India at the Olympics

This is the topic for introspection for the Sports Ministry. But, unfortunately this introspection will last for a few months and will then fizzle out. This blog is to give my views on the Indian performance and the lack of winners in sports in general.
Indian Performance at Athens - It is extremely dissapointing that we could win just a silver medal though we boast of having the largest manpower in the world (China has a very significant manpower over the age of 60 as compared to India). But on retrospection, I find that we haven't done that bad either comparing our performances in the past. We reached the finals in quite a few events like long jump, 4*400 m relay for women, shooting (single trap, double trap and air rifle), nearly made it to the medals tally in tennis, women's weightlifting (where Kunjarani Devi participated, forgot the category). True, there were extremely shabby performances by the men in discus and shot put and by Anjali Bhagwat in shooting and the shame of all the doping scandals. In general I think that the performances have improved but a lot is desired.
Reasons for the failure to produce sports Stalwarts - The reasons are plenty. First and foremost of all is our outlook of sports. How many of our parents are ready to allow us to choose a career in sports? How many schools and colleges encourage sports? In the western countries every student until college is expected to attend the PT classes without fail unless he/she has a very valid reason.
Secondly, the boards of the various sports disciplines. They are so engrossed in the battle of power and money that they are ready to sacrifice the larger interests. They obtained this strength as none of the board members are accountable for the failure of the players in the sporting arena. One must understand, a sporting legend is not born on his own, it is a collective effort of all the supporting bodies. For example, all the board meetings of the BCCI are only held in seven star hotels and nothing less than that even though they have an office of their own.
Thirdly, the sports persons lack the mental strength. They tend to forget that the real heroes are those who succeed against all odds. They should not crib too much about the facilities. They must gain the facilities by proving their mettle. I am not saying that they should not voice their concerns about the lack of the sporting infrastructure. The other thing is they should not aim at medals but at resetting the world records. Medals will come automatically. I appreciate the Indian Army for setting up world class facilities in recent times with the sole aim of putting India as a force to reckon and they succeeded partly with the medal winner in Major Rathore.
Let us hope that we are able to perform better in the upcoming world events.
Comments are welcome as usual.