Why is india so weak in the olympics?

[CurtSibling]

@Betazed:

I don't mean mind-reading -

I mean it is easy to spot some people's racist triumphalism in their typing.

 

[betazed]

I mean it is easy to spot some people's racist triumphalism in their typing.

So now you say they type differently? Wow, Curt! Never knew that. Silly me!

I am learning much from your cruel tutelage.

 

[CurtSibling]

Curt: Even if any poster here felt superior to India, such feelings of superiority are not necessarily based on race and could just as easily be based on nationality.

An amusing and outrageously flawed justification.

For instance, I feel superior to you because I am an American citizen and you are a British subject, not because I think that my West Slavic ancestors could beat up your Germanic ancestors (history shows that it works the other way around, after all). It is nationalism, not racism. They are not one in the same.

If your imagined feelings of superiority make you slumber better at night, well and good.
Honestly, the USA's clumsy attempts at world order does not affect my life,
and means as much to me as my toenail clippings.

And 'citizen', you are as much a subject to your 'monarch'...

The argument that there is some kind of laudable aspect in nationalism cracks me up also.

It is a small step from a patriotic attitude to a burning jingoistic hate, and attached racism.

If you ask me,
The two are interchangeable.

 

[CurtSibling]

So now you say they type differently? Wow, Curt! Never knew that. Silly me!

I am learning much from your cruel tutelage.

Guards! Arrest this insolent fellow!

 

[SeleucusNicator]

An amusing and outrageously flawed justification.

When did I intend to justify anything? It was an explainatory post.

The two are interchangeable.

Perhaps in cases where a nation consists virtually entirely of one ethnic group, then yes. But generally, no, they are not interchangeable.

They may both be equally good or equally bad, but that doesn't mean they can't be distinct.

 

[samildanach]

China has an interesting Olympic strategy. They want to maximize their medal count, so they are setting up government academies for all of the obscure Olypmic sports, which they hope to sweep in 2008.

Like basketball?

I think India will do better when they have the muscle to foist their sports on the international community. Like Kabadi or snake charming. Since GB has a significant Indian pop. we might get silver medals in those. Or we might get to see the GB competitor go into convulsions as he is bitten by his snake and the Germans sneak the silver.

 

[Cuivienen]

The latter sounds more probable

India, while it has a huge population, is neither a very rich country, nor a dictatorship, nor do they have strong Olympic traditions. Any country that does well at the Olympics in the major events has at least one of those.

Rich (and spends a lot of money on athletics) -- US, Australia, Japan, Western Europe
Dictatorship (essentially) -- China (there's more to it, but that's a big part)
Olympic traditions -- Romania, Russia, Ethiopia, Kenya, US, Australia

And those, most of the time, are the countries which win the major medals.

 

[SanPellegrino]

Cuivienen, all good points, I like to add that the importance of competitive sports itself in different societies varies.

 

[romelus]

Rich (and spends a lot of money on athletics) -- US, Australia, Japan, Western Europe
Dictatorship (essentially) -- China (there's more to it, but that's a big part)
Olympic traditions -- Romania, Russia, Ethiopia, Kenya, US, Australia

agree with almost everything. though i don't think dictatorship directly relates to sports performances, they certainly don't snatch atheletic looking kids from the streets and throw them into brutal training. what is there in china are sports academies which parents can send their kids to, and a pretty generous incentive system. i suspect india would do quite well if it had these things

 

[silver 2039]

Lack of funding and lack of people intrestead in sports more than anything. There have actually been several arciticles on this.

 

[Mapache]

The willingness and the limited access to take steroid drugs is reducing the chances of Indian athletes.. The UK is performing pretty poorly due to their inferior race.

 

[Tassadar]

I maybe wrong, but i think india cultur is not as competetive as US for exemple.

I mean , individualism is not as strong, they do not find self glorification a goal in their life.

I think it is related to their religion also, but like i said i maybe totaly wrong.

 

[WS78]

Well it's partly due to the unofficial caste system, but more than anything: lack of the sports culture to encourage athletes.

 

[betazed]

Well it's partly due to the unofficial caste system,

Why do you think caste system would affect sports performance?

 

[WS78]

So you don't think social order has anything to do with carreer oppurtunities?

 

[betazed]

So you don't think social order has anything to do with carreer oppurtunities?

I may or I may not think it does.

But even if it does, are u sure caste system determines social order and that determines sports performance in India (which is the point of this thread)? if you do all i want to know is why you think it does?

 

[romelus]

are there other non-competitive cultures who also have poorer than expected results at the olympics?

i think canadians are not very competitive by nature

 

[Mapache]

are there other non-competitive cultures who also have poorer than expected results at the olympics?

Mexico has no medals and Brazil 2 bronze.
Brazilian soccer players are the best, though.

 

[samildanach]

The willingness and the limited access to take steroid drugs is reducing the chances of Indian athletes..

Even prospective police candidates have to load up on 'roids to have a hope of making it into the indian police force

The UK is performing pretty poorly due to their inferior race.

Which inferior race is letting us down do you think? We have so many!!!

 

[airrahul]

It is a lack of funding and interest. In India, a youngster doesn't have the luxury of being able to play sports and train for them with the hope of competing in the Olympics unless one's father is a movie star or a business exec. Otherwise, they have to study like hell to get better college entrance exam scores than the millions of other kids who are giving their exams at the same time. Also, I'm of Indian descent but a US citizen and having grown up in the US and seen a lot of other Indian-descended people grow up here, I think culturally, Indians tend to value education more than sports. My parents and the parents of many Indian-Americans I knew never went outside and played baseball with them but they did make them sit down and do multiplication tables every day (I'll never forgive my parents for that daily dose of boredom). And of course, in India, there is a lack of funding for such things.