India Today is an Indian weekly newsmagazine published by Living Media India Limited, in publication since 1975.

India Today is also the name of its sister-publication in Hindi. Aroon Purie is its editor-in-chief from 1975, a position he has held continuously for the last three decades.

It is part of the India Today group also founded in 1975 and which now includes 13 magazines, 3 radio stations, 4 TV channels, 1 newspaper, a classical music label (Music Today), book publishing and India's only book club.

With the publication of its 30th Anniversary issue in December 2005, the magazine which had commenced publication in 1975 with a circulation of 5000 copies, currently has five editions and a circulation of over half a million copies with a readership of over 20 million. (Wikipedia.org)

COVER STORY: BEIJING 2008
HOW CHINA BECAME A SUPERPOWER
The drive for constant improvement is what sporting success is built on. With an Olympics to host, the Chinese state put its weight and focus behind it. The rest is golden history.

New Delhi, 2028. It is the Olympic 100 m men’s final. The fastest men in the world are coiled in their blocks, waiting for the gunshot that will start off the 10 most important seconds of their lives.

India is an eager Olympic host but not represented in the race. There is momentary silence in the heaving stadium, interrupted by the crack of the starter’s pistol. The race has begun, the sprinters’ giant side-stepping strides consuming the hundred metres before them. ...

View India Today, September 8, 2008

Click the 'DOWNLOAD' button, you can download the entire magazine in PDF format.

■ The best B-schools
■ Cutting edge
■ Rage of the river
■ Advantage Zardari
■ The third affront
■ The other India story
■ Art of the matter

Visit India Today Website

From the Editor-in-chief:

For China, the Olympics were billed as its great coming out party, a unique chance to showcase the impressive strides it had made in recent years. It was a party the rest of the world will not forget in a hurry. From the spellbinding Opening Ceremony to the flawless organisation, the stunning stadiums and the record-breaking performances they showcased, this was undoubtedly the greatest Games ever. In one fortnight, China’s image in the world was transformed beyond imagination, the doomsday predictions vanishing as fast as Osian Bolt ran the 100 metre.

No other Olympics in history has been as expensive, so meticulously planned and on such a grand scale. The total cost of the Olympic Games in Beijing was an estimated $65 billion, five times the cost of the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

For China, it has been money well spent. Beijing hosted a Games that was high quality in terms of sporting performance and organisation—everything ran like clockwork and the involvement of ordinary Chinese people was a large part of that success: a total of around 1.7 million volunteers were involved in these Games at all levels. The pollution control measures worked, athletes were looked after and secure and ordinary Chinese worked round the clock, surmounting barriers of language and communication to host the world’s biggest sporting extravaganza.

In the process, they dazzled the watching world and the cherry on top of the Beijing cake was the performance of their athletes. China’s gold medal tally of 51 is the highest by any nation since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

China won 100 medals in 25 different sports. It was the first time since 1936 that a country other than the US or the Soviet Union/Russia led the gold medal list. That is largely due to the seven years of planning and preparation, the selection process, motivation, coaching and instilling nationalist pride. Says Deputy Editor Sharda Ugra who has covered two Olympics: “Despite a successful Games, the Chinese delegation head said they still ‘lagged behind’ on several counts. Obviously, they have new targets now. London better watch out.”

For India to match that organisational and sporting success will be a Herculean task. Undoubtedly, China is a dictatorship and can get everyone voluntarily or involuntarily, to achieve their goal. India is as messy as it gets. Our best indoor sport is politics which is rampant in our sports bodies.

The silver lining is that this was India’s best performance at the Olympics which may inspire our political leadership and those in charge of sports, to flush out the politics, nepotism and bureaucracy which have strangulated Indian sports and give it a higher priority. Our cover story looks at what China did to achieve sporting superpower and what India needs to do to emulate that example. The dragon has dazzled, now the elephant needs to stop lumbering along and break into a Bolt-type 100m dash.

(Aroon Purie)

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Comment

smaller | bigger

Add Comment