Abhinav Bindra on Asianet News 'Samvad': 'Winning is crucial, but not the only thing'
Abhinav Bindra spoke to Asianet News's 'Samvad' exclusively to discuss various topics, including the Olympic sporting culture in India and why some Indian athletes resort to doping.
FollowIndia is gradually on the rise in terms of competition across sports. At the same time, its increasing tally of medals in each Olympics is a happy sign of India on its course to becoming a sporting powerhouse in the future. With the Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP) being introduced, the awareness regarding Olympic sports will be raised more. However, at the same time, the doping allegations against some athletes are ruining the country's reputation in the sporting culture. On the same note, Abhinav Bindra spoke on Asianet News's 'Samvad' and discussed the topics and the Indian shooters struggling.
What is Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP) all about?
"The power of sport is beyond winning or losing in the field of play. The power of sport is the society at large can imbibe through sport. Sport teaches you a little bit about winning, and sport also teaches you how to lose. Sport teaches you integrity, honesty, setting goals and following them, teamwork, building relationships and listening to different points of view. But, all in all, what sport can do to our very young society is create an immense potential."
"Not all our [Indian] citizens will go and compete at the Olympic Games. But, I think each Indian citizen would do well and benefit significantly from living the philosophy of Olympism. And that exactly is what OVEP is directed towards. It is an experiential learning program for the youth."
"As a nation, we are all after the economic success, and it's fascinating to note that all the most significant economies of the world also happen to be great sporting superpowers. And I believe they have become great economic powers because sports have played an essential role in the foundation of that society. And that is the humble way we have started [OVEP] in Odisha, where we will start in about 100 schools. Then, based on the results and the impact it creates, the vision, at least, is to imbibe it into the state education board, which in turn would then impact seven million kids of that state."
"But, we also must ensure we do not build a toxic culture for sport. When I talk about building a toxic culture of the sport, it could very quickly happen that we get one-dimensional and focus on winning. In sports, winning is crucial, but winning is not the only thing. And that is where we must add much value to what sport can do to society as a whole."
"At an Olympic game, you have 10,000 athletes who compete. Only 300 of those athletes go back with those gold medals. What are the rest? They are not losers, but they gain a lot from sport. And, in terms when we actively try to build a culture for sports, we have to ensure that we attack enough values to the softer elements that sport can do, and how sport can shape our society."
ALSO READ:Â Abhinav Bindra on Asianet News 'Samvad': 'Athletes are not super-humans, they are immune too'
Should the focus be on people being more and more involved in sport?
"Take shooting, for example. We didn't win any medal in the Tokyo Olympics or prior. But, this country's depth of talent in the sport is immense, which is also a good indicator that the sport, even though it has not won medals at the Olympics, has developed to a great, great degree over the last decade. You can see the number and the quality coming through. Now, we have a new team, completely different from the one that competed in Tokyo, and we have stars emerging from it."
"All that argues well. This program [OVEP] will also help in increasing participation in sports. Elite sport is always a niche world over there. You are not suddenly going to get millions of people dedicating 20 years of their life to elite sport. It's not going to happen. But, we need those numbers and push those numbers higher. But, those numbers would only go higher if people increase their participation in recreational sports, which would mean more people devoting a long time to pursue sports excellence."
ALSO READ:Â International Olympic Day 2022: Abhinav Bindra to Neeraj Chopra - A look at all medalists from India
Why have the Indian shooters failed to fire at the Olympics?
"Well, pressure is a fine thing. Nobody can perform under pressure. If I put you under pressure, I will show you the struggle. It's just how human beings are wired. We didn't win in Tokyo, but we must go beyond that. We should look at it holistically and see how the sport has developed for the last decade."
"I'm so sure the sport has developed. And what it can do is further refine its preparation for the Olympics. They made some mistakes in their preparations. I think it was Tokyo should teach them and their system at large and the young athletes that the Olympics is not just another competition, but a great competition. And the athletes will be under pressure, and you cannot escape that pressure. You have to learn to work with that pressure. That is a learning curve that the preparation has to be precise."
"There are several elements that have to come together. The skill element, the physical element, and the recovery element need to be refined. They have to be tactical as well. But, you ensure that when you are at the Olympics, you have your batteries at 100%, you are training at your best form during those two weeks, and that is where a scientific approach to training is essential, trying to focus hard on that last 1% to get an edge over others."
"When you go to an Olympics, it's a small competition. A World Championship would attract more participants, but the Olympics would draw a small group but are the absolute best. Each of them is capable of winning on a particular day. So, you have to try and get some edge in there. Science, technology, engineering and medicine play a significant role in the athlete's overall development."
ALSO READ:Â Olympic Values Education Programme launched across India, inaugural project in Odisha
What is the biggest challenge faced by Indian shooting so far?
"Frankly, I don't know. I don't follow it as closely about the working and preparation of the team. There were some talks about the change in coaching after Tokyo. A year after the Games, the process finally happened. So, it is a matter of defining the right policies and selection criteria because you are spoilt for choices, which is a little bit of a headache, as you need to ensure that you have the proper selection criteria and policy to ensure that you select the right athletes. You must ensure that the athletes keep developing, which I think is the challenge."
Why have Indian athletes engaged in doping?
"It boils down to creating the right environment in sports. As I talked about the toxic environment before, when you make winning too big, athletes do whatever they can. They become susceptible to using things which are illegal and banned. So, creating the right environment is very important to ensure that athletes also develop the correct values. And that can only happen through proper awareness and education. Although we won some medals in the Olympics, we are third or fourth in the world regarding the shame list, which is certainly not a good sign, and it talks a little bit, for me, about the environment in our country."
