Humaira Saeed

Opinion | Pakistan’s Olympic team of 7 reflects its woeful lack of youth investment

Despite a large population and history of excellence at sporting events, bureaucracy and instability hold back Pakistan’s athletic potential

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Pakistani Olympic sprinter Faiqa Riaz reacts to the results of her race, the women’s 100m preliminary round, in Paris, France on August 2. Photo: Reuters

Humaira Saeed

Published: 9:30am, 7 Aug 2024

As the 33rd Summer Olympics continue in Paris, one cannot help but think about the minimal attendance and participation of the Pakistan contingent. With only seven athletes competing in the games, the number of officials travelling with the contingent easily overshadows the athletes.

This is shamefully low for a country which has 64 per cent of its population under the age of 30. Almost 30 per cent of the population is between the age of 15 and 29 years. A large proportion of Pakistan’s population is of prime sporting age, but this figure points towards youth having little to no sports opportunities.

The figure, whether we like it or not, reflects Pakistan’s level of investment in youth development. Government officials are too busy infighting to pay attention to what should be their mandate – service to the people. The constant power grabs, political upheaval and lack of stability on the political front means a lack of steady and continuous delivery in the economic, education or healthcare sectors, let alone other priorities like the environment or sports.

The constant power shuffle in the parliament has a trickle-down effect to a lack of basic amenities. Powerful politicians play the masses like a deck of cards, with the poorest being of the least value and burdened with the worst of its failures: inflation, load shedding, substandard education and human rights violations.

Looking at Pakistan’s contingent at the 2024 Paris Olympics, one can only think how the cards are stacked against its athletes. Of its seven athletes, three of them were wild card entries through the Universality Place concession made to countries which have traditionally low representation at the Olympics.

While we may applaud these Olympians, we must note that their performances reflect the financing and training opportunities they were able to secure without government help. A culture of sports in which athletes must be able to afford facilities and training out of their own pocket is not a culture which should earn respect or encouragement.