India has been participating in Olympics since 1900. But proper delegation was sent during the 1920 Olympics held in Amsterdam. And since then, India has been an active participating country in the Olympics and has never missed a single edition. In this Tokyo 2020 Olympics, 119 athletes will be taking part in various events. This is the largest contingent that is ever sent by India to Olympics. Though India has been actively participating in Olympics, it has won only 28 medals so far, which is quite disappointing despite its large population. Let us dive in together to find out the possible reasons for this low achievement.
It is not surprising to know that Indians have been dominating Hockey's field until its decline in the 1980s. It won't be wrong to say that the performance of India's Olympics is so poor. The best performance at Olympics was in London 2012 Olympics, where India got six medals, which are two silver and four bronze. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, India could get only two medals which were quite disappointing. But the hope for more medals is expected in this Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Since India has sent its largest contingent to Olympics with 199 athletes, can India bring more medals in this Olympics with 199 athletes participating? Well, it is not sure.
Talking about the present Tokyo Olympics, the performance of some athletes are performing so poor despite the high expectation from them. India is waiting for their second medal after their silver from Mirabai Chanu. Some international researcher predicts India's to win 19 medals in this Tokyo 2020 Olympics. But this prediction is falling apart despite its largest contingent in Olympics this year. Some Indian media are predicting India to win about 8-12 medals. We can also see some athletes are performing very well, which keeps the hope of 1.3 billion Indians alive.
India's population to medal ratio is deficient, about 0.0008, followed by Iraq 0.0017 and Sudan 0.0019. Most of the people may be thinking that high population is Proportional to the medals won in Olympics. But this assumption is not quite right. The question of the winning of low medals despite high population is tough to answer. Some experts suggest that it is due to the low per capita income of the country. We can also see that the investment in sports is meager in India compared to other countries. Moreover, India is still a developing nation, and its infrastructure is not quite good. We can also see that most athletes came from the villages where there is less opportunity for them in terms of availability of various equipment or proper fields. We can see that India has a high potential, but has it failed in converting that potential into medals in Olympics? Certainly, we can agree to that question of converting potentials to medals.
Tough the performance of Indian athletes in the Olympics is poor, but the hope for medals is still alive among all the citizens of India. The government of India is also doing its best to improve the medal tally of India. We hope to see India fly very high in the Olympics, and the hope for India's medal at the Olympics will still be kept high by the citizens of India.
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