New Delhi
CNN
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The competition was close right up to the last shot. India’s Abhinav Bindra was level with his closest rival in the men’s 10-meter air rifle shooting final at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Then Bindra won India’s first Olympic individual gold medal with a near-perfect shot.

It was a historic performance that many in India hoped could mark a turning point for the vast country after decades of underperforming at the Olympics.

But 16 years, four Summer Games and only one more gold medal later, these dreams have largely not been fulfilled.

India, home to more than 1.4 billion people, is the world’s most populous country, according to the United Nations. In 2022, India overtook Britain as the world’s fifth-largest economy, and last year it was one of only four countries to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon. And it is led by an ambitious prime minister who wields great influence on the world stage.

But when it comes to the Olympics, India’s performance is below average.

India won only six medals in Paris, falling short of its record of seven medals in Tokyo in 2021.

The United States, whose population is less than a quarter of India’s, leads the way with 126 medals, followed by China with 91.

India finished 71st in the medal table, behind nations with much smaller populations such as Georgia, Kazakhstan and North Korea.

India has won only 41 Olympic medals since its debut in 1900, all at the Summer Games.

“There is no doubt that India has underperformed at the Olympics and in global sport generally,” said Ronojoy Sen, author of “Nation at Play: A History of Sport in India.”

“If you look at the population to medal ratio, it’s probably the worst.”

Bright spots for India in Paris included javelin ace Neeraj Chopra, who won gold at Tokyo 2020, plus silver, and shooter Manu Bhaker, who won a double bronze medal, becoming the first Indian woman to win two medals at the same Games.

Vinesh Phogat, known for her prominent role in protests against sexual harassment, became the first Indian woman to qualify for a wrestling final in the women’s 50kg freestyle – but was then disqualified for not making her weight class. On Wednesday, her bid for a silver medal was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

CNN has asked the Indian Olympic Association for comment on the team’s performance in Paris.

According to experts, there are several reasons why India’s Olympic potential has remained untapped in the past. One of the main reasons is insufficient investment in sport.

New Delhi has never invested as much money in a national training program as the traditional Olympic strongholds, which have long viewed gold medals as a symbol of national strength, Sen said.

“For nations like the United States, China and the (then) Soviet Union, sport was an integral part of their emerging national history, a means to global recognition and glory,” he said.

The most successful Olympic nations recognize and promote talent even at a young age, he added, pointing to China, where “children are trained from the moment they can walk.”

Analysts say Indian athletes often face obstacles such as inadequate funding and lack of access to facilities.

“When people say 1.4 billion people and only (six) medals, that is a completely wrong headline because … 1.39 billion people do not have access to sports facilities,” said Boria Majumdar, sports analyst and author of “Dreams of a Billion: India and the Olympic Games.”

India sends far fewer athletes and support staff to the Olympics than top teams like the United States, Majumdar said. For example, 117 Indian competitors took part in the Olympics compared to nearly 600 American ones.

According to experts, India also faces major health challenges that hamper development and limit sporting potential even in childhood.

India ranked 111th out of 125 countries in the 2023 Global Hunger Index. At 18.7%, the country has the world’s highest child wasting rate – the number of children who are too thin for their height – indicating acute malnutrition. More than a third of children under five in India are stunted due to malnutrition, meaning they are too small for their age, the report said.

“Until we address some of these fundamental issues around nutrition, it will be very difficult for us to perform better at the highest level of sport, where victories count in milliseconds,” Sen said.

Another challenge to Olympic progress is the additional hurdles faced by female athletes in India, a country that is still deeply patriarchal.

“Even when I started wrestling as a child, people would tease me and say, ‘She’s a girl, what can she do, why is she doing a man’s sport?'” says Sakshi Malik, an Indian wrestler who won the bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Malik quit wrestling last year amid controversy over sexual harassment allegations against India’s wrestling chief. Malik, Phogat and other wrestlers subsequently slept on the streets of Delhi for weeks demanding action.

“I gave up my sport, which I love more than anything, for this fight because I have a responsibility to protect the younger athletes who come after me,” Malik said. “Things have to change.”

Even though India’s overall performance in Paris was not exactly overwhelming, fans celebrated the achievements of the country’s medallists with expressions of pride and admiration in their social media posts.

Individual athletes have the power to mobilize a population, said Majumdar.

“When you consider that the whole country is watching javelin at 2 a.m. because of one man, it’s a revolution,” he said, referring to the millions who watched at home when India’s Chopra won silver in Paris.

India’s enormous Olympic potential is perhaps best underlined by its status in cricket, by far the country’s most popular sport and one in which it has emerged as the dominant global force.

Cricket has not been part of the Olympic Games since 1900, but is set to return in Los Angeles in 2028 to the delight of Indian fans and players chasing gold.

While the multi-billion dollar Indian Premier League cricket league is the most visible sign of investment in the country’s sport, other sports have also seen a boom in recent years – both through increased corporate sponsorship and government support.

In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched “Khelo India” (“Let’s Play India”), a nationwide programme to “revive sports culture” in the country with the aim of identifying and developing promising young talent, especially in rural areas.

In the same year, India also revised its Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), which supports and funds training, international competitions, equipment and coaching for elite athletes.

By July 2024, India’s Sports Ministry has allocated nearly $260 million to state governments for the development of sports infrastructure under the Khelo India programme.

Author Sen said India is also becoming increasingly aware of the soft power potential of global sporting success, noting that Modi takes the time to call and congratulate Olympic medallists.

“I appreciate the efforts of the Indian team during the Games,” Modi wrote on X on Monday. “All the athletes gave their best and every Indian is proud of them.”

During the International Olympic Committee’s annual meeting in Mumbai last year, Modi told sports officials that India would bid to host the 2036 Summer Olympics, the Associated Press reported.

The IOC also said it would soon add an Indian sponsor to the list of its 15 top partners, who collectively donated nearly $740 million to the Games last year – another sign of India’s growing Olympic ambitions.

Sports analyst Majumdar believes India’s best Olympic days are yet to come.

“I think the journey has begun, but it will not happen overnight,” he said, pointing out that India spends only a fraction of what the US spends on sports infrastructure.

“I believe that in another decade, India has the potential to be in the top half of the medal rankings.”