An Olympian’s Second Innings

IS SPORT ABOUT winning medals? Breaking records? Raising the bar? Or is sport also about life lessons? Making for a better society and better individuals?

For the longest time, the Olympic movement has been equated with a sport competition in India. The world’s greatest sport spectacle, which comes every four years, and the nation is measured by the number of medals won. India doesn’t have a record to boast about. But then, are the Olympics just a sport competition? If that were the case, why use the term ‘movement’? Do we say FIFA World Cup movement or ICC World Cup movement? We don’t, and that’s what differentiates the Olympic Games from every other sport competition in the world. The Olympics are also about values, about life lessons, and a life philosophy that calls for the making of better societies.

It was a delight to see each of these principles being implemented on the ground in state schools of Odisha under the aegis of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Abhinav Bindra Foundation, ably supported by the Odisha government.

“We started the pilot with some 40,000 children, and now we will be scaling up to 150,000 children this year,” says Abhinav Bindra, the prime mover of the effort.

From being an elite athlete pursuing excellence to working with underprivileged kids, sport has helped define who Abhinav is, and that’s what sets him apart. “I don’t look at my medals or what I did in my 22-year-long career. Rather, this is the work that sport has helped me do. This is what I enjoy. That’s what sport is all about in the end,” says the Olympic champion.

“What we have seen here has exceeded our expectations. One thing is to hear about the progress being made but it is an entirely different thing to see it for yourself. And to see students benefitting from the effort, seeing smiles on their faces, seeing teachers and students working in perfect synergy gives me great hope for the Olympic movement in India,” says Angelia Teo, director of the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage, IOC.

Teo is right for I had the opportunity of experiencing it first-hand on April 3 in Bhubaneswar.

Each of the 40,000 students enrolled as part of the Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP) is from an underprivileged background. Some are from slums with little or no access to funds for education. Some did not have clothes to wear and school was deemed a luxury. Speaking in English was a faraway proposition. And now to see them engage with foreign visitors like Teo in a language not their own was a pleasant surprise. Not only did they perform traditional Odia art forms with verve and confidence but they also went on to explain everything they did to an audience of over 200 in perfect English.

“We are delighted to see this. For these children to conduct themselves with this level of confidence is a success of the initiative. They will grow up confident men and women in future, and that’s what sport can help do if used properly. It helps facilitate change as you are seeing here,” says Frédérique Jamolli, head, International Cultural Affairs, IOC.

Can a programme like OVEP change longstanding stereotypes? Can it, for example, help give physical education (PE) teachers in India the same respect and credibility that a maths or science teacher gets? “Yes, that’s what it has done for me,” says Rachita, a PE teacher in one of the participating schools. “Since I became a part of OVEP, I have been able to work far more closely with the other teachers. They are also using sport in their classes to help change the mindset of the students. There is far more synergy. Much more than theory, what is helping us drive change is the more practice-driven approach. We do a lot of outdoor activities with students and that helps them bond better, respect each other more and be more open with each other,” she concludes.

For me, the other thing that stood out was the mixed-gender approach. Every activity, be it football or quiz or other outdoor games, was done by boys and girls together.

“This is one of the biggest successes of the programme. In some cases, boys have chosen girls as leaders, and that I can tell you has given me the most joy,” says Abhinav Bindra. To see girls and boys play football together was an incredible experience. Not only did the girls match the boys in skill and enthusiasm, some of them even assumed leadership roles on the field. They now stay in residential halls and have a life of their own. “You can see the change. We have an entrance test for students wishing to enrol in the programme; for every 100 entrants, we have 400 applications. Everyone now wants to be a part of it,” says the headmaster of the Capital School, which now has sport facilities used by the Indian Super League (ISL) clubs for training.

“The programme is for them and by them. That’s the beauty of it. It is about what works and what benefits a society most. We are facilitators. Ultimately, it is about the students who are part of it. What gives us enormous satisfaction at the International Olympic Committee is to see such a great impact in such a short time,” argued Xenia Kourgouzova, senior manager education, IOC.

This was best evident to me when a quiz was organised for some of the kids as part of the day’s engagement. One of the questions asked was: Who is India’s first-ever individual Olympic gold medallist? One of the youngest girls in the class raised her hand and, to everyone’s surprise, said with tremendous confidence, “It is Abhinav Bindra who won a gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.” When one of the members of the foundation asked her if she could spot Abhinav in the room, she looked at Abhinav sitting in one corner of the room and smiled. And Abhinav smiled back. A smile of immense satisfaction and joy, and one no less satisfying than winning a medal on the international stage.

By doing what he is, Abhinav Bindra is making a huge difference in society. OVEP is helping in empowering the kids of tomorrow and in doing so, fighting centuries-old gender disparities that have plagued our society. By no means is it a finished product yet. Certainly not. But a start has indeed been made. A very strong foundation was laid. And knowing Abhinav and his determination to seek perfection, he will see the effort through to a satisfactory conclusion.

To leave the last words to Teo, “India matters a great deal to the IOC. As a global movement, we need to make a dif­ference to the maximum number of children we can reach out to. We will continue to back this initiative. Go bigger. How can you not when you see this kind of impact on the ground!” Just as she finished, a young girl walked up to her and said in perfect English, “May I click a selfie with you please!” Very India. And may I say, very heart-warming.

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