Us versus them

Olympics, Olympics and Olympics — if anybody was doing anything else in his and her leisure time and not watching the ongoing display of extreme sporting professionalism and the rise and fall of national glory on Tokyo’s sporting fields then I must say that it was not a leisure time best utilised.

Watching Olympics is all about learning the fighting spirit, the spirit of resilience and perseverance and the great desire to win. Loss is best understood and taken when you are anticipating it and prepared for it but in Olympics the best of the best competes and even losing means losing with courage and only after you have tried your best. Olympics is not just about winning and losing but also about the stories full of emotions, the rise of nobody’s to suddenly become somebody. It’s about a 58-year-old winning a medal (Kuwait’s Abdullah Al-Rashid won the bronze medal in shooting). Olympics are not where you break only records — you also break many hearts and there are both tears of joy and tears of sadness that touch our souls.

How could you miss the display of extreme sportsmanship by the high jumpers, Mutaz Essa from Qatar and Gianmarco from Italy? Both were competing for the high jump gold medal; and when both executed their first six jumps up to 2.37 meters (7 feet 9 inches) and neither could convert at the Olympic record height of 2.39 (about 7 feet 10 inches), both decided to share the gold medal. A jump off was offered by the Olympic officials but both refused and shared not only the gold medal but the accompanying humility, selflessness, friendship, sportsmanship and national glory.

Imagine the thrill Olympics bring in the lives of nations when somebody wins the first ever gold for his/her country. Philippines a nation that had never won gold medal at Olympics; and after 96 years, 30-year-old women Hidilyn Diaz won it for her country in the 55kg weight-lifting event. Also imagine a nation of only 64,000 people and an athlete comes and wins gold for his country. That was Flora Duffy creating history by winning a gold medal for women’s triathlon and thus winning a gold for the least populated country at the Tokyo Olympics.

At Tokyo, Ahmed Hanfnaoui from Tunisia demonstrated that it is not the star power (Europeans and American star swimmers) but individual ability, training and resilience that matter in the end. The 18-year-old Hanfnaoui despite being allotted the trickiest end lane won a gold medal for his country in the 400m event. Iran was also made proud by Javad Foroughi, 41, who won a gold in the 10m air pistol event.

India’s men hockey team did well to beat the Germans in the bronze-medal playoff. After being 3-1 down at one point the team made a huge comeback to defeat Germans by 5-4.

Since 2016, Pakistan’s hockey team has not been able to qualify for Olympics. This is a team that won three Olympic gold medals — 1960 in Rome, 1968 in Mexico and 1984 in Los Angeles. Apart from this our hockey team is also a winner of four world cups. What has gone so right with the Indian hockey and so wrong with our hockey?

Indian Olympic Association President Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra created history in May 2021 when he became the first Indian to be elected twice as the President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH). His interest in hockey clearly demonstrates the achievements of his country. There is also this Twenty20 of hockey coming up — called Hockey5s (played by 5 players per team). Like T20 in cricket, it will be non-stop end to end high scoring action. Oman has been selected to host Hockey5s world cup (both for men and women) the qualifying matches for which are being held in 2022. This is besides the Olympics but if we have gone so poor and can’t play eleven men hockey would we be as bad at playing the Hockey5s tournaments? Is something being done about it?

What about the rest of our athletes and their efforts in the Tokyo Olympics? The Talhas and the Arshads of this nation are not the product of our Athletic Federation or our Olympic Association. Talha finished 5^th in the 67kg weight category weight-lifting event. His training and preparation were personal and without a coach, without equipment and without any resources. The story of Talha is a story that makes him and the people of this country proud but his story is also a story of shame for our athletics federation and our Olympic Association.

The Pakistani girl who ran the 200m heat finished last and her timings were 28.12 seconds. The Olympic Association and the Athletic Federation is drawn in a fight in how she was unfit and not recommended and yet sent because of Olympic Associations interference.

Who are these people that hold the positions of chairman and president in our associations and federations? If the constant push for meritocracy is not their ideal, why are they being allowed to continue in their positions? Why are they being allowed to continue to set benchmarks of shame for this country? My personal request to the Army Chief is to have the retired army officers immediately removed from these positions because to the common man their continuity only reflects their consistent failure and through them the failure of an organisation that sheds even its blood for not failing.

The 2024 Olympics are to be held in Paris. Is it so difficult to prepare for it? Only athletics is contested for 50 gold medals; multiply this with three and we are talking about contesting for 150 medals. Whether it is hockey, boxing, weightlifting or athletics, is it so difficult to hunt for the talent in this country? If there is talent available, is there not enough time to build and develop that talent? But if no one is even bothered to do that, why do we have all these federations and associations and all those enjoying perks and privileges and doing little or nothing in the end.

PM Modi is calling India’s all Olympic participants for a dinner on the country’s national day’s celebration. Arshad Nadeem (javelin thrower) from Pakistan might just be that sole Pakistani who may deserve the similar treatment here. It is time for a national introspection. It is time to give sports in Pakistan the treatment that it deserves. To do that, we must place the right people for the right job.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2021.

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