Going by the standards set by the French in organising the opening ceremony of the ongoing Paris Olympics, it can be said that a new paradigm has been established for future such occasions. Be it the decision to hold the ceremony as a ‘flowing’ event down the River Seine, the use of advanced technology in numerous ways, the display of multiple aspects of French culture, as also the organisational skills involved, in particular the management of the suddenly aggravated security situation, it was all a high-class event. The local people, all those who had come from different parts of the world, as well as the athletes, did not let the ‘minor’ aggravation of rain diminish their enthusiasm. That a major exercise was undertaken to clean up the polluted Seine to make it fit enough to conduct boating events highlights the effort the Games required.
The innovative opening ceremony, alone, will now pose a challenge to other countries given the responsibility to hold the Olympics in the future – should they continue with the pattern established by the French and make the event more ‘interactive’ or go back to the traditional mode? Imagine if something like this was attempted in India, would it be feasible, given the chaotic condition of our cities? This is apart from the fact that the Olympics are enormously expensive to organise, with earlier venues suffering considerable losses. There has also been the problem of infrastructure developed for the games often remaining unused afterwards. (Dehradun may recall the fate of the ice-skating rink built for the Winter Games some years ago, as also the Rajiv Gandhi Cricket Stadium.) Another remarkable feature of the Paris Olympics is that all construction undertaken has been planned with future use in mind.
Anyway, any country staking a claim to hold the Olympics should at least be a major sporting power ranking among the top five medal winners to justify the effort. What use would it be if the host country is nowhere on the medals table? It must be recognised that the Olympics best reflects the general quality of life a nation has achieved. It is only when a large enough section of the population has the leisure to participate in sports as an essential part of their lives will there be the pool of athletes available to produce world champions in various disciplines. So, the time for India to bid for the Olympics would ideally be when it wins a respectable number of medals at the games.
