XXXIII Olympiad: An Eyewitness Account

It was my dream to witness someday, the Summer Olympic Games since childhood. However, to coincide Olympics with a visit to the venue is a rare possibility. Firstly, Summer Olympics are held every four years for 17 days. India is yet to host an Olympic Games. So, coinciding the coordinates with Olympics abroad is a rarest of rare occasion. Somehow, we got the chance this time in Paris quite effortlessly. I believe that if one desires with full heart, Gods conspire to make it happen. I thank my wife Dr Ajanta for this and my French citizen daughter Dr Priyanka for organising the brass stacks including a complimentary apartment in Paris from her friend who was escaping the Olympics madness to some rural tranquillity.

The ancient Olympic Games, which date back to 776 BC, was competed among elite athletes from Greek Island city nations and was exclusive to only Greeks. In later periods Romans were allowed and after some time this great sports carnival was lost in oblivion, same like Greek Civilization. Modern Olympics was re invented in 1894 with the establishment of International Olympic Committee (IOC) by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, leading to the first Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

The 33rd Paris Olympic Games refer to the 2024 Summer Olympics or the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad. Here are some key details about the event: Dates: July 26, 2024 - August 11, 2024 Location: Paris, France. Participating Nations: 206 countries participated in 32 sports and 5 new sports added by IOC, namely Breakdancing, Surfing, Skateboarding, Sport Climbing, and Karate. Venues: Competitions were taken place at various iconic locations in Paris and its suburbs, including the Eiffel Tower area, Grand Palais, and Stade de France.

Mascot: The Olympic mascot was a Phrygian cap, a symbol of the French Revolution, named "Phryge."

The budget at Paris 2024 was $8.2 Bn, it’s the ingenuity and optimisation expertise of French people that they could hold it at such a low budget. In comparison Tokyo 2020 cost around $ 28 Bn and Rio 2016 was hosted at estimated $ 11.6 Bn. France spruced up existing infrastructure. This is the third Olympics that Paris hosted, after previously hosting in 1900 and 1924. Perhaps they didn’t have anything to prove like other nations who host for the first time. In comparison India is yet to host the games and till next decade no chance.

The IOC contributes a significant portion of the finances needed to stage the Games. For example, the IOC contributed $1.7 billion to the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Ticket Sales: Tickets were available on authorized resale platforms and the official Paris 2024 website. As for spectators, over 9.5 million out of 10 million tickets were sold, with 145,000 spectators gathering in special fan zones during the Games. Additionally, nearly one million people watched the Olympic road cycling races on August 3rd and 4th , and more than 6 million visitors flocked to celebration sites across France. Some events even broke attendance records, such as athletics, basketball, rugby sevens, handball, and beach volleyball. It was aired to more than 6 Billion people worldwide.

The Paris 2024 Olympics featured 32 sports, including five new additions: Breaking, Sport Climbing, Skateboarding, and Surfing. Here's the full list of sports: Aquatics: - Artistic Swimming, Diving, Marathon Swimming, Swimming, Water Polo, Combat Sports: Boxing, Breaking, Fencing, Judo, Karate, Taekwondo, Wrestling, Team Sports: Basketball, Basketball 3x3, Football, Handball, Hockey, Rugby Sevens, Volleyball, Beach Volleyball, Individual Sports: Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Canoe Slalom, Canoe Sprint, Cycling: BMX Freestyle, BMX Racing, Cycling Mountain Bike, Cycling Road, Cycling Track, Equestrian, Golf, Gymnastics, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Skateboarding, Sport Climbing, Surfing, Table Tennis, Tennis, Triathlon, Weightlifting.

These sports took place across various iconic locations in Paris and its suburbs, like Stade De France, including the Eiffel Tower and the Grand Palais. We saw Cycling and many Athletics events in Stade De France. Whole city of Paris was decked up and river Seine was cleaned and barred for navigation for about a month. Aquatic events were held on the river.

We were lucky to see the Qualifying throw of Neeraj Chopra. That was a proud moment when his name echoed the Stade De France, and its 100000 spectators roared with applaud.

Many French friends asked us why a population of 1.4 Bn is so poor in Sports, we had no response to offer, except being embarrassed and feeling feeble and inferior. Sports is a way of projecting power of a country which China, Japan, Australia, France doing. In Cold War era USSR used to do similarly in Moscow Olympics, so thus Nazi Germany prior to WWII in Munich. Indian contingent at the Paris 2024 Olympics consisted of 117 athletes, with 70 men and 47 women competing in 16 sports disciplines, across 69 events, and vying for 95 medals. This was a slight decrease from the 124 athletes who represented India at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The Indian team was led by flag-bearers P.V. Sindhu and Sharath Kamal at the opening ceremony, while Manu Bhaker and P.R. Sreejesh carried the Indian flag during the closing ceremony. The contingent included athletes from various sports, such as athletics, badminton, boxing, hockey, shooting, table tennis, and wrestling.

