There was nothing to cheer about our boys and girls in the pool, in the ring or on the track for the two weeks of action in Rio, but then again, there was nothing to mourn about their performance either. It is not like we really expected to have another miracle medal like it happened at the London Olympics in 2012. The whole point of a miracle is that it should be something unusual. If it happened two Olympic games back to back, then it would immediately lose the wonder value. But, there would also be one other problem with us winning another medal we barely deserve.
The standard response when we shock ourselves with sporting overachievement is to get all frenzied, arrange an impromptu welcome party, throw in a meeting with the president, who then throws in a basketful of promises. A house, high altitude training center, better facilitation, name it and it will all make it to the list.
That would all be fine if just a half of these were honoured. Many times, not even a quarter of these promises are touched. So why should we not celebrate the fact that at least, this time, there won’t be any reason to make any empty promises?
Why shouldn’t we be delighted that our athletes know for sure that they are on their own, again, as they were before Rio and as they will be before Tokyo in 2020. It cannot be a bad thing that the country’s sports minister will not get another undeserved moment in the bright lights claiming credit for what he did nothing to deliver.
Now we can go on with our lives and sleep less angry about the fact that some team officials got allowances more than double those that athletes were paid. At least the athletes paid us back in good currency. Congratulations to them upon doing nothing. They gave us exactly what we deserved—nothing.