70 to 2: What the Rio Olympics medal tally says about China-India comparisons
India is the land of individual excellence despite the limitations of the system while in China, individual success is a product of the system
It happens every time.
Each day, Indian sports fans following the news of the Olympics from Rio de Janeiro feel their hearts sink. The first week went by without a single Indian medal, while the United States racked up 25 by Friday and China was running a close second. This week, China’s total tally stands at 69 at press time while things have marginally improved for India, having won one bronze in women’s freestyle wrestling and a silver in women’s badminton. The two medals have come as a huge relief for Indians, even triggering celebration, as their favoured athletes somehow failed to get past the qualifying rounds of their events.
Why is China’s gold medal count at the Rio Olympics so low?
The Olympics underscore every four years why the fatuous twinning of India with China that was once in vogue (with an Indian minister even coining the term “Chindia”) was always, to put it mildly, premature.
One has only to look at the medals tally at the last Olympics, in London. China proudly ranked second only to the US, with 38 gold medals and a total of 88. You have to strain your eyes past such twinkling little stars of the global family as Jamaica, Belarus, war-torn Georgia and collapsing Tunisia before stumbling across India in 55th place, with precisely six medals of only the silver and bronze variety.
This is not, in fact, a surprise. Whereas China has set about systematically striving for Olympic success since it re-entered global competition after years of isolation, India has remained complacent about its lack of sporting prowess.
