PER person, India has the worst athletes on Earth.

The populous Asian power has quietly snuck under the radar of countries being criticised on the international stage, but there is no denying Rio was an absolute stinker for the subcontinent.

The Australian Olympic team may be under fire for finishing 10th on the final standings with just eight gold medals, but spare a moment for the National Olympic Committee of India.

A tally of one silver medal and one bronze medal was enough for the country to officially finish 67th on the final medal tally.

But the reading becomes much worse when the medal table is adjusted for population and Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

India’s population of more than 1,326,801,000 and haul of two medals places them in last position of the 87 countries to win a medal at the 2016 Games, per capita. Meanwhile Australia drops to 14th position when the table is adjusted for population.

The country’s 2016 GDP of more than $US2 trillion, as forecast by the International Monetary Fund, also places India in 87th position when the medal tally is adjusted for total medals won and GDP. By this measure Australia falls to 45th.

But at least India won something.

A record 207 teams competed in Rio, including the Refugee Olympic Team — meaning 120 Olympic associations finished the two weeks of competition with no medals to sing about.

Pakistan was the biggest underperforming country not to win a medal at the 2016 Games.

Grenada & the Bahamas didn't win many medals but they're top for medals per person #Rio2016 https://t.co/qHESitD0kT pic.twitter.com/VLtS87dN8F — Telegraph Data (@Telegraph_Data) August 21, 2016

The country’s failure to win a medal combined with its population of more than 192,826,000 people means it is ranked last out of all 207 teams competing at the 2016 event, when the medal tally is adjusted per capita.

Pakistan’s similar struggles may soften the blow for India’s National Olympic Committee, but not by much.

India won six medals at the 2012 London Olympics, but the country has only had one gold medal to celebrate since 1980 — when Abhinav Bindra took out the men’s 10m rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Rio was expected to be a turning point for India.

Months ahead of the Rio Games, Indian sports officials vowed that the massive nation would turn around its long history of dismal Olympic results and be proud of its athletes.

Steeplechase. Golf. Shooting. Badminton. Boxing. Tennis. Wrestling. Archery. Discus. India saw medal possibilities in all those disciplines, and the head of the government’s sports authority, Injeti Srinivas, said he expected India to bring home anywhere from 10 to 14 medals.

“What happens on a particular day is something none of us can predict. But we should achieve this target,” Srinivas said in March.

They didn’t.

The Bahamas' bronze in the men's 4x400m relay brings them to number two – Caribbean nations in 1, 2 and 3! pic.twitter.com/SrAAOAtqUi — Medals per Capita (@MedalsPerCapita) August 21, 2016

Not only that, the country’s gate-crashing, selfie-taking officials have been accused of failing to help its athletes taste success.

Badminton champion P.V. Sindhu’s silver towards the end of the Rio Games sparked an outpouring of national pride and celebrations, along with wrestler Sakshi Malik’s late bronze.

But reports during the competition of Indian officials seemingly living it up in Rio, while athletes struggled to make it through qualifying, sparked anger back home and raised questions about the commitment of those in charge.

“Officials do not have the welfare of the athletes on their mind. All they are bothered about is having a good time,” Aslam Sher Khan, India’s former hockey Olympian, said.

“While other countries have scripted a turnaround in their fortune like the UK, we sadly continue to languish in mediocrity.

“We have become the laughing stock of the world.”

Indian sports minister Vijay Goel has described as a “misunderstanding” reports that his entourage tried to muscle unaccredited people accompanying him into Olympic venues.

Rio organisers reportedly accused his entourage of “aggressive and rude behaviour” and threatened to cancel his accreditation, prompting Goel to deny any involvement.

The minister also sparked ridicule on social media after praising one of India’s athletes on Twitter, only to use a photo of a different one.

And the Indian Express newspaper accused him of spending his time in Rio taking selfies with “exhausted Indian athletes” — after posting a picture of himself ringside with just defeated boxer Vikas Krishan Yadav.

The incidents come as little surprise to observers who have long accused sport administrators of being more concerned about protecting their own fiefdoms than targeting success.

India’s only individual Olympic gold medallist, shooter Abhinav Bindra, said he was fed up with apathetic officials, some of whom were unqualified for the job and were not being held accountable for a lack of success on the field.

“I won’t get angry and spoil my own health. It happens every time and that is the way it is,” the shooter, who won gold in Beijing in 2008 and finished fourth in Rio, told the NDTV network.

“We need a complete overhaul of the system. We need more experts coming in. I have no problem with a politician if he can bring something to the table.”

India’s anti-doping officials were also left red-faced in Rio after wrestler Narsingh Yadav was banned for four years for failing drug tests — overturning India’s earlier decision to allow him to compete.

Indian officials had cleared Yadav just days before Rio, accepting his defence that a rival spiked his food supplements, after failing two tests for a banned steroid.

The World Anti-Doping Agency swiftly challenged the decision in the Court of Arbitration for Sport which found “no evidence” of such contamination.

THEY’RE NOT BOTHERED WITH MEDALS

India, a country obsessed with cricket, has never finished high on the medal table — winning just 28 from 24 Olympic appearances.

But India, with a population of more than a billion people and enjoying strong economic growth, had been targeting 10 medals in Rio and sent its largest ever squad.

India’s government spent about 1.2 billion rupees ($18 million), however, preparing the athletes, according to the sports ministry, a fraction of the amount forked out by China, Britain and other countries.

With the lack of silverware becoming evident, media began focusing on the officials, including a former IOA chief, currently facing trial in a corruption case, seen attending the Games with an accreditation pass.

Veteran journalist K. Jagannadha Rao who has covered six Olympics said such incidents involving officials were not unusual.

Khan, one of the few Indians to have tasted success when the hockey team won bronze at the 1972 Munich Olympics, agreed, saying few lessons had been learnt over the years.

“They are simply not bothered if the country is winning medals or not.”

— with AP, AFP