Numerous readers have been sending us tips regarding Raj Bhavsar, an alternate on the U.S. men’s gymnastics team who will get to compete for the gold in Beijing after all. The space opened up on the team after star gymnast Paul Hamm was forced to withdraw due to injury.
Bhavsar was an alternate in 2004 as well, but didn’t get to compete. Despite a discouraging few years, Bhavsar continued to practice and train hard this spring and summer on the off-chance that a space might open up. Now his perseverance has paid off, and we wish him all the best. Based on what his colleagues and trainers have said about Bhavsar, as well as his own quotes in USA Today and The Houston Chronicle, he seems like a class act. (The ESPN story on Bhavsar also talks about how Bikram Yoga has helped him learn to concentrate better in the past year, a fact that I find quite interesting.)
NBC also had a nice profile of Bhavsar during the 2008 trials:
And you can see him performing a whole routine on rings here. (The dude has some serious biceps!)
Along with the stories about Raj Bhavsar (an Indian-American), KXB linked in the News Tab to a story in Foreign Policy about the “world’s worst Olympians,” where India actually tops the list (only 17 medals in its entire history). There is an inevitable discussion waiting to happen there, on why India always does so poorly (as I recall we had a version of it two years ago, when the World Cup was on). I don’t have any big answers, other than the obvious ones given in Foreign Policy: lack of sports venues, lack of school sports funding, lack of investment in preparing athletes for the Olympics. I don’t know whether “culture” is also a factor; I tend to think not.
At any rate, this year India is sending 57 atheletes to the Olympics, including the Paes and Bhupathi team for tennis doubles (where I suspect they might have a real shot). We might profile a few of the athletes in subsequent posts, depending on what comes up upon typing their names into the Google. Pakistan, for its part, is sending 23 athletes; Sri Lanka is sending eight (or maybe seven, depending on how we add 3+4); and Bangladesh is also sending a small contingent, to compete for wild card spots.
Cricket cricket cricket all the time. It’s maddenning
I know it’s not a zero sum game, but if India had competent/well intentioned governance I would prefer they spent that money on child nutrition & education. Once prosperous we would, without the use of state sponsored kidnapping & horse steroids like in China, have a decent Olympics presence
How exciting for this guy. Let’s wish him luck.
“I don’t have any big answers ….” :
Standing joke in Kerala- encourage marriage between Punjabi men and Malayali women! Heard of PT Usha and Milkha Singh?
Finally, there is one reason now, for me, to watch the otherwise boring olympics. All the best to Raj. 8 years of hard work paying off now. Its a major achievement just to make the US team. It shows what he is made of. Bravo !!
Finally, a soft focus “human interest” “triumph over adversity” story for NBC to drool over this Olympics!
The only muscle Indians use on a habitual basis is the brain, reflecting our poor performance in the Olympics.
We use other muscles, as reflected in our population growth.
The Indians we interact with only use their brains and don’t value physicality. This seems to be changing with the under 30, professional upper class in Indian metros. Many of them seem to be gym rats. But what % of society is this (<1%)?
Most Indians in India (approx 60%) are still engaged in unmechanized agriculture and many of them are undernourished. They are surprisingly strong given their poor circumstances. Raise the nutritional standards and India will go from worst to avg without any targeted effort on sports. To get from avg to “competitive” will require corporate involvement/surplus that does not exist today
I am a huge gymnastics fan and I was so sad for RAj when he didn’t make the US team (again) and was an alternate. Reading this morning that he’s competing just made my day. Go Raj! I’m totally rooting for him to do well!
Regarding why India isn’t competitive in the Olympics – not much investment or interest is given for olympic sports training; And I think gender norms may also be a reason that less women will have the desire or opportunity to become Olympic stars. I’m not from a big city in INdia, but just wearing a short skirt or jogging outside will bring stares and taunts from where I’m from in Kerala. Though I do know that women are going to gyms for women in my family’s town in Kerala – that’s an improvement. Women wearing leotards or swimsuits is unheard of where I am from in INdia. So for Indian women’s participation in the olympics – I think some cultural factors definitely influence their low participation.
I know this is related to Indian Americans competing in the Olympics but there was a nice story in the BBC about Vijender Kumar a boxer from Bhiwani in northern Haryana.
