SECTION B
Essay
125 marks
Fifty Golds in Olympics: Can this be a reality for India?
WRITE IN
90 min
1,000–1,200 words
Reading the topic
The question asks whether India, which has won only a handful of Olympic golds in its history, could realistically win fifty. The examiner expects an assessment of what such a leap would require, in grassroots sport, nutrition, coaching, governance, women's participation and funding, and whether the number is a goal or a provocation to build a sporting culture.
ThesisFifty golds is beyond any nation's recent haul and far from India's record, but aiming at it is worthwhile if it pushes India to build a broad, well-governed sporting ecosystem.
Dimensions to cover
- 1Scale of the goal: in Paris 2024 the leading nations won 40 golds each, so fifty would exceed the world's best
- 2Grassroots: talent identification in schools and villages matters more than elite funding late in an athlete's career
- 3Health and nutrition: child stunting and limited playgrounds shrink the talent pool before training even begins
- 4Governance: politicised federations and selection disputes have hurt athletes, making transparent sports bodies essential
- 5Women and diversity: women athletes and small states have brought India many recent medals, showing where untapped potential lies
- 6Culture and economy: cricket's dominance of money and attention leaves Olympic sports under-funded
Counter-view
- Some argue medal counts are a vanity metric and fitness for all matters more. The essay should agree that mass participation is the real aim, while showing it is also the only route to elite medals
Open and close
- Open: Open with a girl in a Haryana village who runs barefoot on a dirt track before school, and ask how many like her India loses before anyone times her run
- Close: Conclude that fifty golds is a destination best reached by first making sport a normal part of every Indian childhood
Where marks usually go
- Writing a list of sports schemes without judging the feasibility of fifty golds
- Getting India's medal history wrong or inflating recent results
- Ignoring governance and women's sport, the two levers that matter most
Examples that fit
- HistoryIndia's Olympic golds include eight in men's hockey, Abhinav Bindra's in shooting in 2008 and Neeraj Chopra's in javelin in 2020, while Paris 2024 brought six medals and no gold.International Olympic Committee results database
- CaseGreat Britain won one gold at Atlanta 1996, then directed National Lottery money into targeted elite sport and won 29 golds at London 2012.UK Sport history; IOC results
- CaseChina topped the medal table with 48 golds at Beijing 2008 through a state-run sports school system, a model with human costs.IOC results, Beijing 2008
- CurrentThe Target Olympic Podium Scheme (2014) and Khelo India (2017-18) fund elite athletes and grassroots sport respectively.Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, TOPS and Khelo India pages
- CurrentOdisha's sponsorship of the Indian hockey teams since 2018 shows a state investing in a sport and its infrastructure.Hockey India and Government of Odisha announcements