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I just noticed India has no medals. Can someone with more knowledge on this perhaps shed some light? Of the remaining sports are there any that India is a medal

I just noticed India has no medals. Can someone with more knowledge on this perhaps shed some light? Of the remaining sports are there any that India is a medal contender? I find it odd that a country with more than 1.2 billion would go through the olympics empty handed.

EwanToo 10y ago
The BBC published an article on this last week: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-36941269 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-36941269
- sremani 10y ago
  Excuses, Excuses. When DPRK, Bahamas, Bahrain, UAE, Brunei can win medals. There is no sound logic for any reason the apologists present for India not winning medals. Incompetence across the board (with an exception of some real hard working athletes). Phelps has more medals than India in its entire Olympics participation. Shame. Shame. Shame. edit: if downvoting me to hell is going to give a bronze medal to India, then please down-vote me to oblivion.
  - azernik 10y ago
    You're being downvoted because you're rejecting a coherent explanation in favor of insults and vague mentions of "incompetence". If you're claiming Indian athletes are incompetent - WHY? Lack of training, the good talent decides on other career paths, etc.
    - sremani 10y ago
      #1. I am old enough and tired enough to not worry about Karma points. People are free to down-vote, I am just trying to get a point across. #2. The article is not deep, it rings like shallow talking point of India not getting medal apologists. #3. Incompetence from head to toe. There are multiple factors, but to simplify and make it sound like a single problem issue, the biggest impediment to Indian sports are Indian Olympic Committee and Ministry of Sports, are primarily plump political posts. #4. No number of explanations can convince me there is a method behind the madness of 1.2 billion people that too a majority under the age of 30, cannot win one bronze medal. To win one bronze medal, you really do not need Nike or University of Oregon track and field program. Smaller nations that are far more corrupt than India were pulling medals and India did not. This is not a one off, India has remained at the bottom of medal tally for long time, Bejing and London gave some hope because of multiple medals, and now reverting to big ZERO is disheartening and maddening at the same time.
  - fellellor 10y ago
    While I agree that the article makes some very cliche points that are not supported by data, the same can be said about your comment, which has already been pointed out by others. For example, the article mentions caste, buts fails to notice that most of the athletes are not affluent people from upper castes. The kids going into cricket are from relatively well off families who are able to afford kits. However, The archery team's top people are mostly from tribal backgrounds. Also most of the people in the wrestling and boxing teams are from lower-middle/working class OBC backgrounds. I'm assuming the same can be said for a lot of sports like track and field, weightlifting etc. (the exceptions being sports like tennis, badminton etc.) Sport does present a good opportunity for many people from poorer backgrounds, who are able get jobs in public sector companies, for their sporting achievements. So these athletes have plenty of motivation to do well, and follow their prescribed training in a disciplined manner. What needs to be examined is how effective the sports administration is in various levels in identifying and supporting the athletes. Going by the results, they are not effective at all. So logically they have to take most of the blame. Edit: Also the article mentions good things about India's achievements in cricket. There again we have a very mediocre team which has a very difficult time playing in unfamiliar conditions outside India. However, I have heard good things of late, so that may be changing. So there may be some truth to the statement that our country produces some very mediocre-middling sportsmen irrespective of the facilities given to them.
niftich 10y ago
Try other years. The official Olympic medal database is somewhat awkward to use [1][2], but volunteers at Wikipedia have aggregated the data [3][4]. Prior to 2016, their latest gold medal was earned in 2008 and that year they earned 3 medals total, and prior to that in 1980, in which year they earned 1 medal total. [1] http://www.olympic.org/olympic-results http://www.olympic.org/olympic-results [2] https://www.olympic.org/india https://www.olympic.org/india [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_at_the_Olympics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_at_the_Olympics [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_table https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_t...
- fastball 10y ago
  Looking back at previous years doesn't really paint a better picture. Winning one gold medal in three decades isn't exactly what most people expect from the world's second most populous nation.
Chronic9q 10y ago
The Indian culture does not value athletics or physical fitness activities (or medical health, for that matter) as much as other countries. And it is showing.
- overcast 10y ago
  After spending a month there in March, I agree totally. EVERY adult male has a giant gut, and beyond their early 20's the women are all over weight as well. I was not really expecting that.
  - Ar-Curunir 10y ago
    Hahaha, I'm not disagreeing, but "a month ... in March" is a bit quick to form a judgement.
    - overcast 10y ago
      Welp, I spent time time in Chennai, Pondicherry, Bangalore, Mumbai, Jaipur, Pushkar, Agra, and New Delhi. Interacted with hundreds, and hundreds of people on job sites. I'm not sure what else I need to see to support my visual inspection of the Indian population.
      - ksk 10y ago
        You saw like 0.0000001% of the population and feel like you have a justified opinion? Wow. Well, personally I'd be embarrassed to say so, but to each his own.
        caf 10y ago
        If you're doing random sampling* then the proportion of the population sampled doesn't really matter if the population is very large. The margin of error is entirely dominated by the absolute sample size and true value of the underlying statistic being measured. * which of course this might not be
naveen99 10y ago
India does well in cricket, but it isn't an Olympic sport. Give it time. Internet literacy is still weak in the general public. Once they make a Bollywood film incorporating the wisdom of /r/fitness and /r/steroids , india will come with a vengeance. Atleast I hope...
- rrauenza 10y ago
  If they added cricket to the Summer Olympics, they wouldn't be able to announce the winner until the Winter Olympics... But seriously -- do you think they'd play 20-20 matches to make it fit? That's still almost twice as long as a soccer^H^H^H^H^H^Hfootball match.
  - caf 10y ago
    On the other hand, golf is now an Olympic sport...
    - naveen99 10y ago
      So is walking.
  - jessaustin 10y ago
    They could limit it to four teams. I'm no cricket player, but surely they could get in three games in two weeks? Yes many nations with marginal cricket teams (perhaps including India?) would complain that they were left out, but similar unfairness happens in every Olympic discipline, e.g. when the top five in the world are from one nation that can only send one competitor.
  - naveen99 10y ago
    The real popular cricket in india that I grew up playing is one tip catch out cricket. It can be played in minutes, with as few people as beach volleyball. Also if you hit the ball out of the playground or lose the ball, you are out!

