India happens to be the largest consumer of gold jewelry. So, when it comes to buying gold, we are tops. Not so much when you have to earn it, specially in Olympics! We at least seemed to have found a golden goose in Bindra this time around but it remains to be seen whether we can multiply this by London 2012 or just kill it in a few months when we all go "Bindra, who?" and switch back to Twenty20.
Most of the big grossers in Beijing 2008 seemed to have found their niches with Jamaica and Ethiopia running away with the track events, Americans with swimming, Brits with cycling/sailing and Chinese mopping up pretty much everything else. What could be that niche for India?
Looking at our typical contingent, I have to say shooting! But, it is too ironic to go unnoticed. I could imagine the US exceling in shooting (just put that on NRA's agenda). But, India? With equipment beyond not only economic reach but also legal reach (at least for the non-terrorists).
The quickest option is to lobby for cricket to be included in Olympics and concoct 10 different categories for medals! In the long term, if we don't want to take the brute force (literally) method the Chinese adopted to groom their Olympians for Beijing 2008, we could invite a few healthy Jamaicans, Chinese, Russians etc. so they can procreate in India now and generate a new breed of Olympians for 2024. (I'm told 16 is the legal age for participating in Olympics; that is, if you aren't Chinese).
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