Man, I can't believe that Iran has won 3 Golds: 1 - Shooting. 1 - Wrestling (Greco-Roman). 1 - Kumite (Karate).
In Kumite, the opponent was some Saudi Arabian (actually an African import).
This is smart & optimum utilization of resources. They already have pedigree in Wrestling & Weight-lifting. After that, they put their resources in Karate, which is a relatively easier & less crowded competition. Shooting was a bonus and kind of compensated for the loss of their wrestling favorite to David Taylor.
Judo / Karate / Kumite - get the best coach and focus on a few medals in this category.
Swimming / Diving - can we take the leaf from China & focus on synchronized diving? Wily Great Britain steals a lot of medals in this. Can we steal a few from them?
Rowing / Sailing - I was checking the countries with one or two golds and this seems like a favorite category for many of them. Can we up our ante in this category?
Equestrian - Again GB steals a lot from this category. GB & Germany generally do good. Army has a good pedigree of horsing. Not too ambitious to target a gold here, am I?
Athletics - Discus Throw, Hammer Throw (Poland won gold), Shot Put, Jumps, Javelin Throw - we can do great in these events if we set focus and effort.
Wrestling has become over-competitive. Just read this article to see how efficient, ruthless & brutal Japan's system is. Unless we come up with a system that can match with Japan, US & Russia, I don't think we'll see Golds here. Bronze & at max Silvers....
England is such a wily and cunning country. Just look at their Golds. Majority come from niche events - Rowing/Sailing, Diving, Equestrian, Cycling, BMX (???). We should follow their track & try to steal from them.
Gymnastics is also a category where there are lots of events and also a hunting ground of < 5 Gold countries. Israel stole a Jew from Ukraine and opened their Gold in this category.
Not sure what makes you to think Discus Throw, Hammer Throw , Shot Put, Jumps (High jump, Long jump & Triple Jump) and Javelin Throw are easy to get Olympic medals if we set focus & effort.
Prior to this Neeraj Chopra Olympic Gold, baring 1 Bronze medal in Long Jump, we haven't won any other medals in these events even in World Championships.
In all these events, all Continents sent their strong contingent : America ( North, Central & South), European & Caribbean, Asian & African and Oceania nations. Most of these nations won medals in these events.
Regarding Poland gold in Hammer throw. They are always good in Hammer throw and they won couple of Golds in previous events + good number of medals in this event.
Maybe I feel you might be referring below par performance of USA athletes in Javelin Throw. Their might be 3 reasons 1. They are not good in Javelin Throw 2. USA Athletic federation might not have shown interest as it will fetch only 2 Golds 3. Not enough interest from Athletes
Even though, there is lot of competition in Wrestling & Shooting, we shouldn't lose our focus in these events as shooting has 15 Gold events & Wresting has 18 Gold events (including Greco-Roman).
I also feel we should put some more focus in Archery (5 Gold events) , Badminton (5 Gold events) , Boxing (13) & Weight-lifting (14) . It's a shame that we never won an Archery Olympic medal. Not just Deepika Kumari, prior to her, we had many other top Archers in both Men's & Women's category, but never won a medal. IOC & AA need to do lot of introspection.
Karate is just for this Tokyo Olympics. Unless we have talent, there is no point in investing in Karate.
As Darko said, we can invest in Judo ( 15 events) along with Taekwondo (8 Gold)
Not sure what makes you to think Discus Throw, Hammer Throw , Shot Put, Jumps (High jump, Long jump & Triple Jump) and Javelin Throw are easy to get Olympic medals if we set focus & effort.
Prior to this Neeraj Chopra Olympic Gold, baring 1 Bronze medal in Long Jump, we haven't won any other medals in these events even in World Championships.
In all these events, all Continents sent their strong contingent : America ( North, Central & South), European & Caribbean, Asian & African and Oceania nations. Most of these nations won medals in these events.
Regarding Poland gold in Hammer throw. They are always good in Hammer throw and they won couple of Golds in previous events + good number of medals in this event.
Maybe I feel you might be referring below par performance of USA athletes in Javelin Throw. Their might be 3 reasons 1. They are not good in Javelin Throw 2. USA Athletic federation might not have shown interest as it will fetch only 2 Golds 3. Not enough interest from Athletes
Because these are bio-mechanical events. Once you crack the science, all you need to do is find out the right phsyiology and train it day in and out. Not much mental pressure. And for cracking the science, there are already experts, like Chopra's current coach, who have researched and figured out the code.