EwanToo 10y ago

The BBC published an article on this last week: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-36941269 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-36941269

sremani 10y ago
Excuses, Excuses. When DPRK, Bahamas, Bahrain, UAE, Brunei can win medals. There is no sound logic for any reason the apologists present for India not winning medals. Incompetence across the board (with an exception of some real hard working athletes). Phelps has more medals than India in its entire Olympics participation. Shame. Shame. Shame. edit: if downvoting me to hell is going to give a bronze medal to India, then please down-vote me to oblivion.
- azernik 10y ago
  You're being downvoted because you're rejecting a coherent explanation in favor of insults and vague mentions of "incompetence". If you're claiming Indian athletes are incompetent - WHY? Lack of training, the good talent decides on other career paths, etc.
  - sremani 10y ago
    #1. I am old enough and tired enough to not worry about Karma points. People are free to down-vote, I am just trying to get a point across. #2. The article is not deep, it rings like shallow talking point of India not getting medal apologists. #3. Incompetence from head to toe. There are multiple factors, but to simplify and make it sound like a single problem issue, the biggest impediment to Indian sports are Indian Olympic Committee and Ministry of Sports, are primarily plump political posts. #4. No number of explanations can convince me there is a method behind the madness of 1.2 billion people that too a majority under the age of 30, cannot win one bronze medal. To win one bronze medal, you really do not need Nike or University of Oregon track and field program. Smaller nations that are far more corrupt than India were pulling medals and India did not. This is not a one off, India has remained at the bottom of medal tally for long time, Bejing and London gave some hope because of multiple medals, and now reverting to big ZERO is disheartening and maddening at the same time.
- fellellor 10y ago
  While I agree that the article makes some very cliche points that are not supported by data, the same can be said about your comment, which has already been pointed out by others. For example, the article mentions caste, buts fails to notice that most of the athletes are not affluent people from upper castes. The kids going into cricket are from relatively well off families who are able to afford kits. However, The archery team's top people are mostly from tribal backgrounds. Also most of the people in the wrestling and boxing teams are from lower-middle/working class OBC backgrounds. I'm assuming the same can be said for a lot of sports like track and field, weightlifting etc. (the exceptions being sports like tennis, badminton etc.) Sport does present a good opportunity for many people from poorer backgrounds, who are able get jobs in public sector companies, for their sporting achievements. So these athletes have plenty of motivation to do well, and follow their prescribed training in a disciplined manner. What needs to be examined is how effective the sports administration is in various levels in identifying and supporting the athletes. Going by the results, they are not effective at all. So logically they have to take most of the blame. Edit: Also the article mentions good things about India's achievements in cricket. There again we have a very mediocre team which has a very difficult time playing in unfamiliar conditions outside India. However, I have heard good things of late, so that may be changing. So there may be some truth to the statement that our country produces some very mediocre-middling sportsmen irrespective of the facilities given to them.

