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In search of an Olympic legacy: thestory of India's failed Olympic bidKausik Bandyopadhyaya

a Department of History, West Bengal State University, Kolkata,IndiaPublished online: 09 Sep 2013.

To cite this article: Kausik Bandyopadhyay (2014) In search of an Olympic legacy: the story ofIndia's failed Olympic bid, Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics, 17:5, 609-616,DOI: 10.1080/17430437.2013.834619

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In search of an Olympic legacy: the story of India’s failed Olympic bid

Kausik Bandyopadhyay*

Department of History, West Bengal State University, Kolkata, India

After India successfully organized the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi, the long-term planwas to bid for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games. While India did indeed go on to bidfor the Olympics, which was ultimately awarded to Barcelona, its appalling failure inthe process did not appear to leave any viable foothold upon which to build in futureyears. This study aims to re-examine the story of Indian Olympic Association’s failedbid for the 1992 Olympics, which among other regrettable outcomes, tarnished India’simage as an Olympic nation and sporting entity.

Introduction

Following its successful organization of the Asian Games of 1982 staged in Delhi,1 India

planned to build on this experience by bidding for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games. Yet,

although India did indeed proceed to bid for the mega-event, its appalling failure in the

process did not, on the face of it, leave any viable legacy to move forward for future

Olympic leaders in the country. As the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) proceeded

hastily to go forward with a bid, without getting necessary concurrence from the

Government of India, all their effort eventually came to nothing when the Government of

India did not approve their application at the last moment. This tarnished the image of

India not only on the global sporting map but also in the eyes of the international sporting

community. Interestingly, none of the existing works on India’s Olympic history refers to

this fascinating story of India’s failed bid in the 1980s.2 This study, by reconstructing the

story of IOA’s bid for the 1992 Olympics, aims to address this omission by examining the

administrative failure of India’s National Olympic Committee around this failed bid.

Asian Games and the plans to bid for the 1992 Olympics

As India was preparing to host the Asian Games in 1982, around the same time it began the

arduous process of attempting to secure the 1992 Summer Olympics for the country. Raja

Bhalendra Singh, president of the IOA, while confirming their offer to host the 1983

International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in New Delhi, first placed the bid to stage

the 1992 Olympic Games at the same location in his letter to the then president of the IOC

Juan Antonio Samaranch, dated 15 September 1981.3 He argued in his correspondence:

I feel that with the staging of the 1982 Asian Games, New Delhi will have the required sportsinfrastructures as well as the organisational capability to handle a ‘sports festival’ of the typeof the Olympic Games. Our offer and its acceptance will also help to establish the staggeringof the Olympic Games to various regions and continents and afford all concerned anopportunity to take equal part in furthering the Olympic movement.

I am aware that considering the 1992 Olympic Games at this stage is too far ahead of time butI wanted you to know that my National Olympic Committee is keen and geared up to accept

q 2013 Taylor & Francis

*Email: kbanjee@yahoo.co.in

Sport in Society, 2014

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the responsibility should the International Olympic Committee give them their favourabledecision.4

In reply to this letter, Monique Berlioux, secretary general of the IOC, appreciated

IOA’s offer to host the Games in 1992.5

It was Buta Singh, chairman and chief coordinator of the Asian Games special

organizing committee, who first made the news public, in April 1982, that India was

intending to bid to host the 1992 Olympic Games.6 He declared that Raja Bhalendra Singh

would formally put forward India’s bid at the 25 May 1982 meeting of the IOC in Rome.

Referring to the preparations ongoing at that time in New Delhi to host the ninth Asiad,

Buta Singh argued that the stadia and other facilities created for the Asiad would in turn

form the basic infrastructure for the Olympics. With the addition of some additional

facilities, he said, India would be capable of hosting the Summer Olympics of 1992. Singh

also referred to the opinions of foreign sports experts, who, after seeing the preparations

for the Asiad, had similarly opined that India could successfully host the Olympics.7 Buta

Singh’s viewpoint received added credence when, buoyed by the ‘fantastic opening

ceremony’ of the Asian Games on 20 November 2012, IOC President Samaranch stated at

a press conference that ‘on this showing alone India could well bid for the 1992

Olympics’.8 Samaranch also added that India delivered the Asiad opening ceremony in

