Chicago – August 16, 2024
India, home to more than 1.4 billion people, is the world’s most populous country, according to the United Nations. In 2022, India surpassed Britain as the world’s fifth largest economy, and last year became one of just four countries to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon. And it’s led by an ambitious prime minister who has widespread influence on the global stage.
But when it comes to the Olympics, India punches below its weight.
India won just six medals in Paris, falling short of its record haul of seven at Tokyo in 2021.
The United States, with less than a quarter of India’s population, topped the charts with 126 medals followed by China with 91.
India ranked 71st in the medal table, below nations with much smaller populations including Georgia, Kazakhstan and North Korea.
India has now won just 41 Olympic medals in total since its debut in 1900, all at the Summer Games.
“There is no doubt that India has been an underperformer in the Olympics and generally in global sports,” said Ronojoy Sen, author of “Nation at Play: A History of Sport in India.”
India sends far fewer athletes and support staff to the Olympics than top teams like the US, Majumdar said. For example, 117 Indian competitors went to Paris, compared with nearly 600 Americans.
India also faces broader health challenges that impede development and curtail sporting potential from childhood, experts say.
