Commonwealth Games
I just heard an increadibly patronising interview with a sportsman who suggested that athletes should 'make do' in India and accept lower standards of accommodation, hygiene and safety because it is a 'third world' country.
My experience of working with indian companies and professionals is that there is nothing third world about their capabilities and output. What I see on the news seems to have more to do with corruption than the ability of Indian industry to deliver quality projects.
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I'm a big fan of India as a country and believe it will be a major power this century, but you have to admit that the Commonwealth Games, from an outsiders perspective at least, has been a complete mess. I don't know the reasons as we don't really get the Games here, but whatever they are someone somewhere has really messed up and it doesn't paint India in a good light at all.
Australia have said today that the games shouldn't have gone to Delhi in the first place.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11403204
It's not just 'fussy foreigners' who are finding the conditions unnacceptable.
This article from the Times Of India details the filth that members of the Indian boxing team have complained about when they moved into their CWG accommodation on Saturday:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/commonwealth-games-2010/india-news/Knockout-before-Games-Boxers-bed-collapses/cwgarticleshow/6627570.cms
They complain of 'paan stains' on the floor (a red liquid spat out by betel leaf chewers), a filthy bathroom, dirty rooms, dirty beds and a bed which broke when someone sat on it.
Interestingly, in the 150+ comments on the article left by Indian readers, no one blames British colonialism, slavery, Partition, Independence, Iraq/Afghanistan wars, or any other ridiculous notion, for the unsatisfactory CWG situation in Delhi. And no one accuses foreign teams of being unduly picky, either.
I agree that it is not 'fussy foreigners' blowing the problem up out of proportion,. Athletes and officials have every right to accommodation that is safe, healthy and reasonably comfortable. The question, in my view, is why the situation has arisen, given the lead time and importance of the event to international perception of India.
There seems to be a lesson here for the UK and the 2012 Olympics, in terms of the need for government to ensure that sufficient funding is available, and that it is properly spent. Cost cutting seldom leads to quality results,
It certainly is a mess and you can understand the reluctance of athletes wishing to submit themselves to the conditions. As for who is to blame it could probably be a whole bunch of people as it neither paints the Indian organisers or the Commonwealth Games body in general in a good light. After all, a number of athletes have already pulled out of the games and for me it taints the whole concept, so it won't be doing Glasgow any favours either.
I see one of the organizing team had their effigy burned yesterday. I can never tell if some of the people out there really are pyromaniacs or whether the media simply like to portray Persian countries as such.
Can't be long until it all kicks off now can it? When is the opening ceremony?
The opening ceremony is on Sunday. Let's all hope that everything goes well from now on, and that the athletes can concentrate on enjoying the competition.
Here is a link to the Games website:
http://www.cwgdelhi2010.org/
There's a nice article here in the Economist about the situation in India.
http://www.economist.com/node/17147648?story_id=17147648&fsrc=rss
The essence being that despite the clear disparity with which India is dealing with the Games and China dealt with the Olympics, there is still much to be positive about with regards to India.
To be honest the games themselves are of little interest to me so I haven't seen any of it so far, but there don't appear to have been any headlines about poor facilities since it started.
Does that mean they've all been resolved or has the media world moved on?
I don't know about that Nicola, the bug that has been affecting our swimmers reecently seems to be getting a fair amount of attention from the media, and there have been stories about the state of the track (repaired earlier this week after damage during the opening ceremony.
Perhaps the time difference is having an impact on reporting?