What's behind India's poor Olympic medal record?
Despite being the most populous country in the world, India struggles to achieve success at the Olympics. What are the challenges Indian athletes face as they chase their Olympic dreams, and why do they receive so little government support?
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00:00Each day, Nandini leads these girls on a run through the fields of her village.
00:07She's a wrestler aiming for the next Olympics.
00:11Nandini trains six hours a day to build her strength.
00:15By 16, she was a state wrestling champion.
00:21It's my dream to compete in the Olympics.
00:24I want to win the gold medal.
00:26I dream of being the first person from India to win the gold medal in wrestling.
00:31I've always dreamt about winning and returning to my village, making my parents proud of
00:35me.
00:37But with no proper training and no professional coaches in this village, that dream will be
00:43hard to achieve.
00:46Her father has taken on the responsibility of becoming a wrestling coach to train his
00:51daughter and the other girls from the village.
00:56He trains them six days a week.
01:07Suresh says that chronic lack of resources undermines their performance.
01:18Nutrition is very important for these wrestlers.
01:20If they don't get proper nutrition, they take much longer to recover.
01:23Due to the lack of it, they sometimes struggle to even get here.
01:27And there are days when they don't have any energy and they complain of pain in their
01:31bodies.
01:32But these girls keep striving and manage to turn up.
01:37The world's most populous nation has one of the worst Olympic record in terms of medals
01:43per capita.
01:46According to sports analyst Abhijit Bhattacharya, the poor Olympic record has deeper roots
01:52in the country's societal mindset.
01:55Olympics is yet to be a priority for Indian government, Indian system.
02:01That's the reason, one of the reasons, which is like we are not at the top.
02:04Once it is a priority, so we go up there.
02:07Government feel that there are bigger issues than sports, like addressing education, addressing
02:11sanitation, addressing healthcare system.
02:14So those have come into priority.
02:17This lack of priority for the Olympics has real consequences for the athletes like Nandini.
02:24But she is determined to keep going.
02:29We face both mental and physical challenges.
02:32There are times when we get injured and our bodies don't support us.
02:35Despite that, we have to keep practicing.
02:41Here at home, Nandini sits glued to her phone screen, watching this year's Olympics unfold.
02:50As the athletes compete, she sees herself on that grand stage in 2028, battling the
02:58odds.