Who is a 'sportsperson'!

BANGALORE [The Perimeter View] - The Olympic Torch Relay continued to 'burn' in India for yet another week. This time not for all the litigious reasons, but for a statement made by the man who sits right on top of the sport pyramid in the Indian government.

"Don't invite politicians, filmstars for the Olympic Torch relay (in Indian capital New Delhi)," declared Indian sports minister Mr. M.S Gill, only a couple of days after being sworn into the post. "It's their (sportspersons') moment and VIPS, ministers, politicians or people from the entertainment industry have little right to carry the torch. It belongs to sportspersons," the minister, who among a lot of other achievements, is famous for having been an efficient chief of the Election Commission in India, opined.

Arguments - both in support of and against the minister's comment - have come up. Mahesh Bhatt, a renowned director known for out-of-the-box movies, agreed with the minister, while India's most famous Olympian in recent times Leander Paes disagreed albeit very diplomatically. Legendary athlete Milkha Singh was rather magnanimous in saying "athletes should come first. After that it can be the celebrities".

The whole episode set me thinking about one pivotal word in all these statements: "sportsperson."

So, who exactly is this "sportsperson"?

Does it mean only those who represent the country, and probably win laurels? Does it mean only those who participate in a competition? Does it mean only those who pursue sport as a profession? Does it mean only those who have won 'something or the other at some level'? Well, I have always thought the definition of a sportsperson went beyond all these, and more to the grassroots.

I am reminded of what FIBA Secretary General Mr. Patrick Baumann told me during an interview last year. "Every human being is a sportsperson in some way or the other," he had said when I asked him to compare amateur sport and professional sport. Very precisely put, I thought then and I think now.

Now, let us try and define who can not become a sportsperson?

A non sportsperson is somebody who has never played a sport; somebody who never went out of the books in school; somebody who never kicked a ball, or in cricketing terms 'hit' a ball; somebody who did not have the intention (not ability) to get up and walk; somebody who never went to the street, after his/ her homework. Pray do tell me know how many people you know who qualify to be described thus. I would consider such people who fall under any of these categories as extremely under-privileged.

Now, to the concept of Olympism itself. Doesn't it go beyond the mere the sporting action that happen in the quadrennial Games?

The Olympism, I have always believed, was all about "aspirations of man to display his physical abilities to the maximum." Now, again, how many men and women do you know who do not want to display their physical abilities to the maximum? Well, a lot of us might not reach the Olympics or break world records, but all of us, at some point in time or the other in our lives, have wanted to beat our classmate who ran beside us in the intra-school race.

The words "Citius, Altius, Fortius" were not meant only for those to break the world records, but also for every single human being to 'run faster, reach higher and simply be stronger' today than what he/ she did yesterday!

The celebrities, who take the flak for 'nudging their noses', too have been sportspersons at some point in time or the other. If they chose, or were chosen to, participate in a sporting event, it should be welcome.

After all, their presence might make marketing the sporting event itself that much easier.

More on marketing and selling the sport next week. So long…

S Mageshwaran
FIBA