“Sport as a low cost, high impact tool for social change, fostering inclusivity, promoting physical and mental health, and nurturing essential skills among young people” is what the Olympics stand for!
On the sidelines of this year’s Olympic Games in Paris, India’s ace shooter, Abhinav Apjit Bindra, was awarded the highest Olympic honour, in recognition of his contribution to sport and to the ideals of the Olympic movement.
The citation from the Olympic Committee, read out in his honour, said of Bindra:
“A true champion on and off the field of sport. Who throughout his life has demonstrated an outstanding commitment and dedication to the Olympic values in his country and beyond. As the first individual Olympic champion of India, you have a special place in your country’s Olympic history. Reflecting on your Olympic success, you once said that what you learned through from that victory, was that it was not about personal ambition, but how it meant so much to so many people in your community. Through your Abhinav Bindra Foundation, you have embarked on a remarkable journey to harness the transformative power of spowrt to improve lives and build stronger communities.
One of the Foundation’s most impactful initiatives is the collaboration with the Olympic Values Education Programme to bring the benefits of sport to over 15 million school children in the Indian states of Odisha and Assam.
This ambitious project is a shining example of sport as a low cost, high impact tool for social change, fostering inclusivity, promoting physical and mental health, and nurturing essential skills among young people.
You have also demonstrated a commitment to preserving our planet for future generations inspired by the Olympic Forest Project of the IOC, you’re a driving force expanding the Olympic Forest Network in India with the ambitious plan to plant 1 million trees as part of an eco-restoration project in Odisha.
You are making an invaluable contribution to the Olympic movement’s wider response to the global climate crisis, making the world a better place through sports. You have taken this, our Olympic mission to heart in an outstanding way.”
In his Acceptance speech, Abhinav Bindra said, “it was this incredible honour, which really leaves me extremely humbled and overwhelmed. When I was a young boy, it is these Olympic rings, which gave meaning to my life and it was a privilege to be able to pursue my Olympic dream for over two decades. Post my athletic career, it has been a great passion of mine to try and contribute back to the Olympic movement. It’s been a privilege and an honour. This award only fuels that passion more, and I hope to continue to even work harder and keep contributing to the Olympic movement for the rest of my life.”
Bindra’s Run in with fame and Achievements
Abhinav Apjit Bindra won India’ s first individual Olympic gold medal in the 10m Air Rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He is the first Indian to have held concurrently the World and Olympic titles for the men’s 10-meter air rifle event, having earned those honours at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships. Bindra has also won seven medals at the Commonwealth Games and three medals at the Asian Games. With more than 150 medals in his 22-year career, he is the recipient of the Padma Bhushan, and is one of the top influencers of sport policy in the country.
In 2018, Abhinav was bestowed with the prestigious Blue Cross, the ISSF’s highest honour. Bindra is also currently a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission. The mission is to ensure that athletes’ viewpoint remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement decisions, representing future, current and recently retired Olympians. At the 2024 Olympics, our national flag, at the contingents’ parade, was held by him.
The Olympic Order, the highest IOC Honour
The Olympic Order, established in 1975, is the highest honour bestowed by the IOC, recognising individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the Olympic Movement. The insignia of the Olympic Order is in the form of a collar (or chain), and a lapel badge (photo) in Gold, Silver or Bronze according to grade; the front of the chain depicts the five rings of the Olympic Movement, flanked on either side by kotinos emblem (olive wreath).
The Olympic Order was established in May 1975 by the International Olympic Committee as a successor to the Olympic Diploma of Merit. The Olympic Order originally had three grades (gold, silver and bronze).
In 1984, at the 87th IOC Session in Sarajevo (Yugoslavia), it was decided that in future there would be no distinction between the silver and bronze order.
The gold order would continue to be awarded to heads of state and to others in exceptional circumstances.
The insignia of the Olympic Order is in the form of a collar (or chain), in Gold, Silver or Bronze according to grade; the front of the chain depicts the five rings of the Olympic Movement, flanked on either side by kotinos emblem (olive wreath). A lapel badge, in the form of miniature five rings and kotinos in Gold, Silver and Bronze according to grade, is presented to recipients to wear as appropriate. (wiki)
Circumspectly speaking……A review
The 2024 Paris Olympics closing ceremony. India won six medals – one Silver and five Bronze. Neeraj Chopra (Gold medalist in 2020 Tokyo Olympics) won the Silver despite recurring groin injury, as mentioned by him. 21-year old Aman Sehrawat won one Bronze, 22-year old Manu Bhaker two Bronze (one in a team event with Sarabjot Singh who is also 22), while the other two Bronze medals were won by Swapnil Kusale and by the Field Hockey Team captained by Harmanpreet Singh.
How do we view India, with a population of 144 crore (as of June 2024), sporting a 117-strong participating contingent in the Paris Olympics, winning one Silver and five Bronze medals and “ranked 71” among the participating countries?
The 10 Gold medals won by India in Olympics to date include 8 in Hockey, one in Shooting (Abhinav Bindra) and one in Athletics (Neeraj Chopra).
