India has won 12 medals in hockey.

Field hockey returned to the Summer Olympics during the Amsterdam Games in 1928. India’s first gold medal was won in Amsterdam. The Indian team won the first six Olympic Golds.

In the 1960 Olympics, India began its campaign with impressive victories but suffered its first Olympic defeat — a narrow 0–1 loss to Pakistan in the final. This ended India’s streak of six consecutive gold medals and a 30-match unbeaten run. India made a strong comeback at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, beating Pakistan in the finals.

India’s next gold came only in 1980 when major Hockey playing nations had boycotted the games.

Source: Various

Picture: WikiCommons picture of the Indian hockey team at Amsterdam (1928)

Quick Read: Norman Pitchard was born in India to English parents

Norman Pritchard became the first Asian born athlete to win Olympic medals – silvers in the 200m and 200m hurdles at the 1900 Paris Olympics. While some historians claim him to be British, the International Olympic Committee records his medals as India’s.

He came from an old colonial family owning tea, jute & indigo plantations in Assam and was educated at St. Xaviers, Kolkata. He later on moved to the United States with a new name, Norman Trevor. He was one of the big stars of the silent era of Hollywood starring in 28 films. He had an untimely death from a brain malady in 1929.

Source: Olympics.com

Picture: Olympedia

Dyan Chand won three Olympic golds in Hockey and is considered as India’s greatest Olympian

The 1936 Olympics in Berlin showcased the German Third Reich. Germany & India were the two strongest hockey teams and expectedly met in the finals. Even though India had lost to Germany in a practice match, India won the finals 8-1. Dhyan Chand scored three goals.

There are several stories about the finals, that Hitler left the finals mid way in a huff; and that after the match, he noted that Dhyan Chand was a corporal (Naik) in the British Indian Army. Hitler is supposed to have said, ‘I offer you to join the German army as an officer. Clearly you know how to gain victories for your side’. Dhyan Chand is said to have replied, ‘I am an Indian and India is my home. I am happy remaining a poor Corporal among my own people.’

Dhyan Chand does not record meeting Hitler in his autobiography; and no other source mentions this incident.

Three interesting facts. The Indian contingent refused to salute Hitler in the marchpast. The finals were held on August 15th, which would later on become our independence day. On 29th August, India celebrates National Sports Day to commemorate Dhyan Chand’s birthday.

Source: Indian Express, Tribune India

Picture: Olympedia

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav won bronze in 1952 and put Indian wrestling on the world map.

Khasaba became independent India’s first individual Olympic medalist. He was born to Dadasaheb Jadhav, an accomplished wrestler, in Goleshwar, a small village in Maharashtra, in 1926. Khashaba trained in the local akhadas (wrestling arenas). His agility and skill brought him numerous state and national titles.

The Maharaja of Kolhapur funded his trip to the 1948 London Olympics. Jadhav faced significant obstacles on his path to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. He was initially overlooked for the Indian contingent and a last minute intervention by the Maharaja of Patiala helped. Funding remained a challenge but a determined Jadhav raised money from villagers. His former principal mortgaged his house to lend him Rs 7,000.

He started the wrestling legacy which has given India the second highest medal tally in the Olympics. However, he received the Arjuna award only posthumously in the year 2000.

Source: India Today

Picture: Olympics.com

Milkha Singh became the first Indian to reach the final of an Olympic athletics event in the 400-metre race at Rome (1960).

Milka Singh finished fourth. In 1958, he had won the 200-metre and 400-metre races at the Asian Games and 400 metre Gold in the Commonwealth Games. It was India’s first athletics gold in the history of the Games. He narrowly lost the bronze medal in a photo finish in the 400 metres at the 1960 Olympics. He retained his 400-metre gold at the 1962 Asian Games though.

Milka Singh was orphaned during the partition of India in Pakistan. Singh moved to India in 1947 and worked in a roadside restaurant before joining the Indian army. He realized his abilities as a sprinter in the army. Farhan Akhtar played Milkha in the successful Hindi film, ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.’ Milkha is lovingly called the Flying Sikh. He lived until 2021

Source: Britannica

Picture: Britannica

PT Usha lost the bronze in Los Angeles, 1984

Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha grew up in Payyoli in Kerala. She has won 4 gold medals and 7 silver medals in the Asian Games. She is often called the ‘Queen of Indian track and field’. Usha’s best moment came at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in 400 mts hurdles. In the finals, she came fourth, at 55.42 seconds, falling behind the eventual bronze medalist by 1/100th of a second.

Source: Various

Picture: Payyoli Railway Station in Kerala, Indiarailinfo.com

Paes won a bronze in 1996

Leander Paes holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all-time. Paes won eight men’s doubles and ten mixed doubles Grand Slam titles. He won a bronze medal for India in the men’s singles at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. This ended a 44 year drought from 1952.

He is the 1st Asian in Olympic history to win a tennis medal and the only Indian till date. He competed in consecutive Olympics from 1992 to 2016, making him the first Indian and the only tennis player to compete in seven Olympic Games.

