I always felt that the Indian athlete, who wins a medal for their country and meets the Prime Minister while donning the navy blue blazer with the ‘India’ insignia emblazoned on top, is sacred soft power for the ruling dispensation.
When I’d see our Prime Minister go above and beyond to felicitate them, never lose a moment’s opportunity to build a rapport – that heartwarming moment when he consoled the Indian Women’s Hockey Team over a phone call after an agonising loss at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 – I would see the stature of these sportspersons rise equivalent to that of a soldier.
Win or lose, in those moments and thereon in their lives, their loyalty was unquestionable; their achievements were a marker of India’s progress in the world and our youth’s limitless potential.
For India, medallists at the Olympics are few and far between. We’ve won just 35 medals at the Summer Games since 1900. Given this context, an Olympic medallist is a unicorn for the world’s most populous nation, starved of sporting laurels — outside of cricket — that would do justice to its size.