‘real Olympic style’, and thus, proved their capacity to stage events bigger than the Asian

Games. A shrewd former diplomat, he did not spell out what these bigger events were but

it was obvious that the implication hinted at India’s serious candidature for forthcoming

Olympic Games. Referring to the IOC Congress to be held in India in March the following

year, Samaranch stated that this was a significant step before bidding for the Olympics.9

Many among the official representatives from different countries attending the Asiad

praised India for their efforts in hosting the Games. As the Press Trust of India reported,

‘India is capable of hosting the Olympics,’ according to the chef-de-mission of Bahrain

and the deputy chef-de-mission of China.10 Yacoob Allahan of the Bahrain contingent

said ‘With the current arrangements and facilities India can easily bid to host the

Olympics.’11

In the context of a successful hosting of the Asian Games in 1982, Buta Singh declared

that India would formally move their application offering to host the 1992 Olympics

during the IOC session to be held in March 1983.12 He referred to the remark made by the

president of the International Amateur Athlete Association after visiting various stadia that

India was now fully equipped to host the Olympics at the shortest notice.13 In December

1982, however, when India’s name did not figure in Samaranch’s statement naming the

shortlist of contenders for the 1992 Olympics,14 Air Vice-Marshall C.L. Mehta, secretary-

general of the IOA, wrote to the IOC reminding them about India’s desire to host the

Games.15 In response, Samaranch, however, confirmed in a telephone exchange to

Bhalendra Singh:

I always mention New Delhi, particularly in Paris, amongst the possible candidate cities. Inaddition, I even stated that I had had the opportunity to ascertain New Delhi’s capability forthe staging of Olympic Games during my recent visit to the city.16

As early as March 1983, the UNI reported that India’s hopes of hosting the Olympic

Games may in fact not materialize before well into the twentieth century. Moreover,

India faced stiff competition from Paris, France and Barcelona, Spain to stage the 25th

Olympiad in 1992.17 According to reports, Paris was most likely to win the race, with

Barcelona a close runner-up. Thus, it was reported, in the event of Paris losing the

contest, that Barcelona ‘is the logical’ venue as it happened to be IOC president’s city.

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Yet, when India’s first ever IOC session began in New Delhi on 24 March 1983,

Samaranch praised the organization of the Ninth Asian Games and was happy to note

that India was bidding for the 1992 Olympic Games.18 Since the 1988 Olympics were

already awarded to South Korea, an Asian country, questions were raised as to the

prospects of holding the Games in another Asian city in 1992. In response to this,

Samaranch pointed out that the charter of the IOC did not contain any provisions which

prohibited holding the Olympic Games in Asia twice in succession, first at Seoul in 1988

and then, prospectively, at New Delhi in 1992. He considered India to be a new and

responsible host member well capable of staging the Olympics in the near future.19 The

IOC session in New Delhi thus became part of the IOA’s bid to profile the city as a

probable host for the 1992 Olympic Games. Several IOC members were visibly

impressed by the facilities Delhi had to offer.20 It was argued that with many of the same

members voting to elect the 1992 host city, New Delhi had an extremely good chance to

host the Games.21 Yet, it was also reported that some senior members of the IOA claim

that not enough was being done by the officials concerned to present a strong case to

justify India’s claim to host the 1992 Olympic Games.22

The IOA was required to deposit US$100,000 upon ultimately submitting its official

bid to host the 1992 Games in its candidature city of New Delhi. The IOC charter for 1983

stipulated this condition for each city submitting its intention to host the event. This sum

was to be repaid immediately if the city in question was not allotted the Games, but would

be retained in the case of selection and deducted from the total guaranteed money it had to

pay from the final settlement of television rights for the Games, without interest.23 The

charter on the organizing of the Olympic Games, namely section 18, also stated that each

candidate city, after being granted the Olympic Games, must pay a further guarantee of US

$500,000 to stage the Olympiad. This section further stated that this guarantee could be

used by the IOC to meet the obligations of the organizing committee of the Olympic

Games, in the event of the latter being unable to fulfil its financial commitments

independently, for example, towards the National Olympic Committees.24

Naturally, the question instantly arose as to whether India was in a position to invest

such a huge amount of financial outlay to successfully bid and host the Olympics at that

difficult time in its history. A former Olympian M.C. Dhawan’s view in this regard

deserves mention. In an open letter published in the Times of India in 1983, he argued:

