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The brutality of the Olympics coverage

“Strange business the #Olympics - You can be 4th best at something out of all the people on the entire planet and be deemed a failure #brutal,” former England international Gary Lineker tweeted yesterday.

Lineker would find Indian media frighteningly brutal.

“India began their match against New Zealand like lions, but walked back with tails between their legs,” says DNA on India’s hockey loss.

“In shooting, Indian girls Rahi Sarnobat and Annu Raj Singh finished at lowly 19th and 30th respectively to bow out at the qualification stage,” says Zee News.

“The men’s team lost in a close shoot-out to Japan while the women’s team, ranked second best in the world, fared no better losing to Denmark in the first round itself at the London 2012 Olympics. From the team event the focus swiftly shifted to the individual competition and the outcome was no different,” says Zee News.

The general sense of unhappiness with the performance of the Indian contingent stems from the expectations that media creates – often misplaced. AP
Later, the article says, “This was the first time since Athens Games that the Indian archers had managed to grab all the six quota places for the Olympics. Naturally, the expectations were high.”

Mint has this to say. “Wednesday’s first round exit of Deepika Kumari is a case in point. Ranked No 1 in the world, she was arguably the one sure-shot medal bet in these Games. But like her teammates, she fizzled out without a semblance of a fight, losing 2-6 in the first round itself to Great Britain’s Amy Oliver who was ranked a lowly 37.”

The general sense of unhappiness with the performance of the Indian contingent stems from the expectations that media creates – often misplaced. To most sports experts, the Indian hockey team qualifying for the Olympics was an achievement in itself; a decent performance would have been a boost, and getting out of the group stage would have been a surprise bonus. By all accounts, they have lost hard-fought matches, yet a cruel media castigates them.

Our stars finish a ‘lowly’ 19th and 20th, another loses to an opponent who is ranked a ‘lowly’ 37th.

Can we put this into context, please? These numbers pertain to global rankings, not the rankings for Bandra West or GK II or Besant Nagar. All it takes for you to be a ‘lowly’ 19th is for 18 others to be better than you on a particular day. Let’s see any of these writers be ranked 19th in anything in the world.

Gary Lineker is spot on. It’s brutal, when coming 4th is considered a failure, and coming 19th – God Forbid – heaps shame on the individual.

To all those Indian sportspersons who qualified for the Olympic Games, here’s a message from all of us at Firstpost – Congratulations on having the talent to make it to the Olympic Games. And whatever the final result, thank you for the effort.

by Anant Rangaswami
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