That betrays your class status right there.
The millions of poor labourers in India use their bodies all day long in very hard, strenuous work.
Rickshaw wallas anyone?
That is so hot.
raj is so attractive
13 · Fuerza Dulce said
i feel hurt and offended in my flabbitudinous state. (poor genetics and desk job notwithstanding)
he makes it look effortless
this is so exciting! just watched several of his youtube clips. he’s amazing! make texas proud, raj!
i was in mysore last month, and spoke to the young girl at the concierge desk at the ginger hotel. turns out that she was the karnataka state champ in gymnastics when she was 15 or 16. was eager to move on to the national level, but since mysore didn’t have the proper training facilities (and i guess she couldn’t relocate), her parents nudged her towards marriage, and now she has a 4 year old daughter. i encouraged her to at least try and coach local kids…
7 · albert camus said
Is the brain a muscle?
Nepal is also sending a contingent of about seven athletes. Bhutan is sending archers, Maldives also plan to compete, though it isn’t specified in which sport.
Yes, possibly. But in spite of that, gender distribution of the team is 31-26. If you exclude five boxers as women’s boxing is still not an olympic event, the breakdown is dead even at 26-26. Assuming that qualification standards are equally stringent, Indian women do not seem to be underperforming Indian men, especially in Athletics where the breakdown is 14-3 in favor of women.
Also in case anyone did not realize, this will be the first Olympics where Indian men’s hockey team will not take part since India made its debut in 1928 followed by eight gold medals. Sad.
Good luck Raj!
I would add, lack of focus and absence of myths.
Did he say ‘driver of the chariot’?!!! 🙂 that was so brown, dude. kikk ass.
17 · meerkat said
The lucky husband got to marry the state champ in gymnastics?
that is really sad. It is a game that was so actively followed in Chennai many years ago. Hardly anyone plays field hockey these days.
24 · confused said
The Gymnast ….
JERRY: How did you stay on that beam like that? (holds up hand) I mean, it’s only this wide!
KATYA: I can balance myself in any position.
(Jerry swallows)
KATYA: It is amazing after years of training how one can contort one’s body. Of course, it is only useful in gymnastics.
JERRY: Oh boy…
I would rather all Indians enjoy access to sanitation and clean water, than for the country to win even a single Olympic medal. There are a lot many more things for India and Indians to be disappointed about than not managing to win a few medals.
Desi from MA going to the paralympics. No easy feat.
http://anjaliforberpratt.com/content/about
I agree that there are more pressing needs than improving our medal tally at the Olympics, but I think that sports has the ability to blur some of the social divisions that plague our society. It’s easier to get people to unite behind a team or a sportsman, than it is to get them united behind a party or a politician.
Nice, at least there is one desi athlete somewhere near the periphery of the olympics. One desi athlete, representing a country of a billion. I feel that cultivating a competetive spirit from an early age is useful from the standpoint of growing as a people. Why? Because competition, is something that appears to be ingrained within us, and has the wonderful characteristic that it is able to conquer color boundaries.
Pankaj
Ditto #13.
And forget about the biceps… Did you see his legs?
I can’t wait for the ‘boring’ Olympics.
30 · Pankaj said
Uhhh, he reps the U.S.A. Not a country of a billion.
vaat man. you’re letting the plot crowd out the facts. there’s at least a 100 folks of desi extraction at the olys.
Indian’s make horrible athlete’s, but I bet every Indian would prefer to be the coach(manager).
Indian manager. Your doing it wrong! Do it again.
Athlete: Can you show me?
Indian manager: I do not do physical labor. I am the manager.
Athlete: I know, but….
Indian Manager: Your fired.
Sports in India, except Cricket, is largely run by the government. These guys have not been able to provide Indians with decent roads in 60+ years since Independence so asking them to produce Olympic champions is just too much to ask. However, private companies and individuals are now taking thnkgs in their own hands and putting up the funds to finance sports other than cricket. Here is a feel slighhtly good story about how these guys are putting their money where their mouth is:
http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&issueid=63&id=11536&Itemid=1§ionid=41
Canada is sending 6 desis to the Beijing this year on one team – men’s field hockey. Out of the 18 on the squad going to the Olympics, 6 are desis – 4 punjabis and 2 goans. This is probably the most mixed team participating for Canada (and the US?). Indians are paying special attention to the Canadian team b/c of the desi factor and b/c for the first time in history, India did not qualify for the Olympics in field hockey. Is big news but unfortunately, field hockey doesn’t get much press here in North America. I know that SM is focused on our American friends down south, but thought that you might be interested in some things that us Canadian folk have been doing in the sports world. Here’s a shameless plug for my husband, one of the team members.
