Paris Olympics 2024

[Atithee]

Change to long jump takeoff
https://x.com/pjvazel/status/1759736017131573558?s=20

[prasen9]

Interesting. Thanks. This is good. For our school and state meets, etc. this means not much change. We still have the board, the guy with the flag and it goes up white flag or red, etc. These guys have sensors and that will work. Will the landing also be sensor measured? Is it already sensor measured?

[gunsnroses]

How come 6 people who have qualified for men's 20km race walk ?

[sameerph]

^^^ I think 3 of those have to be selected finally.

[arjun2761]

Since none of them are even long shots for medals, I wouldn't be upset if we only sent 1 or 2 of them. Perhaps, they have potential at Asian level and that would be the reason to send them all. Note that in 2023 Asian Games, none of them won a medal with a 5th place finish being the best.

[prasen9]

I agree fully none of them will medal. Several of them have faulty technique or try to squeeze through a bit of running, which honestly many race-walkers from everywhere do too. Having said that, what are we talking about? 3k-5k savings by not sending one more competitor? We should send the most promising three of the lot just for them to experience a high-class event and get their Olympic debut out of the way. The idea is that they would perhaps then learn something or get in connection with a coach to get tips, etc. and maybe see how much they need to improve, etc. and that may pay dividends in the Asian tournaments in the future. In essence, just invest in it as a development tour. The idea is also to encourage the next generation of young racewalkers. If they see that the Indian champion gets to go to an Olympic, they may be more motivated to pursue the sport. And, racewalking does not really pull from another sport. That is, the skills required - a combination of physical and some mental - are different enough that these youngsters, if they do not pursue racewalking, would perhaps be mediocre long-distance runners. So, I am leaning towards sending them. We can afford it. Not muc downside.

Again, having said that having said that, I won't really mind if we send 1 or 2 or even none in race-walking. We pretty much have near zero chance for a medal.

[jayakris]

Having said that, what are we talking about? 3k-5k savings by not sending one more competitor? We should send the most promising three of the lot just for them to experience a high-class event and get their Olympic debut out of the way. The idea is that they would perhaps then learn something or get in connection with a coach to get tips, etc. and maybe see how much they need to improve, etc. and that may pay dividends in the Asian tournaments in the future. In essence, just invest in it as a development tour. The idea is also to encourage the next generation of young racewalkers. If they see that the Indian champion gets to go to an Olympic, they may be more motivated to pursue the sport. And, racewalking does not really pull from another sport. That is, the skills required - a combination of physical and some mental - are different enough that these youngsters, if they do not pursue racewalking, would perhaps be mediocre long-distance runners. So, I am leaning towards sending them. We can afford it. Not muc downside.

Totally in agreement. I don't understand our not sending any athlete who can qualify. India is not a country that can't afford it. We waste so much money on so many boondoggles, and we are trying to save a few thousand dollars in sports. There are some good benefits in the long term from sending athletes like you say, and it is more benefit than from the myriad boondoggles...

[prasen9]

Absolutely, cut out the federation babus (office-holders) from going to the Olympics at government cost.

[Atithee]

^^That’s what the babus live for! You can cut an athlete but not a babu. Some athletes want their personal entourage to be paid for too even though a team professional is present.

[arjun2761]

Of course, I'd rather send the athlete rather than a babu! However, I still think Indian sports teams aren't necessarily all that well funded, so I'd rather send another support person or personal coach for a contending team or athlete (for example, a videographer for the hockey team) rather then send athletes that have no chance. There was a time when just getting into the Olympics was the ultimate goal whereas now we should start raising that bar to being a contender for a medal as the goal for our Olympic athletes. Understand the experience angle especially if the experience would help in other competitions such as the Asian Games.

[jayakris]

I say send the Athletes *and* the Babus. We can afford it. This is chicken feed for India. There are so many people spending Government money to travel abroad for so much boondoggle (so much more money is wasted by so many, without traveling too) but the money they waste is not observed by too many people... At least these Babus are traveling with a lot of people (and press/media) noticing their travel and what they do (which admittedly may not be much). If this is what the Babus need to get them motivated to pay attention to some sports, so be it. Pay for them also.

Let some 10,000 potholes on some village roads somewhere that were not going to be repaired anyway with the money allotted for it, remain as potholes with no repair allocation. Let an extra 200 useless people go to the Olympics instead.

[sameerph]

All athletes those who have qualified meeting the standards set by IOC should go. There should be doubt on that. We are not yet at a stage where we only care for medals and experience in appearing in the games does not matter.

[jayakris]

Let some 10,000 potholes on some village roads somewhere that were not going to be repaired anyway with the money allotted for it, remain as potholes with no repair allocation. Let an extra 200 useless people go to the Olympics instead.

Cross-checking... Okay, so the average cost of a 1 sq m pothole repair = ~ Rs. 1,500... 200 Babus at 3.75 lakhs ($4,500) to Paris costs for 10 days each, is 7.5 crores which means only 5,000 less potholes repaired. My random quick guess of 10K potholes was overestimated. I suggest that we simply reduce the number of repaired potholes somewhere from 10,000 to 5,000 and tell the Engineers (maybe 20 of them?) that they only need to oversee that much less of work. Maybe whatever potholes that do get fixed will get done better that way, anyway.

But let the athletes and the babus go to the Olympics

[prasen9]

Of course, I'd rather send the athlete rather than a babu! However, I still think Indian sports teams aren't necessarily all that well funded, so I'd rather send another support person or personal coach for a contending team or athlete (for example, a videographer for the hockey team) rather then send athletes that have no chance. There was a time when just getting into the Olympics was the ultimate goal whereas now we should start raising that bar to being a contender for a medal as the goal for our Olympic athletes. Understand the experience angle especially if the experience would help in other competitions such as the Asian Games.

I agree with this fully but our government has the money to send the videographer and the athlete. We are talking about a few athletes. Wrt support staff, if it makes sense, i.e., if sending a support staff will significantly increase the chances of an athlete, then we should pay for their support staff even if it is mental.

I would not send the babus.

[Mugundan]

To the extent I know, IOC funds the participation of contingents as per qualification standards/routes prescribed in advance. As for officials, there is a ratio beyond which no one else would be given accreditation or accommodation (This is as per number of athletes the number of coaches and rest of support staff would be determined. Extra officials won't get access to "Village" or playing arena.
The number of officials accompanying a content are also fixed in advance: Say, contingent doctors, contingent office staff, contingent physios, contingent masseurs etc. These are besides the doctors and physios etc attached to a particular team).
Quite often nowadays, athletes would demand their personal coaches (in majority of instances, their husbands or relatives) to be accommodated and then there would be controversies.
A Govt delegation or a chef de mission staff or an NOC President's entourage etc. are also restricted, outside of this, officials may not have accreditation or may have to buy tickets. Babus thus cannot make it as per their wishes. (Indian officials being Indians, eventually manage some accommodation and some tickets!!)
Our Govt spends on additional staff, playing kit, ceremonial kit, daily allowance (this is called out-of-pocket expenses), equipment, travel within the country, airport tax if any, transport cost of equipment, advance stay of certain teams, say an equestrian team, transport cost of horses and grooms etc)
IOC funding is to the host nation for bearing the expenses for contingents.