Source: Various

Picture: Paes at the podium in 1996. Olympics.com

Karnam Malleswari lifted 110kg and 130kg in the ‘snatch’ and ‘clean and jerk’ categories. She became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal. This made her an instant household name and the masses named her ‘The Iron Lady.’ Mary Kom won a boxing bronze in 2012 at London. Saina Nehwal won silver in 2012. Sakshi Malik won bronze in 2016.

Source: Olympics.com

Picture: Wikimedia Commons

Abhinav Bindra won the first individual gold for India

Bindra won gold in men’s 10-metre air rifle competition at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. He is India’s first-ever individual Olympic gold medalist.

Bindra took up rifle shooting in his mid-teens and quickly advanced in the sport. He was phenomenally successful at the Shooting World Cups, Asian & Commonwealth Games too.
He runs a foundation and therapy & rehabilitation centre. He was recently awarded the Olympic order.

Shooting has been a good hunting ground for India. Rajyavardhan Rathore started the trend with a silver at the 2004 games. Gagan Narang & Vijay Kumar won a bronze & silver at the 2012 games.

Source: Various

Picture: Olympics.com

Repechage refers to a second chance to players who lost to eventual finalists to compete for the bronze

Repechage is mostly used in wrestling though other sports also allow it. It was introduced in Olympic wresting in 2008. Sushil Kumar won the bronze in the repechage round in the same Olympics. Four of India’s seven Olympic medals in wrestling have been won through repechage. Yogeshwar Dutt (bronze at London 2012), Sakshi Malik (bronze at Rio 2016) and Bajrang Punia (bronze at Tokyo 2020) capitalised on their second chance.

In Paris 2024 more sports will allow repechage.

Source: Olympics.com

Picture: Sushil Kumar in the 2008 repechage round. Sportstar

Produnova is a gymnastics manoeuvre which is considered dangerous.

Produnova is a vault in Gymnastics, named after Russian gymnast Yelena Produnova, the first person to successfully land it in 1999. It is difficult and is performed at such speed that severe injury is likelier than success, even for accomplished gymnasts. It is nicknamed the ‘vault of death.’ It involves a handspring off the vault and a double front-somersault in a tucked position before the feet touch the mat.

Only five gymnasts have ever managed to land this vault. Dipa Karmakar is one of them. She tried it in the 2016 Rio games, but lost a medal by just 0.15 points.

Source: Majumdar, Boria. Dreams of a Billion

Picture: @DipaKarmakar

Indian football’s pinnacle was 4th place in the 1956 Olympics..

In the 1952 Helsinki Olympics India suffered a humiliating 1-10 defeat against Yugoslavia. Syed Abdul Rahim, India’s coach, attributed this to India’s insistence on playing barefoot. The AIFF, on Rahim’s suggestion, enforced the use of boots. It yielded immediate dividends. India had their best-ever result in the next Olympics at Melbourne in 1956. It became the first Asian nation to reach the semi-finals and finished fourth. A standout moment was the 4-2 victory over Australia, thanks to a Neville D’Souza hat-trick.

India won the Asian Games gold in 1962 at Djakarta. They beat South Korea in the final. Syed Abdul Rahim’s legacy as a coach in the Olympics and the Asian Games was resurrected by the biopic ‘Maidaan.’

Source: Economic Times

Picture: The 1956 Indian Football team, Wikimedia Commons.

Rajyavardhan Rathore is an Olympic medalist, a Colonel and an MP

Rathore is an Indian Military Academy cadet. He served in Kupwara and Baramulla in Kashmir and was involved in counter terrorism operations. He also served in Jammu and Kashmir during the Kargil war.

He took up competitive shooting in 1998, was trained in the Army Marksman’s unit in Mhow (Madhya Pradesh) and took a posting in Delhi to practise. He won the silver in the 2004 Athens Olympics.

While the Army helped his shooting career, it also constrained it. It took a year for the Army to allow him to receive endorsements which affected his ability to spend on training. As per rules framed, he shared 50% of his endorsements with the Army which uses it to promote sports.

Rathore won the MP election from Jaipur in 2014 and became the sports minister in 2017.

Source: Majumdar, Boria. Dreams of a Billion

Picture: News18

Balbir Singh was part of three gold medal winning hockey teams in 1948, 1952 and 1956. He scored twice in the 1948 finals against England and a record 5 goals in the 1952 finals against Netherlands. He captained the Indian team in 1956 which defeated Pakistan in the finals. Overall he scored 246 goals in 61 matches and is probably the greatest centre forward of the sport. In his time, he was called a modern day Dhyan Chand.

‘The Olympic Journey: The Story of the Games’ was an exhibition created by The Olympic Museum in collaboration with the Royal Opera House. It was run during London 2012 Olympics. The personal stories of 16 great Olympians including Balbir Singh, Steve Redgrave, Olga Korbut, Kelly Holmes, Jesse Owens and Aleksandr Karelin were featured as part of the exhibhtion.

Source: BP.com
Olympics.com

Picture: Wikimedia Commons