[volga_volga]

OK here is an excuse for the thread :

BBC's India Olympic Prospects

seriously, let's start!!! 10,500 athletes competing and 4 billion viewers... IM cannot ignore the 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES

I saw a feature on CNN this morning where one serious guy in a suit said that there is a statistically significant correlation between the number of medals and the total GDP of the country.

[sudheer poppa]

What is Olympics by the way

A very layside view (without looking at the BBC link is that), in india any olympic medal is a great celebration. The bare assumption at a broad level is that for the individual events, people from the sub continent are not rightly built for most of the competitions.

So the perpetual hopes are in the fields of hockey, shooting, tennis etc. There is normally great expectations in athletics, but almost never fulfilled.

And on the GDP theory, I thought some nations in african countries get a good tally :P Maybe they include, their rulers personal wealth in swiss accounts.

[SHIMLA]

If they include games like "leg-pulling" and "one-upmanship" in the Olympics, Indians will win all sorts of medals - Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Tin, you name it!!

On a serious note, its a shame Indians aren't able to win many medals in the Olympics !

[Vasko]

India won't win any medals in athletics because they don't have massive doping program behind it all. The Olympic Games are a gross distortion of sportsmanship. And the next games have been awarded to China, despite their human rights violations in places like Tibet. It's all about politics and money. I say boycott the whole event, forget about nationalistic pride, go outside and have a fun ballgame with your buddies.

[volga_volga]

Vasko... how can you say that...

Olympics is one of the biggest festivals in which the whole world gets involved. of course it is not immune from the deseases of the modern world - it is impossible to keep it immune - but it should not be the reason to boycott it.

[steven_ber]

I would be surprised if the Olympics gets half of the viewers that the last Football World Cup got.

Every Indian who wins a medal (any medal) will receive a free Air-conditioned First Class train pass for themselves (and their partner) for life.

[guerik]

Is GDP counted as value per citizen or just value per country? Australia generally wins a fair few medals and I can't imagine our GDP being particularly high.

I do think that there is a statistically significant correlation between the number of medals and how talented their olympians are, though!

[Vasko]

Originally Posted by volga_volga

Vasko... how can you say that...

of course it is not immune from the deseases of the modern world - it is impossible to keep it immune - but it should not be the reason to boycott it.

volga, the Olympics are a disease of the modern world! Just kidding, don't want to bash the Olympic spirit or anything like that... just worried about the direction the whole "sports business" is going (including football, my one and only true love in the sporting world).

On a lighter note, India came in fourth in football in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne!!

[rab]

There should be a 10-metre shoe-shit-flicking competition!

[SHIMLA]

Originally Posted by Vasko

On a lighter note, India came in fourth in football in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne!!

Eh ? India fourth in FOOTBALL ???? There must have been only four teams participating, in 1956!!! (On an equally lighter note!!!!)

[Vasko]

Originally Posted by SHIMLA

Eh ? India fourth in FOOTBALL ???? There must have been only four teams participating, in 1956!!! (On an equally lighter note!!!!)

Hehe, you're closer to the truth there SHIMLA than you thought... India only played three matches, getting a bye past the first round, beating Australia 4-2 in the second round, losing to Yugoslavia 4-1 in the semi-finals and to Bulgaria 3-0 in the 3rd place match.

D'Souza of India was joint top scorer in the tournament: he bagged 4 of India's goals!

[skell]

Originally Posted by volga_volga

I saw a feature on CNN this morning where one serious guy in a suit said that there is a statistically significant correlation between the number of medals and the total GDP of the country.

I think there should be a study on the correlation between the number of medals won and the amount of freedom the women have in the country.

[beach]

Originally Posted by skell

I think there should be a study on the correlation between the number of medals won and the amount of freedom the women have in the country.

"Beach,You can prove anything as long as funds are available" - my lady boss

[volga_volga]

start time: 21:00 Athens time, 20:00 Ger/Fra/Italy, 19:00 UK
venue: Athens

star to watch: Khorkina!! Khorkina!! Khorkina!!

[getgopi1]

The Indian govt. just awarded Rathore a house worth Rs.800,000 plus Rs.80 Lakhs cash for winning a silver medal (I am not sure if those are already in his hands yet. Going through bureaucracy in India can be stifling). So it looks like the govt. is finally starting to properly reward its athletes (Free A/C passes are definitely a "cool" convenience but they cannot help one buy a house or relieve debts). I have swum with a couple of US Olympians here in the Boston area and they have excellent training (a coach for everything: training, nutrition, etc.) and facilities available any time they want. And when they are done with training, they have a cold beer at the local pub and then go home to their sweethearts. I would really like to know how it is done in India. Indian athletes don't seem to deliver a total package at the Olympics. However, they seem to fare better in the Asian games But in the Olympics, they don't as much...why?...because non-Asian countries such as the US and Australia don't compete in the Asian games? (right?)