Even though, there is lot of competition in Wrestling & Shooting, we shouldn't lose our focus in these events as shooting has 15 Gold events & Wresting has 18 Gold events (including Greco-Roman).
I also feel we should put some more focus in Archery (5 Gold events) , Badminton (5 Gold events) , Boxing (13) & Weight-lifting (14) . It's a shame that we never won an Archery Olympic medal. Not just Deepika Kumari, prior to her, we had many other top Archers in both Men's & Women's category, but never won a medal. IOC & AA need to do lot of introspection.
Karate is just for this Tokyo Olympics. Unless we have talent, there is no point in investing in Karate.
As Darko said, we can invest in Judo ( 15 events) along with Taekwondo (8 Gold)
Too much competition, with nations like Japan, China, Russia, US already having brilliant systems in place. I just posted a link above. Look at the smart European nations like England, France, Germany - they don't even participate in these events because it is really really hard to uproot a well-oiled system. The inherent advantage of such a system is that automatically the strongest fighting machines emerge out of them. So, a nation like India that relies on Talent rather than the System is at gross disadvantage. You can have individual gold medalists once in a while, but you can't
expect a pipeline of gold medals unless your system is world-class.
Not that India should not focus on these events, but I see the chances of getting gold here proportionally higher than in other events. That was my point. I presented the case of England to show how one can focus on niche events that are ignored by the Systems (because of less medals) to put the weight behind.
England is such a wily and cunning country. Just look at their Golds. Majority come from niche events - Rowing/Sailing, Diving, Equestrian, Cycling, BMX (???). We should follow their track & try to steal from them.
Gymnastics is also a category where there are lots of events and also a hunting ground of < 5 Gold countries. Israel stole a Jew from Ukraine and opened their Gold in this category.
You're missing the point completely. Some of these countries are not promoting these sports just to win an Olympic medal. They are doing it because culturally, historically and in terms of infrastructure it is part of their lifestyle. Coming to Iran, they are physically big just like Europeans so naturally they are doing well in individual sports. If they try really hard even their football team can win a medal
Comments
Neeraj Chopra wins India its maiden Athletics Olympic Medal, a Gold!
The confidence, the swag, the consistency...just wow!!
Sunil Gavaskar sings “Mere Desh ki Dharti Sona Ugle” & celebrates Neeraj’s Gold
Getting emotional, friends, almost shedding tears, tears of joySuch moments come very rarely in a lifetime
Not sure what makes you to think Discus Throw, Hammer Throw , Shot Put, Jumps (High jump, Long jump & Triple Jump) and Javelin Throw are easy to get Olympic medals if we set focus & effort.
Prior to this Neeraj Chopra Olympic Gold, baring 1 Bronze medal in Long Jump, we haven't won any other medals in these events even in World Championships.
In all these events, all Continents sent their strong contingent : America ( North, Central & South), European & Caribbean, Asian & African and Oceania nations. Most of these nations won medals in these events.
Regarding Poland gold in Hammer throw. They are always good in Hammer throw and they won couple of Golds in previous events + good number of medals in this event.
Maybe I feel you might be referring below par performance of USA athletes in Javelin Throw. Their might be 3 reasons
1. They are not good in Javelin Throw
2. USA Athletic federation might not have shown interest as it will fetch only 2 Golds
3. Not enough interest from Athletes
I also feel we should put some more focus in Archery (5 Gold events) , Badminton (5 Gold events) , Boxing (13)
& Weight-lifting (14) . It's a shame that we never won an Archery Olympic medal. Not just Deepika Kumari, prior to her, we had many other top Archers in both Men's & Women's category, but never won a medal. IOC & AA need to do lot of introspection.
Karate is just for this Tokyo Olympics. Unless we have talent, there is no point in investing in Karate.
As Darko said, we can invest in Judo ( 15 events) along with Taekwondo (8 Gold)
Too much competition, with nations like Japan, China, Russia, US already having brilliant systems in place. I just posted a link above. Look at the smart European nations like England, France, Germany - they don't even participate in these events because it is really really hard to uproot a well-oiled system. The inherent advantage of such a system is that automatically the strongest fighting machines emerge out of them. So, a nation like India that relies on Talent rather than the System is at gross disadvantage. You can have individual gold medalists once in a while, but you can't expect a pipeline of gold medals unless your system is world-class.
Coming to Iran, they are physically big just like Europeans so naturally they are doing well in individual sports. If they try really hard even their football team can win a medal