Decoding India's Olympics Puzzle: Tamil Nadu Sports Administrator Shares First-Hand Insights On Needs, Roadmap

Over the years, there have been a variety of responses to the age-old question: why does India, with its unparalleled youth population, only win a handful of Olympic medals each time? A large proportion of those responses have focused on building a sporting culture before expecting peak performance at the highest level.

But sports administrator Atulya Misra believes it's more about strategy than culture. Misra, who was part of the Paris Olympics delegation in 2024, put things in perspective at the 'Greater Than' podcast hosted by Surendran Jayasekar.

Strategy Over Culture

"We realised that there are 1,008 medals to go for (at Paris 2024). There are 329 different disciplines, 32 major games. Now the country which wins will get around 119-120 medals. To be in the first five, you should have at least 50-60 medals. To be in the first 10, you should be vouching for 30 medals. But India is still struggling with six-seven medals.

"What we found was that out of 32 games, India participated only in 16. Out of 369 various disciplines, we participated only in 69. So we are only participating in 25% of Olympics. And then we need to win medals," Misra, who serves as additional chief secretary to the Tamil Nadu government, said.

The senior IAS officer has since authored a book on India's Olympic aspirations, titled 'Olympic Quest'. In the almost 600-page book, he imagines a fictional seminar in Chennai, where experts from around the world congregate to discuss the evolution of their sports, from coaching philosophies to infrastructure, from grassroots to global podiums.

"This book is basically a compilation of those imaginary speeches. But everything which is written in the book is facts," Misra added.

Tamil Nadu Success Story

Tamil Nadu’s emergence as a sports hub is a major part of the book. In addition to unearthing a number of prodigious talents, especially in chess, the state has hosted a number of notable international and national events like the 44th Chess Olympiad, Asian Champions Trophy hockey, Khelo India Youth Games and Asian Surfing Championships.

With Odisha already showing the way in terms of becoming a model sports state and they country's hockey mecca, the rise of TN bodes well in the macro picture. To add to that, Ahmedabad (or Amdavad) will be hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2030 and has been pitched as the prospective host city in India's candidature for the 2036 Olympic Games.