All right thinking sport lovers in India, specially those who know the real significance of anOlympiad and the enormous cost involved in such a gigantic venture, must be baffled by thefeverish publicity given to the bid for the 1992 Olympic Games. Curiously, our sportspromoters as well as the government are absolutely silent about the preparation of our sportsteams for participation in the Los Angeles Olympiad next year. It seems that our priorities areall wrong. Instead of trying to win honours for our participants next year in the Olympiad, theyare keen to corner organizational glory a decade from now.25

Given the amount of money the Indian government would have to finally invest and

spend in the case of the country’s bid being successful, Dhawan raised a simple but pithy

question:

Should India spend such a large sum of money just for the sake of getting plaudits for superborganization when our participants are not likely to win even one gold medal in the next fewOlympiads? India, it was implied, was a poor developing country, so its meager funds for thedevelopment of sports should not be frittered away on staging an Olympiad.26

Finally, putting his strong opinion against the bid, he concluded:

I strongly feel that on no account we should bid for the 1992 Olympiad. Not only that, I ameven inclined to suggest that we should seriously think about the advisability of even

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participating in the Olympiads til we are able to help our sporting youth attain respectablestandards. The money thus spent should be spent on well-planned programmes for improvingsports standards in the country. The guarantee money of 500,000 dollars, which we envisagefor the 1992 Olympiad, should be profitably utilized for arranging specialized training of ourtalented sportsmen and women in friendly foreign countries. At the same time dozens ofsports schools and colleges can be opened all over the country. We can also organize hundredsof sports-cum-youth caps and rural sports festivals and provide free nourishing diet to all thetalented youth undergoing specialized training.27

The IOA, however, had already committed itself to bidding for the 1992 Olympics. In

June 1984, Aswini Kumar, vice-president of the IOA, on his return from Lausanne,

Switzerland and Paris, admitted that the latter was a formidable contender for the 1992

Games.28 For him, ‘India stood an excellent chance of getting the Games, provided a

proper presentation was made of New Delhi’s bid. This, even, before and during the Los

Angeles Olympics.’29 However, he also admitted, ‘Little has been done so far to boost

India’s chances. No brochures, no films, not even a pamphlet had been brought out’.30

That was why, it was reported, later in July after Paris became the first city to submit its

formal bid to host the 1992 Games at Los Angeles, that India was not ‘believed to have

much chance in the vote to be taken by the 92-member IOC at its headquarters in Lausanne

in 1986’.31 Interestingly, despite communication to the IOC regarding its desire to bid for

the Olympics, the new IOA president V.C. Shukla stated in November 1984 that ‘the IOA

had only expressed to the IOC its desire to do so and a formal bid would be made after all

the pros and cons of staging the Games had been considered’.32 Meanwhile, two

representatives from the candidate city of New Delhi were invited to attend the

International Symposium on Sport, Media and Olympism (SISMO) at Lausanne as

observers.33

The official bid and its failure

The official bid from the IOA was submitted to the IOC in April 1985.34 An Indian

delegation to the 90th IOC general session in Berlin held in early May 1985, comprising

Shukla and his deputy Lokpathi Tripathi, officially launched New Delhi’s bid for the 1992

Olympic Games.35 The delegation confined itself to making a very brief presentation of its

case before the executive board of IOC, although it arrived late and almost unprepared.36

Shukla told the board that most of its (board’s) members had been in Delhi for the IOC

session in New Delhi in 1983 and had seen the infrastructure available there for

themselves. He was also reported to have assured the board that India would make a full

presentation of its case, if necessary, at the next meeting.37 He argued that India had some

inherent advantages such as the basic infrastructural facilities. Besides, it had tremendous

appeal for the Third World and non-aligned countries and did not face the threat of a

boycott.38 Shukla did not think the fact that Seoul was hosting the next Games in 1988

which would damage their case. As he commented: ‘Successive Olympic Games in Asia

would prove a tremendous boost to sport in the region.’39 In stating why India was

interested in staging the Olympics, the IOA advanced some impressive arguments, namely

that India has one-fifth of the world’s population and should be given a chance to stage the

