Olympics: five ring circus
By Biplav Gautam
(August 2004)

Nepal wins Taekwondo silver at the 1998 Asian Games. Can the feat be repeated at the Olympics?

One of the curiosities of the Olympics is seeing what countries excel in which sports. You’ve got Japan in Judo, Cuba in boxing, Australia in swimming, Kenya in long distance running, USA in track and field, Korea in archery, and Nepal in sending officials on shopping trips. That’s right, Nepal has long been the champion at sending officials over coaches and athletes to international competitions. No wonder the Olympics is no more than a five ring circus for Nepali sports fans.

Luckily all is not lost this time around for Nepali sports enthusiasts. The 2004 Athens Olympics will probably be the first time in its history that Nepal has a chance at an Olympic medal (Sorry but the bronze medal we won in 1988 was when Taekwondo was a demonstration sport – so it does not count). Sangina Vaidya, a well-decorated martial artist and a former Asian Champion is a LONG SHOT to land a medal in the women’s Taekwondo competition (under 49kg weight class).  This is a marked improvement from all the athletes that have represented Nepal over the decades who had absolutely NO SHOT at bringing glory to their country.

Despite Sangina’s endeavors, for the most part, the Olympics is just another in a litany of sports competitions that Nepalis have no local rooting interests in. For a country of 23 million – more than Cuba, Greece, Australia, and the Netherlands, this is truly sad. Yes, we can always bring up the likes of Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and our neighbors to the south, but the futility of others does not make our ineptitude defensible.

Why is it so hard for a country that can produce the best mountain climbers (Sherpas) and warriors (Gurkhas) in the world to produce Olympic sports talents? The answers are nothing new to regulars that visit this website – apathy, corruption, incompetence and lack of accountability, among other things.

Having been at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, I saw all of this first hand. Players representing Nepal because of politics/corruption and not based on performance, coaches busy shopping instead of guiding their athletes, inferior athletes competing that had absolutely no business being at the Games... The list is endless.

So how do we turn things around? Obviously, the first part has to be self-discipline on the part of our sports officials. They need to put country ahead of favoritism and their wallets. Presuming they can get past this – which would be an incredible feat, the next step is to follow the lead of the top Olympic countries and target sports that Nepal can excel at and put all of our available resources in them.

For example, Nepal has little chance of doing well in swimming. The top swimmers in the world are all over six feet and have massive frames. There is no way Nepalis can physically catch-up or compete with them. Also Nepal has few swimming pools, we are landlocked, and it is very difficult and expensive to build Olympic size pools – especially outside of the big cities. In light of all these factors it is futile to try to compete in swimming or send our swimmers to international competitions. Sure they will gain experience, but how will that experience translate into medals?

On the other hand, Nepal’s topography and the diminutive size of our people make us perfectly suited to shine in long distance running. Running is also a sport that requires few resources when it comes to training.  Any person in all corners of Nepal can train to run. Other than competent sports officials, we have everything that the likes of Kenya, Ethopia and Morocco, the top long distance running countries in the world, have to succeed in long distance running.

Nepal needs to pick 2 or 3 sports that we can really thrive in. That means sports that are inexpensive, that can be promoted at the school and college levels, which can be easily played in all corners of the country, and are compatible with Nepal’s altitude, terrain, as well as the physical attributes of our people. Looking at the list of events in the Olympics, the ones that show promise are long distance running, table tennis, badminton, Judo, Taekwondo and boxing. 

If we are truly committed to winning medals at the Olympics, we need to stop the current nonsense and put every “panch paisa” we have in our athletics budget to fund a few of these sports.