Books

When and how did the Olympic movement take root in India? Who were the early players and why did they appropriate Olympics sport to further their political ambitious?

In most accounts of Olympics history across the world, India’s Olympic journey is a mere footnote. Olympics: The India Story sets that right. Drawing on previously unused archival sources, it demonstrates that India was an important strategic outpost in the Olympic family. It explores why the Indian elite became obsessed with the Olympic ideal at the turn of the twentieth century and how this relates to India’s quest for a meaningful role on the international stage.

First published to critical acclaim in 2008, this revised edition includes a new, incisive chapter on India’s medal prospects at the London Olympics, thus bringing India’s Olympic story up-to-date.

Nalin Mehta is Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute and Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He was Fellow of the International Olympic Museum in Lausanne in 2007. Mehta’s books inclde the award-winning India on Television and, with Boria Majumdar, the best-selling Sellotape Legacy: Delhi and the Commonwealth Games.