Games, that the Third World as a whole would benefit by India being given the honour;

that two-thirds of the country’s population were under 35 years and that the Olympic

movement, basically for the ambitions of the youth, should not ignore such a vast swathe

of the country’s population.40

Despite the IOA’s official presentation of its case of the Olympic bid, the Government

of India seemed to be unaware of, and indeed indifferent to, the matter from the very

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beginning. Ashwini Kumar urged the Indian Government in June 1985 to immediately

lend its support to New Delhi’s bid to hold the 1992 Olympics.41 Kumar pointed out that

there was no indication at that time that the Government was prepared to support New

Delhi’s bid while representatives of other countries were already in Berlin trying to

impress the IOC. As he argued, ‘We must be little more serious in our preparations in order

to impress the IOC. We must have visual as well as reading material and film clips to show

that New Delhi is capable of hosting the Games.’42 In its activities report to the IOC, it was

mentioned that ‘feverish preparations’ in this regard were already been undertaken by the

IOA.43 In October 1985, when the IOA sent its activities report to the IOC for publication

in its bulletin, the report mentioned how V.C. Shukla visited various European National

Olympic Committees ‘to muster support for New Delhi’s chances for holding the 1992

Olympic Games’ and made use of ‘every opportunity in making personal contacts to

enhance the chances of New Delhi’.44 Similarly, in November 1985, while the pilot

commission of the IOC expressed its view that Delhi was equipped to stage the 1992

Olympic Games, Gunnar Ericsson, chairman of the visiting IOC party, pointed out that its

case would have gained added agency if only the government had categorically

pronounced its backing for the city’s candidature.45 When Ericsson and his colleagues

called on P.V. Narasimha Rao, the Union Minister for Human Resources Development,

and Margaret Alva, Minister of State for Sport, the latter expressed the government’s keen

interest in seeing the Olympics come to India, but that was not the same thing as a written

undertaking of support.46 As it turned out, 28 February 1986 was the last date for the IOA

to submit its formal application with a fee of US$100,000 and a letter from the government

countersigning the bid. Hence, there was little time to be lost. Yet, there were dissenting

voices strongly disapproving of India’s bid. As one such commentator reported in The

Times of India:

The prospects of Delhi staging the 1992 games thus appear slim. The Indian OlympicAssociation has advanced some seemingly impressive arguments in favour of its claims,including that the country has one-fifth of the world’s population and that the ThirdWorld as awhole will benefit by the honour. However, some fundamental questions need to be asked.Do we really have the capacity to organize the Olympics? Can we afford the immense costs?Will there be any tangible benefits from staging the Games? The answers are all in thenegative. The fee for a formal application alone is $100,000 dollars (about Rs. 12 lakhs).We will also have to incur a considerable expenditure on the expansion and improvement ofthe existing facilities and to add a few more. The Asiad experience shows that the conduct ofan extravaganza neither increases sports awareness nor dramatically improves standardsobtaining at home. This perhaps explains the government’s lukewarm support to Delhi’s bid.When basic facilities and equipment are still not available for the vast majority of our buddingsportsmen it is unrealistic to think in terms of hosting the Olympics.47

There was widespread apprehension in early 1986 that India would be out of the

running to host the 1992 Olympic Games if the government did not provide its approval in

time for the IOA to submit its bid to the IOC by February 28 – the last date for this

purpose.48 V.C. Shukla, the IOA president, stated that the IOA had submitted its full case

to the government for its consideration and its decision was in turn awaited.49 The IOA had

assured the government that no financial liability would be involved in hosting these

Games and, in fact, the project would not only leave a financial surplus but also a number

of new sporting facilities would have been provided as a result.50 But the matter became

clear that in the absence of government approval, the IOA’s campaign for securing the

1992 Games had got delayed. As the deadline for the submission of an official bid bore

perilously close, political parties and individuals began to raise their voices against the

delay in government’s decision on the matter. The Congress(S), for example, expressed its

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concern over the delay in the government’s decision on India making a bid for the 1992

Olympic Games. Suresh Kalmadi, secretary of the Congress (S) party in the Indian

Parliament, lamented, ‘it is a pity that our government, which is supposed to be working

faster, has not yet decided whether New Delhi should host the Olympic Games’.51 More

importantly, people became increasingly concerned about the advisability of bidding for

the Games by India in the first place. As one commentator argued:

Instead of seeking certificates the I.O.A. ought to honestly ask itself whether the country canafford the staggering costs. The answer can only be an emphatic no. We may have thefacilities but certainly not the funds.

