Beyond the Medals: A Serious Question for Indian Athletics

It is certainly a matter of pride that Indian athletes have won medals at the Commonwealth Games. Every athlete who has represented the country and stood on the podium deserves appreciation and respect.

However, from an athletics coach's perspective, our evaluation should not stop with the medal tally. We must also examine the quality of performance.

In several events, athletes who had produced excellent performances in recent national competitions, including performances at or around national record level, were unable to reproduce anything close to that level on the Commonwealth Games stage.

What makes this more concerning is that, in some cases, those strong performances had come barely a month before the Commonwealth Games.

This deserves serious technical analysis.

High Jump and the Importance of Personal Coaching

There were also reports that, in an event as technically demanding as High Jump, an athlete competed without their personal coach.

This should not be viewed as criticism of an individual. It is a system level question.

High Jump is an event where small technical details can make a major difference:

Approach rhythm - Last three steps - Penultimate step - Take off position - Take off angle - Centre of mass projection - Bar clearance - Landing mechanics

These elements often require continuous observation and immediate technical feedback.

So, when an elite athlete competes at a major international championship, we have to ask:

Is sending the athlete enough?

Or should the athlete have access to their personal coach and the complete technical support system that has developed their performance?

This becomes particularly important in highly technical events such as High Jump, Long Jump, Triple Jump, Pole Vault, Hurdles, and Throws.

National Performance vs International Performance

If an athlete produces a Personal Best or Season Best at a national competition and then, only a few weeks later, performs significantly below that level at a major international championship, we should not simply label it as a bad day.

We should analyse the entire performance pathway:

• Was the training load appropriate?
• Was the tapering properly planned?
• Was the athlete peaking at the right time?
• Was recovery adequate?
• How were travel and acclimatisation managed?
• Was nutrition and hydration properly handled?
• Was mental preparation adequate?
• Was the competition routine properly planned?
• Was the personal coach or technical support available when required?

These questions deserve honest answers.

Medals Are Important, But Performance Consistency Matters

Winning a medal is an achievement. There is no question about that.

But the strength of a country's athletics system cannot be measured by the medal tally alone.

We need to examine the complete performance pathway:

Personal Best - Season Best - Qualification Performance - Championship Performance - Final Performance

A world class athlete must be able to reproduce a performance close to their actual capability when it matters most.

That is what separates good athletes from consistently world class athletes.

What India Needs Going Forward

If India is serious about its ambitions for the 2030 Commonwealth Games, 2032 Olympics, and 2036 Olympics, we need to move beyond a medal oriented approach towards a performance oriented high performance system.

Elite athletes need access to:

• Event specific technical coaching
• Personal coaching
• Strength and Conditioning
• Sports Science
• Physiotherapy
• Nutrition
• Sports Psychology
• Performance Analysis

All of these components must work together.

Especially in technical events, the role of the personal coach should not be underestimated.

The Questions We Must Ask

So the question we should ask is not only:

Did India win medals?

We should also ask:

Did our athletes perform at the level of their true ability?

And perhaps the most important question:

Did we provide our elite athletes with the complete coaching and support ecosystem they needed to produce their best performance when it mattered most?

Conclusion

Let us celebrate the medals.

But let us also analyse the performances honestly.

Medal is the outcome.

Performance is the process.

Coaching is the foundation.

Dr C Ajithkumar
International Athletic Coach