Failure: An Analysis

When India’s 62 Olympic participants returned to New Delhi at the end of the Los Angeles Olympic Games (July-August 1984) there was a complete absence of any fanfare at the airport for the home-coming of the athletes. The reason was obvious. They had not won a single medal, neither gold, nor silver nor bronze.

A sportsman who was about to retire from the field of athletics expressed his views to The Times of India (August 17, 1985) on the reasons for this abysmal failure: “A lack of scientific and systematic training was the main reason for India’s poor showing. We did our best, but that, unfortunately, was not good enough. The training of Indian teams should start well before an event and not just three months beforehand.”

This statement is applicable not only to sports, but to all competitive spheres of existence.

In a world where everyone is jockeying for position, one has to be fully prepared for whatever venture is to be embarked upon. If one is caught unprepared, the outcome is inevitable—failure!

Whatever preparation we make, should be thorough and completely in accord with the demands of the times we live in. If we fail to keep pace with modernity, we can never hope for success in a society which is so preoccupied with innovation. We must at all times keep a finger on the throbbing pulse of life so that we may remain attuned to the imperatives of the day. It is only in this way that we shall understand exactly in what ways we need to be prepared, and can take the appropriate steps while the time is ripe.