PM’s Olympics Task Force

INDIA'S  dismal performance in the Rio Olympic Games has persuaded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to step in and set up a Task Force to improve India's performance over the next three Olympic Games. On its own, it looks like a good idea. The Task Force, expected to be set up in the next few weeks, will prepare the strategy for the training and selection of athletes. Since this plan is Modi's brainchild, we can be certain that it will not lack funding - and funding of athletes and their training is very important if a nation is to find success in international sport. 

The success of Great Britain at Rio highlights the importance of funding sport. In the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Great Britain finished 36th, with only one gold; after this disaster, John Major, the then British Prime Minister, decided to drastically increase funding for the Olympics sports. He decided to divert revenues from Britain's National Lottery into elite sport. In 1996, Britain's Olympics funding was £5 million a year; in stark contrast, in the four years up to the 2016 Olympics, UK Sport spent £274 million on working for medals. Great Britain won 27 gold at Rio, in a total of 67 medals, eclipsing sports superpowers such as Russia, China, Germany and Australia.

There is a correlation between money spent and Olympics medals won, but there's a catch - funds must be used in a very focused and sincere manner. The officials, coaches and athletes must be held accountable in order to make sure that money is spent in the best possible way. But if the Task Force comprises the same old officials who have been running Indian sport for decades, then no amount of funding is going to help. After all, the government did spend money lavishly to train Indian athletes for Rio 2016. Simply pouring in more money won't help; the officials who have presided over the mediocrity in Indian sport must be identified and asked to go. The Task Force might then prove effective.