#Sportonomics

Consistent Recognition And Rewards Necessary For Athletes To Bring In The Gold

WHILE THE LONDON Olympics has ensured that India has begun well on the path to becoming a sporting nation, it also brought to fore that recognition, accolades, and rewards are reserved for just the few that got in the medals. Business houses, few of which have been responsible for the transformation over the last few years, have jumped on the bandwagon to ensure they ride on the fame of the medalists to get a rub-off affect on their brands.
While success has to be celebrated and more so because it is in short supply in the country, it is also necessary to highlight the efforts of the winners and others consistently because the growth of a sporting movement is dependent solely on this factor.

The most telling story of the Olympics is shooter Vijay Kumar's statement after he won the silver medal. He told media that he was surprised that they were surprised that he won a medal: "I am a national champion since 2004 in my event. I won two gold medals with a new (Commonwealth) Games record in the Melbourne edition (2006), a gold and bronze in Doha Asia Games, a silver in World Championship, three gold and a silver in 2010 Commonwealth Games, two bronze in Guangzhou Asian Games, and if still my medal winning performance has surprised people, I can't help it." The media could have helped if they had followed and highlighted his achievements over the years. The Indian officials and corporate brands, would have then hyped him up like they were doing for Saina Nhewal, Vijender Singh, Mary Kom.


Now that Vijay has proved his worth, even the Sports Ministry has included him, along with wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the nation’s highest honour for sportsmen for a specific achievement in a year.

While this is applaudable, though it is against the rules if the year of performance is taken into consideration, the achievements of shooter Ronjan Sodhi and boxer Vikas Krishan in 2011 have been relegated into the background. Hence Sodhi and Krishan will continue to win in obscurity and we will all express surprise when they win, but only in an Olympics meet. One wonders what award Vijay would have received if he had finished fourth in the Olympics, without a medal, though he has been a consistent winner in the international arena.

A sporting culture is about celebrating the success of our athletes at all levels and providing encouragement through all means at all times. This ensures that the athletes are always recognised for their exploits, pushing them to perform better and finally beat the best at the biggest event of them all. To develop this culture further, it is important for the Sports Ministry and the corporate world to work together and develop a continuous process of providing recognition, accolades and monetary benefits, not just wait every four years and gain some shine from the metal that the athletes bring in.
It is only then that the athletes can concentrate on beating the world, rather than bear additional pressure which will hamper their performance. India would have been a silver medal lesser (a lot for the country) if Vijay Kumar had looked around during the finals and felt despondent and hence distracted while discovering that there weren't many, if any, Indians or Indian media while he was shooting to win.

Source: www.Sportzpower.com
Pic Courtesy: www.thehindu.com