6 ways Indian officials horribly let us down at Rio

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Governments come and go, sports ministers and administrators change, but what remains constant is the criminal apathy and utter neglect of our athletes. Time and again, tales of administrative mismanagement emerge from major sporting events such as the Olympics. 

 

Imagine, how much better the performance of our athletes would have been, if those in power took care of their needs, small and big. 

 

Here is the Rio Edition of how the administrators epically failed our Olympians.

 

1. Kits that won't fit

 

 

This is story plays itself out at every Olympic games with unfailingly. Athletes have to turn out in gear that won't fit. How difficult would it be to get the clothing sizes of a contingent that's only 125-member big.

 

The Indian men's hockey team were forced to miss the grand Rio Olympics 2016 opening ceremony all because the boffins at the Indian Olympic Association (IOA)  failed to get the measurements right. 

 

Read more: With kit that won't fit, hockey team to skip Rio opening ceremony

"The kit that was handed to the players has not fit most of them. The players didn't have the time to check the clothes since they reached Rio quite late and were given the kit on the day they started their trip," a source said to PTI.

 

2. Vests without the India logo

 

 

The International Boxing Association (AIBA) threatened to ban Indian boxers because their vests didn't bear the country's name they were representing. The Indian officials were running helter-skelter to fix this last-minute problem and get new gear.

The statutory requirement of wearing the country's name on the kit was violated which almost landed the boxers in a soup.

 

"It was pointed out to us and it has been sorted. It is a very normal issue, lot of countries face this problem of their kits not being up to it. In such instances, the organisers themselves provide the replacements," said national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu matter of factly.

 

3. Sub-par facilities in Rio

 

A day after the Indian hockey team landed in Rio, coach Roelant Oltmans wrote to the Indian Chef de Mission Rakesh Gupta informing him about the inadequate facilities in the apartment where the team was put up.

 

(Image Source Facebook)

In the pictures shared by Batra on Facebook, the apartments were empty with no furniture other than bean bags. 

 

Read more: Misery in Olympic village for Indian hockey team

 

Batra, in his post, asked Gupta “Dear Mr President IOA and Chef De Mission Indian contingent… have you all and IOA Staff who have gone to Rio, are on some kind of a Paid Holiday? (sic)."

 

It wasn't just an uncomfortable stay but the athletes were treated with scant respect even during the events.

 

India's national record holder OP Jaisha collapsed after running the marathon in Rio because there was no one from the Indian management to provide her the necessary refreshments at designated intervals during the 42.2 km race. 

 

 

"There were officials from other countries to provide refreshments to their runners at designated points - after every 2.5 km - there was no one from India and our desks were empty next to the country's name and flag," a distraught Jaisha told TOI.

 

After the issue attracted attention on national television, Sports Minister Vijay Goel said, “When it came to our notice, we told our officials there, to address and resolve these problems. One crore rupee has been transferred to Indian Embassy in Brazil for buying any additional items for the Indian contingent.” 

 

4. Spelling 'mistake'

 

Sports minister Vijay Goel went to Rio, at taxpayers' expense, ostensibly to cheer the Indian contingent. All he ended up doing was rack up gold medals in the sport of national dishonour. While offering Twitter cheer for India's now world-famous gymnast, the minister could not even get her name right. Goel was trolled on social media for the misspelling. 

 

 

Goel wrote, "Best of luck to Dipa Karmanakar Indian Artistic Gymnast, Women's vault #KheloIndia #JeetoRio."

 

 

It wasn't just the typos. Ahead of Srabani Nanda's 200 m track event, Goel, in his tweet, attached Dutee Chand's picture instead of Nanda's.

 

5. 'Selfie' glorification

 

In the midst of all the chaos our athletes endured, the Goel and Haryana's sports minister who was also in attendance, were preoccupied clicking selfies.

 

Speaking to ANI, Congress leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said that under the pretext of cheering Indian squad, minister Vijay Goel and Haryana sports minister Anil Vij were busy with "self-glorification" at the Rio Games. 

"We have seen how the sports minister has got a letter from the Olympic team (organising committee) saying that all his access will be denied if his contingent, the people he is travelling with him, continues to be rude and arrogant. How embarrassing as a nation is this for us,” Chaturvedi said.

Sarah Peterson, an official in the Organising Committee warned Goel about revoking his accreditation.

 

6. Discriminating against our athletes

 

The delegates who accompanied the athletes gifted themselves the de-luxe treatment that should have been the right of the participants. Sprinter Dutee Chand had to travel by economy class for 36-hour long hours while the delegates checked into business class. “If players are treated like this, what kind of performance will we give in Olympics?” Chand said in a Quartz India interview.

 

 

Another incident which revealed the hypocrisy of our authorities was when Dipa Karmakar’s physiotherapist was denied permission to accompany her as it was considered “wasteful” by the Sports Authority of India. But the moment she qualified for the finals, the physiotherapist was hurriedly packed off to Rio.

 

Also, it has been alleged that Indian team’s chief medical officer in Rio wasn't a sports medicine expert but a radiologist.