By Shailesh Kapoor
The biggest of all sporting events is here. Rio Olympics will kick off less than 24 hours from now, and over 17 days, the best in the world will compete to win something few other sporting achievements can match – an Olympic medal.
Olympics may not be the most-watched sporting event in most parts of the world, but it is certainly the most prestigious one. From a broadcasting perspective, it is a challenging one too. Navigating schedules can be an arduous task, with more than a dozen simultaneous events at times. In the older days, we would rely on Doordarshan to give us whatever they thought was the best for us to see, on one channel. This broadcast by interrupted by long studio discussions, even as you missed the action that was unfolding at the same time.
Star Sports has attempted to address the “problem†of variety this time, dedicating four channels (and their HD versions) to the event. It’s still not very clear how one is expected to navigate through the maze and find what one wants to watch, but at least, there will be variety on offer.
My pet peeve related to Olympics coverage has been how incidental the India angle has been over the years. Ideally, one would expect a channel dedicated to India alone, which showcases only those events in which Indian athletes are participating. And when there’s no such event, the channel could air repeat programming or magazine content around India’s Olympic quest. I’m not aware if Star Sports has a specific plan like that, but I’m sure the India angle will be given more importance that previous years.
Historically, there’s not been much to shout about the India angle, which explains why it has never been given the visibility it deserves today. When I started watching the Olympics back in 1984, expecting India to win even a single medal amounted to wishful thinking. We drew a hat-trick of blanks in 1984 at LA, in 1988 at Seoul, and then in 1992 at Barcelona. Leander Paes broke that dubious streak with an unlikely Tennis bronze in 1996 at Atlanta.
Sydney 2000 was not much better. India’s sole bronze came from Karnan Malleswari in women’s Weightlifting. The hue improved in Athens 2004, with Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (now an MoS) winning a Shooting silver. But it was the only medal we won that year.
Beijing 2008 and London 2012 saw an improvement that many of thought we won’t see in our lifetimes. Abhinav Bindra’s gold in 2008 was backed up by Vijendra Singh and Sushil Kumar winning bronze. And the tally doubled to six in 2012, with two silvers and four bronze medals across four sports.
If the trend is anything to go by, we should be targeting double-digit this year. To be honest, I don’t have much of a clue of how realistic that is. While there has been cursory coverage of India’s medal hopes on news channels, it has been confined to off-prime slots or the sports pages. The front-pages and primetime bulletins have largely ignored this topic. And the depth of analysis has been missing.
The 120-strong squad, our biggest till date, will compete across 66 events. I Hope Star Sports and the rest of the Indian media covers these events prominently, even if they are not ratings-friendly. Because showcasing India’s participation with pride can have a defining influence on how our sporting culture builds over the next few years.
Jai Ho!