A panel discussion, 'Cricket at the Olympics: Dawn of a New Era' at the newly launched India House in Paris saw the celebration of the inclusion of cricket in the LA Olympics 2028, Yesterday.
The celebrations mark arduous support from Rahul Dravid, former head coach of the Indian cricket team says the "serious dressing room conversations” that he had heard, indicate that “players are going to fight tooth and nail to be there at the world’s biggest sporting event."
“I’ve already heard a few conversations in the dressing room. People are talking about the 2026 T20 World Cup, there is an ODI World Cup in 2027, and you hear people saying there are the Olympics in 2028," Dravid said during the discussion.
He further said, “People are going to want to win that gold medal, stand on the podium, and be a part of the Games Village, a great sporting event, and interact with so many athletes.”
“As you get closer, I have no doubt that teams will be preparing and checking out facilities. They will take this seriously, and players will fight tooth and nail to be out there," he added.
Dravid hoped that India would win both the men's and women's gold medals at the LA Games.
“You grow up watching the Olympics, seeing Carl Lewis winning the gold medal, watching the great athletes perform. You always want to be part of great events like this. The environment, the energy -- it's a dream come true,” he said.
“The dream for me to have a fantastic cricket tournament, hopefully, Indian men and women winning the gold which would be nice,” he added.
Dravid showed his immense passion to be a part of the LA Olympics, saying “he will get a media job,” in order to be a part of the future mega sport event.
"Unfortunately, I won't be able to play, but I will make every effort to be in LA in some capacity or another. If not anything else, I will try to get a media job,” Dravid jest.
The discussion also noticed the presence of ICC CEO Geoff Allardice and he said, cricket will be one of the "star attractions" in LA four years from now.
He added, “It's quite surreal to be here in Paris, seeing the energy around sport and how it's getting together. Cricket is starting to dawn on the global sporting community.”
He said, “I think cricket will be one of the star attractions in Los Angeles...when you see global stars of big sports around the world competing in one city at a time.”
He further added, “Watching Rafael Nadal at tennis this afternoon -- and then if you are in LA, you can watch the best tennis players, best golfers, and the best cricketers.”
"We are going to be very, very strong come 2028," he said.
Women’s cricket moving forward:
In his support for more inclusion in cricket, Rahul Dravid says, that cricket has become “much more attractive” since the inception of women’s cricket into the game.
“Women's cricket is already going forward. I don't think it needs anything else. It's fantastic to have it going on concurrently,” he said.
He added, “Even when you talk to people at the grassroots level, to coaches, one of the things they constantly tell you is the level of participation from young girls.”
He continued, "Every year in every academy, the percentage is growing exponentially, sometimes even more than the boys. Cricket is becoming a lot more inclusive and attractive. “
“This could potentially be a career. You would not have said that five or six years ago. That's what we want to see,” he said.
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