niftich 10y ago

Try other years. The official Olympic medal database is somewhat awkward to use [1][2], but volunteers at Wikipedia have aggregated the data [3][4]. Prior to 2016, their latest gold medal was earned in 2008 and that year they earned 3 medals total, and prior to that in 1980, in which year they earned 1 medal total. [1] http://www.olympic.org/olympic-results http://www.olympic.org/olympic-results [2] https://www.olympic.org/india https://www.olympic.org/india [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_at_the_Olympics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_at_the_Olympics [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_table https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_t...

fastball 10y ago
Looking back at previous years doesn't really paint a better picture. Winning one gold medal in three decades isn't exactly what most people expect from the world's second most populous nation.

Chronic9q 10y ago

The Indian culture does not value athletics or physical fitness activities (or medical health, for that matter) as much as other countries. And it is showing.

overcast 10y ago
After spending a month there in March, I agree totally. EVERY adult male has a giant gut, and beyond their early 20's the women are all over weight as well. I was not really expecting that.
- Ar-Curunir 10y ago
  Hahaha, I'm not disagreeing, but "a month ... in March" is a bit quick to form a judgement.
  - overcast 10y ago
    Welp, I spent time time in Chennai, Pondicherry, Bangalore, Mumbai, Jaipur, Pushkar, Agra, and New Delhi. Interacted with hundreds, and hundreds of people on job sites. I'm not sure what else I need to see to support my visual inspection of the Indian population.
    - ksk 10y ago
      You saw like 0.0000001% of the population and feel like you have a justified opinion? Wow. Well, personally I'd be embarrassed to say so, but to each his own.
      - caf 10y ago
        If you're doing random sampling* then the proportion of the population sampled doesn't really matter if the population is very large. The margin of error is entirely dominated by the absolute sample size and true value of the underlying statistic being measured. * which of course this might not be

naveen99 10y ago

India does well in cricket, but it isn't an Olympic sport. Give it time. Internet literacy is still weak in the general public. Once they make a Bollywood film incorporating the wisdom of /r/fitness and /r/steroids , india will come with a vengeance. Atleast I hope...

rrauenza 10y ago
If they added cricket to the Summer Olympics, they wouldn't be able to announce the winner until the Winter Olympics... But seriously -- do you think they'd play 20-20 matches to make it fit? That's still almost twice as long as a soccer^H^H^H^H^H^Hfootball match.
- caf 10y ago
  On the other hand, golf is now an Olympic sport...
  - naveen99 10y ago
    So is walking.
- jessaustin 10y ago
  They could limit it to four teams. I'm no cricket player, but surely they could get in three games in two weeks? Yes many nations with marginal cricket teams (perhaps including India?) would complain that they were left out, but similar unfairness happens in every Olympic discipline, e.g. when the top five in the world are from one nation that can only send one competitor.
- naveen99 10y ago
  The real popular cricket in india that I grew up playing is one tip catch out cricket. It can be played in minutes, with as few people as beach volleyball. Also if you hit the ball out of the playground or lose the ball, you are out!