The I.O.A.’s own estimate is Rs. 600 crores. Since costs have a knack of escalating the actualoutlay is bound to be much more. Experience has shown that the conduct of the Olympics canaffect a nation’s economy. Naturally, because a massive national effort alone can ensure thesuccess of the Games. In the process some areas are bound to suffer.

Above all we will be heaping a host of problems. Heading the list will be security. The ever-present threat of a boycott is another. Both the Moscow and Los Angeles Games wereundermined by global politics. Even now it is not clear what lies in store at Seoul.

We have enough headaches of our own. The I.O.A. is aiming for the moon when it can doprecious little for Indian sport.52

After all this uncertainty, the Government of India decided to withdraw from the race

to host the 1992 Olympic Games at almost the final hour. A decision not to submit the bid

was understood to have been taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet on the night of 27

February 1986 while the deadline for submitting the bid in Lausanne was 1700 h on 28

February.53 Interestingly, as the deadline was approaching, the IOA even had two of its

officials standing by to fly out on the night of 27 February so that the relevant documents

could be delivered to the headquarters of the IOC in Lausanne by noon the next day.54

A telex was sent to the headquarters of the IOC at Lausanne by Shukla:

This is to inform you that the Indian Olympic Association, the National Olympic Committeeof India, is not making a bid for the 1992 Olympic Games. However, we would like to registerour interest in advance for the 1996 Olympic Games for which the usual bid will be made atthe appropriate time.55

The IOA officials became busy clearing up the ‘debris’ of what the IOA secretary-general

C. L. Mehta called ‘the bid that had “gone up in flames”’, informing all concerned about

India pulling out of the race.56

Postscript

Thus, the dream of the IOA, of making a bid for the 1992 Summer Olympics, which began

with the successful conduct of the Ninth Asian Games in New Delhi in 1982, was

ultimately shattered. For many, it was a decision that should have been made long back.

As one newspaper editorial maintained:

At the eleventh hour the government took a decision which it should have made long ago –not to make a bid for staging the Olympics in 1992. Since the 1996 Olympics will almostcertainly be held in Athens to mark the centenary celebration of the modern Olympics, theissue is postponed for at least another 15 years. It is probable that what tipped the scales in theCentre’s recognition that the effort would have been in any case futile. True, certain visitingmembers of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have said complimentary thingsabout the facilities in New Delhi, but this was only to be expected. There was no way the IOCcould have got away with the holding the Olympics twice in a row in the same continent ofAsia. Staging the Olympics is now such a prestigious issue, and there are already a significantnumber of claimants, some of whom have considerably more influence than India in the

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circles that count. What is more, looking at the expense that was involved in holding theAsiad, surely a government which wants to march into the twenty first century has other moresensible priorities than wasting money merely for prestige sake. It would have been somethingelse if this country had a real sports policy and was prepared to take the kind of steps which somany socialist countries have taken to generate truly mass participation in a whole range ofsporting activities. Such an approach would require investment over a long period in buildinga proper infrastructure of facilities and coaching throughout the length and breadth of thecountry. Staging events like the Asiad or the Olympics could then be justified as itself giving afurther impetus to sporting life in this country. Here, in the absence of any such integrated andcomprehensive approach to promoting sport, such activities are mere white elephants andexercises in international public relations.57

Most importantly, the way the IOA approached and managed the entire bidding

process pointed to the deplorable state of affairs in the apex body, which did not have any

proper coordination with the government. It also tarnished India’s image as an Olympic

nation and a sporting entity in the global map.

Acknowledgements

The author thanks the staff of IOC Olympic Study Centre at Lausanne, Switzerland for unlimitedaccess to the IOC archives and Souvik Naha, his research assistant, for collating valuable materialsfor this article.

Notes

1. For a detailed discussion on the Asian Games held in Delhi in 1982, see Sanyal, The Story ofAsian Games.

2. These works include Majumdar and Mehta, Olympics; Sharma, Olympics; Negi, From Gloomto Glory; Majumdar and Collins, Olympism; Ezekiel and Arumugam, Great Indian Olympiansand Ahmed, Olympic Games.

