Olympic preparations off track

Only five months to go for the Olympic Games in China but it seems Sri Lanka is in the wilderness without knowing what preparations they have to make with prospective competitors.

With little over two years to go for the next edition of the Asian Games, it is the ideal time to begin preparations to produce a few Asian level gold medallists.

Unlike in other countries, we lack a national sports policy which treats all competitors alike and affords identical facilities in their lead-up to a mega sporting event. The sports Ministry has granted millions to sprint queen Susanthika Jayasinghe for a training stint in the United States but we are yet to hear the progress she has made there.

A couple of swimmers could get wildcard entries for the Beijing Olympics but even those competitors should be included in a separate Olympic super pool along with those who have gained direct qualifying standards.

It would be better if the National Sports Council (NSC) could make some recommendations in this regard and suggest to the Sports Minister on appropriate action. Of course the NSC has the ability to do that with a man with a proven track record in the saddle - Dr. Maiya Gunasekera.

He had been a versatile rugby player during his day and later excelled as an official, coach and a team doctor. We assume the Sports Minister’s other choices to the NSC too are good and hence the NSC is in a position to make suitable recommendations in the best interest of Sri Lanka sports.

We often make this mistake of picking teams and contingents for international sports events at the eleventh hour. We hardly make enough preparations but some officials are keen to initiate these tours even at the last minute so that they could make a few joy rides. This type of irregularities should be completely stopped.

At the beginning of the year, the National Sports Associations (NSAs) must identify their major international competitions for the next two years and should submit their preparation and training schedules to the Sports Ministry.

If the Sports Ministry could not take this burden, they should establish and empower a separate body to manage such affairs and report to the Sports Minister on a regular basis.

Since it is the election time of the NSAs, we hear loads of promises from various officials fighting to gain places in the NSAs or those who make desperate attempts to hold on to power.

Once elected, they must submit their program for the year, with training schedules and major tournaments, championships and Games.

That would help the Sports Ministry or an appointed central body named by the Sports Minister to evaluate the progress made by the NSAs and those who man those places. One may question as to why the National Olympic Committee (NOC) should come in to the picture.

But the NOC is only a national body which connects our sportsmen and women, along with the NSAs and officials, with the international sporting world. The NOC plays the role of a facilitator in processing and arranging local competitors for major Games such as South Asian Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games.

As I have stated before, the NOC is not a factory that produces medals. It could only show the way and give some guidelines. But the NOC is helping NSAs with training opportunities under an Olympic Solidarity program.

But the Sports Ministry could make use of the expertise of the NOC officials in forming a specialised body to monitor activities. We must put an immediate end to last minute foreign tours and competitions without any aim, preparations or vision.

All such activities should comply with our short, medium and long term goals for respective sports. Just for the sake of competing, we should not accept last minute invitations and just for the sake of touring.

The Sports Ministry should be careful in granting funds to useless exercises. True that the Sports Ministry should help NSAs which may find it difficult to find the necessary finances for important events, But at the same time, the Sports Ministry must monitor how the NSAs utilize those funds to make sure that the sports officials make the best use of those valuable public funds.

Hence, it is always important that we identify prospective sportsmen and women who could be groomed or those who we could identify as prospective medal winners. We must grade them into national and intermediate pools and groom them carefully for the future.

Celebrated sportsmen and women the world over have gained glory through hardwork and determination. There are no short cuts to produce gold medallists. There are no instant programs to create an Olympic medallist.

Hardwork and decidation are the name of the game. Hence, we must realise that only if we make an investment today in the sports arena, we could expect some international medals in future.

Hence, we must identify those sportsmen and women with potential and provided they are ready to make some great sacrifices and work for future glory, they should be given all facilities and every encouragement to sharpen their skills. It is through this hard journey that the medallists are produced at Olympic level.