Two silver and four bronze, that’s the medal tally totted up by a nation of 1.2 billion at the 2012 London Olympics. Disappointments aside, the fact remains that four of these six podium finishers were supported by the Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), a not-for-profit set up by former Olympians. Since 2009, this team of professionals has been hard at work, with the single aim of seeing the tricolour flying proud at the Olympics.

OGQ was conceived by Geet Sethi and Prakash Padukone, two unassuming sports professionals who reached the pinnacle in their respective fields, billiards and badminton, and have inspired more champions since. The initial funding for OGQ came from two wealthy individuals, and the number of benefactors has since grown.

An attempt to crowdfund, getting ordinary Indians to contribute anything above ₹100 a month under a scheme called ‘power your champion’, was not very successful. Nearly the entire ₹12-crore-odd budget for last year came from wealthy supporters.

Sports management is not a career that many sportspeople have taken up. The country’s sporting associations and federations and even the Olympic association are top-heavy with non-sportspeople, mostly politicians and bureaucrats. A former hockey Olympian with a management degree, Viren Rasquinha was approached by the OGQ founders to head the team.

The rest of the team, too, is dominated by former sportspersons and they instinctively comprehend the level of commitment needed. Rather than an ‘out of the box’ solution, at times an athlete aiming to excel at the highest level may need to focus on many little things, all equally essential, at that.

“What other world-beating countries take for granted, does not happen in India. What we at OGQ do is get the basics — the simple things — right, leaving the athlete to focus on the preparation and training,” says Rasquinha. A team of doctors, physiotherapists, nutritionists and mental trainers assists the athletes. Some of the gaps commonly encountered include “the difference between participating in the Olympics and winning medals; OGQ works to fill these, giving sportspeople the best training facilities, the best equipment and the best coaches in India and abroad, so that they can be world-class athletes,” says Rasquinha.

This could take the form of a dedicated physiotherapist accompanying the athletes or a supply of high-quality ammunition for shooters, for instance. For shooter Jitu Rai, OGQ provided the best equipment for his events, the 10m air pistol and 50m free pistol, accessories and software to analyse his training performance, a physiotherapist and sports psychologist to get him into top physical shape and focus better .

Not many realise, for instance, that shooters are required to stand steady for hours in awkward positions, with a heavy gun in hand, straining their back and shoulders. “As a reasonably strong man, it was very difficult for me to stretch the women’s bow to full tension and hold it stable for one shot, let alone the 400 arrows a day that they have to fire,” explains Rasquinha.

Only timely and consistent assistance can help an athlete gain the top-class energy, strength, and confidence needed to compete at the Olympian level.

It also helps to catch them young, to mould a promising star into one who can challenge the best. At OGQ, nearly 30 athletes, between the ages of 11 and 20, are currently being mentored under a junior scholarship programme for the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.

As for the established athletes, the organisation reaches out with support for them too, sometimes in ways that the government cannot. It paid the hotel expenses for Saina Nehwal, her coach and physiotherapist during the London Olympics as the Games village was far from the badminton venue. From a high-end treadmill to train on, to a full-time physiotherapist who has accompanied her on all tournaments for three years, the best facilities were put at her disposal. When wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt had a knee surgery last year, one of the first calls he made was to OGQ, which supported him during the operation and the rehabilitation period.

“That is the kind of rapport we have built,” says Rasquinha. For badminton player PV Sindhu, whom OGQ supported from age 14, it provided video analysis equipment, specialised gym equipment for training, arranged for a sports psychologist and physiotherapist and even managed to arrange funds to enable her mother to accompany her to tournaments when she was younger. For an athlete, having someone looking out for them in these small, but crucial ways serves as a major boost.

At the moment, Team OGQ has its sights firm on Rio. India is sending 120 athletes, including a 36-strong contingent in track and field. As the number of competing athletes grows and more finish in the finals, the odds of bagging a medal naturally increase.

For the OGQ and the 19 athletes it supports, it is crunch time. All eyes are riveted on the ‘six grams of gold,’ for now.

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