The Tokyo Olympics must bury old sins and unearth new hopes!
A designer native outfit was the best thing that happened for Sri Lanka at Olympics
The post-Olympic rhetoric was predictable! Both from the delegations who braved the COVID bubble as well as the locked out opposition, who wantonly took up cudgels with the powers that be. Tokyo is best forgotten with our retinue of talent fallen by the wayside but it also unearths a grim story of any pretensions to sports prowess, let alone sports management.
The NOC (National Olympic Committee) glibly stayed with the Olympic edict that it’s not if you win or lose that matters, but how you ran the race! That they were able to assemble a grand delegation of wild cards and slick scribes kept the bandwagon afloat. Add to that a few parliamentarians and sports officials who we are informed arrived in Tokyo by accident, sums up the sleazy melodrama that we are so clever at and to hell with good governance and classy sportsmanship.
At a recent conference in the hallowed sanctuary of the Duncan White Auditorium, the MoS (Ministry of Sports) secretary waxed eloquent about the responsibilities of the NSF’s (National Sports Federations). He proceeded to regale those sports mandarins present, that winning medals was all that mattered and solicited their back breaking commitment for the benefit of his masters! One was rather bemused by the condescending diatribe until he threw open the discussion to the NSF invitees that comprised some big names in the business. One feisty veteran was quickly on his feet to tell the venerable secretary that he should first put his house in order, before the boxing chief backed the mood of the house, stating glibly that all they got was a never ending string of circulars from the MoS asking for repetitive reports.
Some smart NSF’s had perfected the art of responding with a readymade report in like manner. The rather chastened Chief Executive tamely assured the house that the MoS was being restructured to meet the demands of over 70 NSF’s that were now a part of the sports mix in the country. He called upon the NSF’s to make recommendations that he assured will be given due attention in a short time.
This column has on several occasions made the case for a National Sports Portal and the transparent process that must be introduced. Indeed we heard recently a dean of the University of Colombo stating that the COVID response was grossly hampered by a poor reporting and response mechanism.
So these evils are nothing new in the state of the republic. Good counsel is simply ignored by the ‘Viyath Maga’ influenza that seems to affect most heads of departments in the public sector. Playing ‘pooja’ is what appears to matter and in the case of sport, medals is now the panacea for a nation where victory is an elusive dream.
The health and wellbeing of athletes at large is not a big concern. Pick the best and push the button, is the mantra emanating from the NSC. Doling out parcels of funds is continuing and intentions are no doubt well meant, but the administrative apparatus leaves much to be desired, most NSF’s lament.
The NOC congratulates themselves amidst this melee. They have now sung the hosannas and rekindled the thought that the Tokyo pilgrimage was never about winning, but of solidarity and of course sharing the wealth of nations!
While the opposition in office went ballistic and listed a spate of allegations, the NOC top brass outlined the obvious. Performance of athletes was delicately designated to NSF’s. ‘That’s not our task’ intoned the president while the secretary general took pains to explain why the Sri Lanka crest could not be emblazoned on team uniforms, and how sponsors fell over each other to support this Olympic squad. A designer native sarong was featured for good measure!
Talk of strategy is all well and good but top class implementation is key. The NSC must take the lead on this. They must summon the NSF’s of all those athletes and conduct a workshop that will outline without misinterpretation, the common goals we all seek. Each NSF must submit a precise model of how and when their athletes will reach the standards that justify entry to the next round of important international competitions; CWG in 2022 and Olympics in 2024!
A performance management system must be put in place and specialist consultants brought in to the equation, if required. MoS and NOC must work in tandem and agree on common goals and resource combinations. Such a transformational model will separate the chaff from the wheat and align all our scarce resources to the tough targets at hand. The medal prospects will convert to talented and valued human beings, while identifying those thoroughbreds who will guide our destinies. In the process, the charlatans will be exposed for what they are in this renewed national sports paradigm. It is time to bury the sins of the past and unearth our hopes for the future!