can they be expected to beef up. In a tournament last year the Pakistani captain claimed because they got no money from the hockey federation the players had been feeding themselves on a diet of white chickpeas. So a lack of change in culture coupled with chronic lack of funding in player salaries and infrastructure as well as low public following are imo the primary reasons for our demise in hockey. Genes is a marginal factor overall and an easy way out for us to explain our lack of success at the olympics.

 

[adil_minhas]

Whilst its true that European and Australian players are bigger and more physical than ours, that does not mean we cannot bring forward the same kind of players. Punjab/KPK is full of big guys (just take a look at Mohammad Irfan), but our whole hockey culture is centred around dribbling and finding gaps in really small spaces and that is because players grow up playing on real grass. We failed to adapt to the modern game because we tried to imitate our players from the past. Further players are paid pitiful amounts of money so how can they be expected to beef up. In a tournament last year the Pakistani captain claimed because they got no money from the hockey federation the players had been feeding themselves on a diet of white chickpeas. So a lack of change in culture coupled with chronic lack of funding in player salaries and infrastructure as well as low public following are imo the primary reasons for our demise in hockey. Genes is a marginal factor overall and an easy way out for us to explain our lack of success at the olympics.

You too have a point brother. We have a state level bodybuilder working for us. Won many trophies. One day, my dad asked him why he is becoming thinner. Is everything alright (health-wise, bad habits). He finally confided in my dad that he got married, and they had a baby. Now all the money he use to spend on his milk and eggs and chicken is being spent on the baby. He cannot train like before. He is still training but the bulk is just not sustainable. So it is very much like this in our part of the world. We are not rich. We still need to struggle to put food on the table. A sportsman needs to concentrate only on his or her sport. Not how to feed himself and his family. Sad but true.

P.S. We now give our worker monthly chicken and eggs and milk allowance. And he wears our company logo in competitions with pride. And has beefed up again. Though not yet to full competition level as before.

 

[Gibbs]

Whilst its true that European and Australian players are bigger and more physical than ours, that does not mean we cannot bring forward the same kind of players. Punjab/KPK is full of big guys (just take a look at Mohammad Irfan), but our whole hockey culture is centred around dribbling and finding gaps in really small spaces and that is because players grow up playing on real grass. We failed to adapt to the modern game because we tried to imitate our players from the past. Further players are paid pitiful amounts of money so how can they be expected to beef up. In a tournament last year the Pakistani captain claimed because they got no money from the hockey federation the players had been feeding themselves on a diet of white chickpeas. So a lack of change in culture coupled with chronic lack of funding in player salaries and infrastructure as well as low public following are imo the primary reasons for our demise in hockey. Genes is a marginal factor overall and an easy way out for us to explain our lack of success at the olympics.

I agree genes are not an excuse for poor performance of South Asians but it is a considerable factor that they need to face in gamut of other issues..

Ofcause there are exceptions to the rule in every nation as you rightly point out, Also with globalization, growing economies with greater access to nutrition and recources, training methods etc.. The gap in physicality between the global north and south will decrease

 

[powastick]

I think Indians should start from community-level, every citizens engage in daily exercises and sports.
It will not only build a huge pool of potential sportsmen/sportswomen, cultivate a sense of "everybody is exercising" social norm, but also significantly improve people's general health condition and life expectancy.

In my city, after dinner, public squares and community parks are full of people doing exercises. All school stadiums and playgrounds are open to public after teaching hours for free.

We have a Yangtze River bank park stretching nearly 30km. Now we are upgrading the river bank parks to 55km long, 6 million m2 big.
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What kind of public facilities you have in Wuhan?