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/sports/story.html?id=cdc8a38b-873e-476e-ae49-89c8fd4d6308
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/indian-origin-wrestler-in-australian-olympic-squad_10056443.html
A DBD wearing the Green and Gold
An immigrant in the Australian team. Oz has had a long history of “new australians” represnting it in various disciplines.
Cricket and brains really dont explain why India lags behind. India hasnt won a real World Cup in cricket in 20 plus years despite the massive superiority it enjoys in money, player numbers, and enthusiasm for the sport. Even worse, didn’t it make just one finals in the world cup since that win? So if India cannot even master a sport played by only few countries, and it is even played that seriously in half of those few countries, is it surprising that they fail spectacularly in the Olympics?
Also the brains part. Is there any proof India tries to play a brainy game in cricket? They do not seem to have a great game plan when playing a tougher opponent like Australia.
It is surprising though that outside India, you have a Vijay Singh become a world class golfer and he hails from a third world island, while India can’t produce a single elite tennis player or golfer. Same with soccer. You got this guy in France who made their team. How many Indians from India would make the French team? Something is missing, I don’t know what.
Wow, I think Canada fielding a field hockey team for the Olympics while India is out illustrates how pitiful the Indian hockey team is. That would be like India advancing past Canada in a world ice hockey playoffs. Who even cares about field hockey in Canada.
It’s funny how the US soccer team is more internationally ready than the Indian soccer team. You do not need freaking resources for soccer. All you need is a ball and an open field.
This guy is 27. What’s the arc of his life thus far? Is he done with college? Has he deffered college? Of course, i am asking desi-uncle questions but it would be interestin to know how he detoured from the standard desi amreekan dream.
neale, you are asking very uncle-ish questions. you’ll want to know his SAT results next 🙂
39 · Pravin said
You couldn’t be more wrong. One of our, the US’, greatest advantages in player development is our facilities and resources. They are world class, unlike our coaches and system of development. Once the tactical side catches up to the infrastructure, the US will become an international juggernaut.
Clubs and national federations don’t spend millions of dollars for nothing.
Neale, I think I remember reading he competed on the OSU Buckeye gymnastics team.
This guy is 27. What’s the arc of his life thus far? Is he done with college? Has he deffered college? Of course, i am asking desi-uncle questions but it would be interestin to know how he detoured from the standard desi amreekan dream.
He will probably write a book if he ends up winning a medal at the Olympics. That might net him a few hundred thousand dollars including team sponsorships etc.
i think raj graduated from ohio state uni
Lily:
Just saw the article. Wish you and Ravi the best of luck for the games!
Anyone in India who can figure out why the country has not struck Olympic Gold in recent years and can make good the deficiency will deserve a Gold. (Rathor won a Silver at the last Olympics, which led to considerable jubilation in India.)After all there was a time when the Men’s Indian Hockey team was virtually guaranteed the Gold.
about the “world’s worst Olympians,†where India actually tops the list (only 17 medals in its entire history)
If “dissing Indian men at parties was an Olympic event”, desi women would sweep. I can just imagine the announcer…
“Oh there he goes, a nice, honest, human being… approaches to say hi… OWWW her friend came and whisked her away. That was close, she almost got to hear the ‘hhh’ on that one… much too close.”
I think part of the reason India has such a weak olympic presence is genetic. There have been a lot of recent studies showing that certain gene alleles that make people more susceptible to diabetes and cardiovascular disease are found in relatively high frequency in India. I think Indians on a whole are just less genetically athletic, we tend to have more flabby bodies with higher body fat concentrations. It could also be bad nutrition and terrible maternal health.
india has the lowest rate of alzheimer’s in the world. plus the numbers for cancer, dementia and arthritis are lower than in the west as well.