The Paris Games were attend by twenty-seven Indian athletes, led by Tokyo Olympics gold winner Neeraj Chopra. The only medal they had at the end of the games was a silver one from Neeraj in javelin throw.
After an impressive performance at the 2022 Commonwealth Games followed by the 2022 Asian Games, there was much expectation from the team. Eight medals were won by Indian track and field athletes in CWG – 1 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze. And then at AG, they had 29 medals with them-6 gold,14 silver and 9 bronze.
With such breathtaking performances prior to the Paris Games over two years, India’s athletics ecosystem expected no less than three Olympic medals. Even Neeraj’s medal color came as a surprise.
Asian Games champion and CWG silver-medallist Avinash Sable was the only Indian athlete other than Neeraj to make it to the finals in any of track and field events. He finished eleventh in men’s final of steeplechase in 3000m distance.
“Our country had highest number of entries for Olympics ever and when we had twenty-seven athletes going into Paris everyone within our athletics fraternity felt encouraged. Everybody thought that except him we will win two or three more medals,’ said Subramaniam.”
“Sable was one contender; men’s’ 4x400m relay team after their splendid show at WC last year created so much expectation but things didn’t materialize as expected.” “This means that if we want more than one medal at Olympic level we need to increase pool size of elite athletes,” noted Mahipal Gaur, NIS-trained athletics coach.
According to official data from the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) Mission Olympic Cell (MOC), expenses on athletics during this Olympics cycle stand Rs 96.08 crore. Given that Athletics took the highest share in the country’s total allocation of nearly 470 crores this time across 16 disciplines, it is without question. The previous Olympic cycle saw a grant of Rs 5.38 crore to athletics.
ATHLETICS: ATHLETES: 27 | MEDAL: 1 SILVER
