Give it your best

The Olympics have drawn to a close and this morning's paper congratulates India on its best ever performance, 6 medals - 2 silver and 4 bronze. While many Indians might cringe a little when compared with the medal tallies of USA and China, even more may not even care. When you look at it in the context of how athletic/sporting prowess has never been a part of the national conversation then one can begin to have a different perspective on India's medal tally. The only sport that dominates any kind of conversation in India is cricket and, which as any other sport requires one to be fit, is not necessarily a prime example of athleticism. Also as a country, while being the birthplace of yoga, the whole notion of staying fit through exercise and proper nutrition is only slowly beginning to creep in to urban India. Reports suggest that 33% of kids from well-to-do families suffer from malnutrition (http://goo.gl/FRfiJ), and if you take all the kids in the country the number rises to 47%.

While I haven't done the research, I can say with a fair amount of conviction that the achievers in the Indian Olympic scene, including both winners and those who made it into the contingent, would have come this far mostly on the strength of their own efforts and the support of people around them (family, friends, mentors...). Institutional support for aspiring Olympians starting from a school-level across the nation is still a dream. So 6 may not be a great number, but its helped India rank itself 55th among 204 competing nations. Parting thought, Australia started its medal tally with 2 medals in 1896 ranking last. Today it is counted among the big sporting nations in the world. It was consistently in the top 5 for the past 4 games and has notched up over 200 medals since the 1996 Olympics (http://goo.gl/kYby8). Some lessons we can learn there. 

Also, winning feels great. But I suppose if you give it your best everyday, everytime.....then more than winning or losing you just become better.

As Radiohead says :
You can try the best you can
If you try the best you can
The best you can is good enough

Radiohead - Optimistic (Album : Kid A)