3. Raja Bhalendra Singh’s letter to Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of IOC, no. IOA/48/16dated 15 September 1981. File No. DRM01. INDE/008. SD2 Corr. 1980, Olympic StudiesCentre Archives, Lausanne, Switzerland (hereafter OSC Archives).

4. Ibid.5. Monique Berlioux’s letter to Raja Bhalendra Singh, Ref. No. 7302/81/jh dated September 25,

1981. File No. DRM01. INDE/008. SD2 Corr. 1980, OSC Archives.6. The Times of India, April 24, 1982, 11.7. Ibid.8. The Times of India, November 21, 1982, 10.9. Ibid.10. The Statesman, November 19, 1982, 10.11. Ibid.12. The Times of India, November 23, 1982, 1.13. Ibid. The vice-president of the GDR Gymnastics and Sports Federation, Mr Werner Berg, also

noted that the stadia he saw in New Delhi during the Ninth Asian Games were unique in theworld. According to his personal assessment, New Delhi had all the facilities required to stagethe Olympic Games. The Times of India, January 4, 1983, 17.

14. C.L. Mehta’s letter to Samaranch, No. IOA/48/16 dated December 12, 1982. File No. DRM01.INDE 009. SD1, Corr. January–June 1983, OSC Archives. The candidate cities listed in thestatement were Paris and Nice (Paris), Barcelona (Spain), Stockholm, Budapest, Hungary,Brisbane, Amsterdam and Vienna.

15. Ibid. The Times of India, December 10, 1982, 11.16. Samaranch’s letter to C.L. Mehta, Ref. No. 99/83 dated January 4, 1983. File No. DRM01.

INDE 009. SD1, Corr. January–June 1983, OSC Archives.17. The Statesman, March 22, 1983, 14.18. The Statesman, March 26, 1983, 14.19. The Statesman, April 3, 1983, 10.

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20. The Times of India, April 10, 1983, 12.21. Ibid.22. The Times of India, April 2, 1983, 11.23. The Times of India, April 8, 1983, 11.24. For details, see Samaranch’s letter to V.C. Shukla, Ref. No. 8440/85/AFB/do1 dated July 31,

1985. File No. DRM01-INDE/10, SD Corr. 1985, OSC Arhives.25. The Times of India, April 20, 1983, 8.26. Ibid.27. Ibid.28. The Times of India, June 7, 1984, 13.29. Ibid.30. Ibid.31. The Times of India, July 31, 1984, 13.32. The Times of India, November 11, 1984, 11.33. Monique Berlioux’s letter to Raja Bhalendra Singh. File No. DRM01 INDE/009. SD 4: Corr.

May–December 1984. OSC Archives.34. Letter of V.C. Shukla to J.A. Samaranch No. IOA/48/16 dated April 12, 1985. DRM01-

INDE/10, SD Corr. 1985, OSC Archives.35. The Statesman, June 6, 1985, 10; The Times of India, June 6, 1985, 11.36. Ibid.37. The Statesman, June 6, 1985, 10.38. The Times of India, June 6, 1985, 11.39. Ibid.40. The Times of India, November 7, 1985, 11.41. The Statesman, June 7, 1985, 12.42. Ibid.43. Letter of A.K. Sinha, assistant secretary of IOA, to the IOC, No. IOA/51/2 dated August 11,

1985. DRM01-INDE/10, SD Corr. 1985, OSC Archives.44. Letter of A.K. Sinha, assistant secretary of IOA, to the IOC, No. IOA/51/2 dated October 19,

1985. DRM01-INDE/10, SD Corr. 1985, OSC Archives.45. The Times of India, November 7, 1985, 11.46. Ibid.47. The Times of India, November 16, 1985, 8.48. The Times of India, January 7, 1985, 15.49. Ibid.50. Ibid.51. The Times of India, February 22, 1986, 11.52. The Times of India, February 24, 1986, 11.53. The Times of India, February 28, 1986, 1.54. Ibid.55. The Statesman, March 1, 1986, 14.56. Ibid.57. The Times of India, March 3, 1986, 8.

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by [

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eå U

nive

rsity

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rary

] at

09:

55 2

3 A

pril

2014