Olympic 2021: This one goes down on the pages of History

India flees at cloud nine after the Tokyo Olympics 2021. This season Indians made glorious victories and stamps history in India’s Olympics medal book. With seven medals, including a historic gold in athletics, India’s performance at the Tokyo Olympics was its best since the modern Summer Games began in 1896. This year every victory accelerates the heart of Indians with hope for the future. It finished 48th in the medals tally with one gold, two silver, four Bronze. Here is a peek into India’s Olympic Medal history.

1986 Athens, Greece witnessed the first Olympics Games. At that time, India had a mere presence in the game.  But when it comes to 1900, India opened its medal counter in the Olympics Games.  In the 1900 summer Olympics Games, Norman Pritchard, a born runner from Kolkata, won the first silver medal for India in 200 metres sprint race. The same year he won silver for 200 metres Hurdles too.

The Journey Starts

India has contributed to all Summer Games later then. In 1920 India set an Olympic team including four athletes and two wrestlers. For the successive medal, India waited for two decades, then in 1928 Indian hockey team brings the Gold medal to the country. Indian players defeated Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark in the final Netherlands, and they carried the gold victory to the country.

The hockey team maintained the winning for several years. Before the Independence Indian hockey team won two more gold medals for the country, they made these victories Olympics 1932 Los Angeles and Olympics 1936 Berlin, respectively. In 1936 Indian squad smashed the German team by 8-1 and won the most significant margin gold medal in the history of the Olympics. After the Independence, they continued the winning spree. London Olympics 1948 Indian squad defeated host team Great Britain 0-4 in finals and dominated the hockey zone of Olympics.

Next year India faced a different success story; instead of the medal by the hockey squad, grappler Khashaba Jadhav bagged India’s first individual Olympic medal in the men’s freestyle bantamweight category. He won the bronze medal for the country in Helsinki Olympics 1952. The same year Indian hockey team bagged the fifth successive gold medal. Melbourne Olympics gold was India’s sixth consecutive Olympic gold in the event as it romped to victory without conceding a single goal in the entire competition. Next season in Rome Olympics 1960 Indian hockey team lost its spree of winning gold. India lost to Pakistan 0-1 in the final to finish with silver. The next time Tokyo Olympics 1964 witnessed the comeback of the Indian Hockey team, they bagged the gold by beating Pakistan 1-0 in the final. After Tokyo Olympics, 1964, India hang on for sixteen years to get back the gold again. Mexico City 1968 Olympics and Munich Olympics 1972 gave Bronze for India by the hockey squad. In Moscow Olympics 1980, India won the medal in Men’s hockey by beating Spain 4-3 in the final. It remains the country’s last gold in the event hockey at the Olympics.

The Awakening of Individuals

From Atlanta Olympics 1996, the scenario of Olympics Indian medals started changing. More individual athletes and players came forward, showcased their skills and talents, and won medals to our country. Leander Paes bronze in the 1996 Olympics was India’s first Olympic medal in 16 years. Next edition in Sydney Olympics 2000, Karnam Malleswari became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal, clinching the Bronze in the 69 kg category. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore brought the first individual silver medal to the country in the shooting. He finished second in the men’s double trap event in Athens Olympics 2004.

History of an Individual Gold Champion

Beijing Olympics 2008 was the historic season for India. Abhinav Bindra created a milestone by winning India’s first-ever individual gold medal at the summer Olympics after he topped the platform in the men’s ten-metre Air Rifle event. Sushil Kumar won Bronze in wrestling in the same edition, and Vijender Singh won Bronze in boxing. More individuals started to showcase since Beijing Olympics.

In the London Olympics 2012, India bagged a total of six medals and performed well. It was a bygone landmark for the sportswomen of India were badminton player Saina Nehwal and versatile boxer Mary Com won their Bronze in their events. Sushil Kumar achieved a level higher and bagged silver in the sixty-six kg category wrestling; on the other side, young Yogeshwar Dutt won Bronze in sixty kg wrestling. While following the winning spree in the shooting event, Gagan Narang won Bronze and Vijay Kumar bags silver in their respective categories. In a conventionally macho ruled game, Sakshi Malik suited the first Indian lady combatant to win an Olympic medal for wrestling, and she won Bronze in the Rio Olympics 2016. In the meantime, P V Sindhu proves herself and entered the final and bagged silver for India. Moreover, Sindhu is claimed as the youngest woman of India who won an Olympics medal.

Hundreds of years dream come true: An Athletic Gold

The Tokyo Olympics 2021 has been India’s best Olympics piece so far, with a total of seven medals, including a historic gold medal by Neeraj Chopra in the event men’s javelin throw.

History repeats after Sushil Ravi Dahiya won silver in wrestling and Bajrang Punia bags Bronze in their respective weight categories. Whereas following the spree, P V Sindhu won Bronze in Badminton. After 21 years, Mirabai Chanu brought the silver medal to the country for weightlifting. While following Mary Kom Lovlina, Borgohain won Bronze for boxing. And finally, after thirty-one year’s Indian men’s hockey team won the bronze medal in the Olympics. Right now, India has won thirty-five medals at the Summer Games since 1900edition, including ten gold. Eight of them have come in hockey and one each in Shooting and athletics.

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