Weight cutting by wrestlers is not uncommon at all. Sarah Hildebrandt, with whom Vinesh was to fight for the Gold, finally won it against the opponent Vinesh had earlier defeated. Sarah admits she herself is a big weight cutter before the weigh in.
At the opening of the 141st IOC session at Mumbai in October 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “India will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to organize the Olympics in India in 2036. This is the age-old dream of 140 crore (1.4 billion) Indians. It is their aspiration.” India organizing the 2036 Olympics was also in the BJP manifesto unveiled before the 18th Lok Sabha elections.
We need to seriously introspect our selection, training and management of sports with regard to Olympics; sincere, impartial, dedicated and regular monitoring. Didn’t we look sluggish in say table tennis and casual in archery compared to participants from other countries in the Paris Olympics? Are we flogging old horses without any effort to improve their performance? Looking at the 51 sports in the Paris Olympics, which other sports could we have participated in? For example, we haven’t achieved much in swimming, but can we participate in diving? How about a much larger and better participation in athletics? What about the equestrian sport? Dishing out funds by itself has no meaning. Induction of new blood like Sarabjot Singh, Aman Sehrawat, Lakshya Sen, Nisha Dahiya and Reetika Hood is good but this needs to expand; a roll-on plan for the next Olympic and beyond in “every” sport.
We need to review the organization, appointments and functioning of the IOA, making it free from politicization. Finally, we need a collective and well-integrated national ecosystem of government and private sports bodies if we want to perform better in the Olympics.
(Inputs courtesy, “Paris Olympics – Done and Dusted”, by a well-known Special Forces Officer of Indian Army, Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (R).)
The verdict on Vinesh Phogat:
The weigh-ins and disqualification: Vinesh Phogat, a female Indian wrestler was due to compete in the final of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on 7-8-2024, in the category of Women’s Freestyle 50 kg. This meant that, had she competed, then she would have won either the silver or the gold medal. On 6-8-2024, at 7:30 am (Paris time), an official weight verification (“weigh-in”) was conducted on the Athlete, with the result being 49.9 kg. Vinesh fought three competitions that day i.e., on 6-8-2024.
There was no dispute that she qualified as being under 50 kg for these competitions. She failed the second weigh-in and was ineligible to compete in the final. The Court of Arbitration (CAS) for Sport rejected Vinesh Phogat’s appeal after her disqualification from the Paris Olympics for exceeding the weight limit before the gold medal match of the Women’s Freestyle 50kg competition by 100g.
Excerpts from the judgment, the Bench of Dr. Annabelle Bennette, Sole Arbitrator, CAS, below:
CAS stressed the importance of athletes adhering to weight rules. Onus lies on athlete to make weight. It said the Rules are clear as to the weight limit and are the same for all participants. There is no tolerance provided for— it is an upper limit. The Rules do not even allow for the weight of the singlet. It is clearly up to an athlete to ensure that they remain below that limit.
Furthermore, it was held that it is apparent that the Rules reflect a UWW policy that a wrestler must not only be eligible at the beginning of a competition but must also remain eligible for the whole of the competition that is from entry to the finals.
The Court also took note of evidence indicating that she was pre-menstrual, and which resulted in fluid retention, which is a normal biological process.
The document also emphasised that the Sole Arbitrator does not have the power to award medals. That rests with the IOC. There is no dispute that the Applicant was above the weight limit. She gave the above evidence clearly and directly at the hearing. Her case is that the amount of excess was 100g and that a tolerance should apply as this is a small excess and explicable for reasons such as drinking water and water retention, in particular, during the pre-menstrual phase.
The verdict also emphasised that Vinesh is an experienced wrestler and there was no evidence that she did not understand the weight requirements.
Dr. Annabelle Bennett is a retired Judge of the Federal Court of Australia. She serves as an Arbitrator for the Court of Arbitration for Sport and is affiliated with the Faculty of Law at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Taking note of the contentions raised by the Applicant and IOA, the Court stated that there was no evidence to support the contentions that, somehow, the scales were faulty. The matters raised concerning possible reasons based on biology cannot be an excuse for the failure to comply.
“They are as normal biological processes which would include eating and drinking and the menstrual cycle; factors to be considered by highly experienced athletes (such as the Applicant) to ensure they remain below the weight limit. The Athlete herself had attended three Olympic Games. She said that she had to eat something but she was aware that she must not become overweight. She needed to rehydrate and then went into her weight loss procedure as best as she could but did not succeed”.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maj Gen Subash Bindra, was a Special Invitee to the Indian Golf Union Committee and Golf Captain at Fort William Kolkata. Legacy has moved on, Monish, his elder son, has been a national level shooter and golfer, went onto play professional golf is now a golf Instructor. Anish, the younger son, played till the finals of Indian Open Golf; the grandsons Ashmit and Aryan have won their respective categories at the Junior Nationals in Golf. Ameera, the grand-daughter is an equestrian and won her categories too.
