No Medals for Trying

 

Gold is the color of this season. Nation of 130 crores is celebrating the success of an Individual athlete apart from a couple of silvers and 4 bronze medals across various sports. This is the highest achievement for India at the Olympics. Apart from Hockey medals and the sole individual wrestling medal by Khashaba Jadhav, we had to wait for the whole 20^th century till the Leander bronze in 96. In this millennium there have been medals but nothing like 2021. This Olympics was also was the most controversial after the early 80s boycotts during the cold war, thanks to the pandemic. Kudos to all the organizers and participants for organizing this successful event.  And special thanks to all Indian athletes to make the nation proud especially after all the negative reporting of our country during the Pandemic. Finally seems like we have moved on from the bureaucratic stronghold over sports. We have realized that there are no medals for trying. It’s all about winning

But then there is one school of thought which cynically discounts all the hype around these medals. These medals don’t count till we remove poverty and hunger out. The taxpayer's money spent on the gold quest can feed many people. The Olympics are for developed countries that have social security for people. Look at the medal tally, discount Russia (OC) and China for their autocratic ways; all other top 10 nations are first world countries. But then for a country like India Olympics are the affirmations to be part of world hegemony and part of our quest to be counted in the mainstream of world politics and economics.  Though there is no tangible correlation between medals won and clout in hegemony, the very fact that you compete against the best and win has the indirect impact that rubs of in other fields as well. Again this is a highly contentious issue. But then as a Nation, we have no choice but to try and create systems to create winners and fight poverty as well. And there are no medals for trying.  

But we have a long way to go to achieve levels for excellence in sport. We lack the system and attitude needed. Our kids are more focused on academics. The main reason is the lack of fall back system for people who focus their golden years on sports. This binary nature of success has its own pitfall. There are no medals for trying. Unless you succeed you have no guarantee of a better life. With the advent of leagues and money pouring in in certain sports we are seeing tangible results as we saw in Hockey.  Gold was a result of Army support. Can we provide such support in civilian lives example can universities provide such world-class facilities as they do in the top 10 medal-winning countries? We need answers and solutions with a note that there are no medals for trying.

Also, we need to democratize Olympics as such. Sports like Athletics, Swimming, and Gymnastics have proportionally higher count than other sports and team events.  There is no representation of sports like Cricket which is the first choice for one-fourth of the world population.  The rules within a sport are also manipulated to suit western countries as seen in sports like Hockey, Wrestling, and so on. We have some of the best business, tech, and political brains in the world. We should definitely have more say in the organizational decisions through lobbying. We need to win battles beyond the arena and again there are no medals for trying.

Buzz Aldrin the second man to reach the moon had interestingly quoted that nobody cares about bronze or silver medals summarizing his own story. Maybe both Ravi Dahiya and Chanu will disagree. So will the Hockey team, Punia, Lovelina, and Sindhu. But this quote merely highlights the binary nature of winning. The winner takes it all.

Traditionally we have had misunderstood the teachings of Bhagwad Gita. Bhagwad Gita doesn’t advise people to keep on doing their job without worrying about results. It asks us to be proficient in our work, focus and persevere like Neeraj Chopra. Medals will follow. They are the outcome. Dan Gable has said Gold Medals aren’t really made of Gold, they are made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called Guts. Those who lost by a whisker or missed the medallist should improve on things that went wrong and do the ‘karm’ ie strive till you get a medal.  This is a road that doesn’t end till you win the medal. There are no medals for Trying.  After you discount the romanticism in her books, even Ayn Rand’s Objectivism confirms that what matters is your uncompromised dedication towards excellence.

But the downside to the binary nature of life is the big black hole of unsung and uncelebrated heroics of many who failed to win. Be it sports or in profession or life in general. Many promised to deliver and failed. They went into oblivion. Some didn’t even try. But the most common thread of such stories is that their journey ended mid-way before they won. Some may attribute it to destiny thanks to external factors or due to internal weaknesses. And life never offers equal footing to everyone to start the race. Life offers different challenges for different competitors.  But the only choice for us is to fight. As Gold winner like Jesse Owens had said, “the battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself: the invisible battles within all of us”.  And we have to win these battles. Only those who win are remembered and there are no medals for trying.

But despite this, all of us who don’t have Gold medals have a small consolatory thought that is invaluable as we grow older in our lives:  Our wrinkles are our medals of the passage of life. They are what we have been through and who we want to be. You have won them.