India’s Olympic Dream: Building Towards 2036

The country felt immense pride when India won its third T-20 world cup recently, there might be an argument like why a country having so much problem should care about the sports. The fact of the matter about the sports is that they are one of the matters which critically unites people across the country together without any difference. As sports are extended habits of human society which shapes people’s cognitive thinking and encourages them to engage in social conversation. 

As sports have many positive effects India should make use of it. The Olympics of 2036 is very crucial for a developing country like India to host. As the 2030s are becoming the decade for Asian countries in the field of development of sports like India is hosting commonwealth games in 2030 and 2031 Men’s cricket world cup along with Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia is hosting 2034 Fifa world cup then this would be the 2036 Olympics of India. 

Why to organise the Olympics 2036 ? 

Critics point to India's development gaps, air quality, and infrastructure shortfalls as reasons to avoid an Olympic bid. But these gaps are also the argument for bidding: an Olympic deadline creates political and financial pressure to fast-track transport, housing, and environmental projects that might otherwise stall for decades. The risk is real, Olympic hosting has a history of cost overruns and underused venues, but if infrastructure spending is planned with post-Games use in mind, the Games can function as a forcing mechanism for development India already needs, not just a two-week spectacle. 

India is not performing well in the Olympics, criticising the infrastructure of the country and so on. When Neeraj Chopra got a gold medal, people took immense pride saying India got a medal. Yes ! The medals will improve when countries have capacity to improve, the hosting of the Olympics 2036 will give a way for that. The classical example would be China as before the 2008 Beijing Olympics the number of athletes who participated from China increased three times than earlier one. That also changes the medals winning ratio among athletes. The people who are demoting sports as a secondary matter have to understand that for some it provides livelihood, for the understanding of that one who thinks why there are no or less medals for India ‘the medals will increase’ when the athletes who are participating for the country increase.

The Olympics are one of the important aspects which shape the foreign policy of the country, the people have to understand the influence of countries' interaction with each other. It shapes the connections of people to people from different nationalities, which can strengthen the ties between countries. The argument can be made with India’s past of having international summits like the AI summit that happened recently highlighting the problems, externalities can be possible for a diverse country like India but the fear of past events. There is no denial for the argument that India has to improve its infrastructure but that shouldn’t affect the nation’s decision on future events. Externalities and gaps should not stop India from developing its infrastructure and fulfilling the gaps for the event which will happen after ten years. 

There has been a significant increase in the sports participation of Indian youth in many sports by the games like ‘Khelo India’ which also provides chances for tribals as ‘Khelo India tribals’ to engage in the same ladder as non-tribals. It increases the connection between the people across the country even for the people who are not connected. It shows that India has the capabilities to host sports events, in the ten year future the gaps can be filled. The country which has diverse populations, sports and physical activities will connect and unites the people in the same banner. What is greater than the feeling of representing the country in an international event? When the person wins, it means the country wins.