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Obesity is not the issue causing this. India has an almost billion person population with a 15% obesity rate with 0 medals while the US has a 33% obesity rate w
by throwthisawayt 10y ago
Obesity is not the issue causing this. India has an almost billion person population with a 15% obesity rate with 0 medals while the US has a 33% obesity rate with 80 medals and a third of the population.
Funding and culture are the biggest issues. The only sport Indians care about and that you can financially support yourself professionally is in cricket. Unsurprisingly India is quite good at cricket and would def. have some medals if it was an Olympic sport.
The truth is that indian has millions of potential athletes who never pursue their passion because they are pressured by parents to focus on academics and other areas. There is no culture glorifying athletes. The few who do end up being athletes play cricket.
- overcast 10y agoI never said anything about obesity causing the issue with athletics. I was agreeing that the general Indian population doesn't seem to value fitness or health. Which from my limited experience, is absolutely true.
- toomanybeersies 10y agoBut the same can be said for the UK or the USA, and they both have very good Olympic records.
- overcast 10y agoWhich just reinforces the original statement, that India doesn't give a shit about fitness/athleticism. We value sports highly in the states, thus we have a large talent pool.
- caf 10y agoYes - the India Premier League is the most valuable cricket competition in the world.
- flashman 10y agoYes, let's see a chart of first-class runs scored per head of population.