India in Olympics: The country first participated in the Olympics in 1900, making it the first Asian nation to do so. This was a significant milestone, marking India's debut in the modern Olympic Games. Interestingly, Norman Pritchard was on vacation in France and decided to participate in the Games, competing in five athletics events - the 60m, 100m, 200m, 110m hurdles, and 200m hurdles. He went on to win two silver medals, becoming the first Asian-born athlete to achieve this feat.

India's total Olympic medal tally in all Olympics stands at 41, with 10 gold, 10 silver, and 21 bronze medals won exclusively at the Summer Games. India's most successful Olympic performance was at the 2020 Games, where they won seven medals, including 1 gold, 2 silver, and 4 bronze. Neeraj Chopra's gold medal in the men's javelin throw event was a historic first for India in athletics. India's Most Successful Olympians: - Neeraj Chopra: Gold medal in men's javelin throw (2020) and silver medal (2024). Sushil Kumar: Silver medal in men's freestyle wrestling (2012) and bronze medal (2008), Leander Paes: Bronze medal in men's singles tennis (1996). He participated in 6 Olympic Games.

However, it's worth noting that India's first official Olympic contingent was sent to the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, comprising five athletes. This marked the beginning of India's formal participation in the Olympic Games. However, India’s performance remained pathetic and abysmal due to lack of strategy, lack of talent hunting, scientific grass root level grooming, improper selection, lack of training, poor sports management by non-professionals, favouritism, lack of infrastructure and resources etc. Whereas other Asian countries like China, Japan, Korea etc has been exponentially successful through proper planning, strategy and focus.

The Paris Olympics 2024 had a staggering number of athletes and spectators. Approximately 10,500 athletes from over 206 National Olympic Committees and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team participated in the Games.

Notable Attendance Records: Women's Rugby: 66,000 at the Stade de France; Women's Basketball: 27,000 in Lille; Women’s Handball: 26,500

India's performance at the Paris 2024 Olympics was poor, with a total of 6 medals won, consisting of 1 silver and 5 bronze medals. This placed India 71st among the 206 participating nations. There was also a sordid affair of Vignesh Phogat disqualifying for 100 gm weight in 50 KG category.

Medal Breakdown:

Silver: Neeraj Chopra won the silver medal in the men's javelin throw event;
Bronze: Manu Bhaker won two bronze medals in shooting, one in the women's 10m air pistol event and another in the mixed 10m air pistol team event, Swapnil Kusale won a bronze medal in the men's 50m rifle three positions event, The Indian men's hockey team won a bronze medal, Aman Sehrawat won a bronze medal in the men's freestyle 57kg wrestling event.

Contingent Size: India sent a contingent of 117 athletes to the Paris 2024 Olympics, with 110 competitors and 7 alternate athletes participating in 16 sports.

Countries by Total Medals:

Rank 1. United States: 40 gold, 44 silver, 42 bronze = 126 total
Rank 2. China: 40 gold, 27 silver, 24 bronze = 91 total
Rank 3. Japan: 20 gold, 12 silver, 13 bronze = 45 total
Rank 5. France: 16 gold, 26 silver, 22 bronze = 64 total
Rank 71. India: Nil gold, 1 silver, 5 bronze = 6 total

India needs to really strategize if it wants to earn some respect as a sporting nation. Sport also shows overall health of a nation, its agility, vibrancy of youth etc. I think out of the list of Sports it should concentrate on select ones and focus region or ethnicity wise: My list is:

Aquatics: Artistic Swimming, Diving, Marathon Swimming, Swimming, Water Polo- the focus should be in coastal areas, riverine areas of North India, Bengal, Assam

Combat Sports: Boxing, Breaking, Fencing, Judo, Karate, Taekwondo, Wrestling, - the focus should be in Haryana, North India, UP, Bihar, MP, North east, Ladakh

Team Sports: Basketball, Basketball 3x3, Handball, Hockey, Volleyball, Beach Volleyball- focus in areas having tall people like J&K, Rajasthan, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Telengana

Individual Sports: Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Canoe Slalom, Canoe Sprint- Traditional Archers from Assam, Santhal areas will be good. Athletics need to be classified, and game wise strategy needed to be planned. For example Spear throwing Konyak Nagas will give Champion Javelin Throwers.

Cycling: BMX Freestyle, BMX Racing, Cycling Mountain Bike, Cycling Road, Cycling Track- in recent years there has been lot of interest in cycling and a giant pool of talents have come up.

Equestrian, Golf, Gymnastics, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Skateboarding, Sport Climbing, Table Tennis, Tennis, Weightlifting- These sports are possible but talent spotting, grooming, training and capacity building are very essential.

There should be an ambitious target to achieve at least 25 medals in 2028, 50 in 2032, 75 in 2036, 100 in 2040. It should be matched with budget, infrastructure, system, processes, execution; only then a movement will emerge and India will do what is expected of the most populous nation on Earth.