Paris Olympics 2024: A Fan Experience

This is a personal blog and I am writing this piece to just pen down my thoughts on how I felt during the Paris Olympics as an Indian fan.

Weeks have passed by since the Paris Olympics have ended. There had been some beautiful triumphs and some heartbreaking losses over the course of 16 days. As a sports fan in general, it is the adrenaline rush which makes us watch these live encounters and the Indian contingent didn’t disappoint in that regard.

I felt it was our best ever showing at the Olympics in terms of fan engagement as we were in contention in one sport or the other almost daily giving tough fights to the opponents. From hearing “Jeetega bhyi Jeetega India Jeetega” across multiple stadiums whenever an Indian stepped into the playing field gave nothing less than goosebumps and feeling of national pride.

With so many 4th finishes, there were a lot of heartbreaks. But it kept us involved in the different sports till the end. On the other hand, there were a lot of "firsts" in our Olympics campaign this year. Jotting some of them which are on top of my head right now:

• It was the 1st time we won back-to-back medals in Hockey since the twin bronze of 1968 Mexico and 1972 Munich.
• Lakshya Sen had reached semifinals of the men’s singles event. This was the 1st time an Indian shuttler reached the semis.                                                                                        
• Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula reached the round of 16 in Table Tennis women’s singles event. It was the 1st time in table tennis that someone had gone this deep in the tournament. 
• Manu Bhaker won 2 bronze medals in this edition of Olympics. She won a bronze medal in the singles event and won another alongside Sarabjot Singh in mixed team event. It was the 1st time an Indian athlete got 2 medals in the single edition of the Olympics.
• Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat reached the semifinals in the Archery mixed team event. It was 1^st time we reached semis in archery in any kind of category.  

There were mixed feelings in wrestling as a whole. While we were happy with Aman Sehrawat’s bronze medal, there was agony when we got to know about Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification.

Along with Vinesh Phogat, there were several other heartbreaks in Wrestling. Nisha Dahiya got injured in the quarter finals when only few seconds were left in the bout. Reetika Hooda reached quarter finals in the heavy weight category but lost a very close encounter.

Special mention to our golden boy, Neeraj Chopra. He became only one of few athletes from India who are multiple medal holders as he clinched the silver medal in this edition of Olympics.

There were many events which kept me awake after midnight, be it Javelin throw final featuring Neeraj Chopra, be it weightlifting featuring Tokyo Olympics silver medalist, Mirabai Chanu or be it tennis match featuring veteran, Rohan Bopanna and his partner, Sriram Balaji. I can safely say that it was worth ruining my sleep cycle to watch such events and cheer for our country.

As Indian fans, it's okay to be disappointed with the overall campaign India had as the overall medal tally could not match the tally of Tokyo Olympics which was our best ever showing till now. We were so near and yet so far in many of the events. However, the commitment and hard work of our athletes should be acknowledged. They will definitely come back stronger.

I also have an unpopular opinion. We have seen several times that sometimes during the later stage of a match, some athletes make mistakes and are not able to regroup in time so as to take command of the situation. As viewers, we mercilessly give tags like “chokers” to athletes without thinking much about the underlying issue. In my opinion, along with the sports infrastructure at grassroot level, we must also invest more in sports psychology. It is in these pressure situations that our athletes falter. We need good sports psychologist for players to have regular connects with them so that they can guide them better on how to handle these tough situations.

Hope these things are taken care of so that we can convert those heartbreaking losses to ecstatic triumphs by the time we reach the next Olympics which is to be held in Los Angeles. The 2028 Olympics is a long way to go but I am really looking forward for our athletes to train and prepare well so that they can bring laurels to our country.

At the end, I would just like to say, let’s continue to stand by our athletes, for the best is yet to come!