INDIA IN THE OLYMPICS

INTRODUCTION

India is a country with a rich unity in diversity. Though separated by different religions, languages, food, lifestyle, the whole country can be united for a single thing that makes them feel enthusiastic and patriotic every time i.e.; SPORTS. People from all over the country will join hands together and support for the people participating in any sports event that is conducted anywhere in this world. Now, let us see something about what our country has achieved in the world's most prestigious and most watched event THE OLYMPICS from my point of view.

INDIA'S MEDAL WINNING PERFORMANCES IN THE OLYMPICS SO FAR

Our country has won so far 28 medals in the Olympics which includes 9 gold, 7 silver and 12 bronze medals. Each individual medal winner from India have their own success story of participating and winning medals in the Olympics. Till now India has participated 24 times in this mega event starting from 1900. Our country secured representation at the International Olympic Council ahead of the 1920 Olympic Games held at Antwerp, Belgium. After then, we are sending players of our own.

Our country's first medal was won at the 1900 Olympic Games held at Paris, France by Norman Pritchard. He was the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic medal. He won 2 silver medals in Men's 200 meters and Men's 200 meters hurdles respectively. India was placed 17th in the medals tally.

India didn't participate in the next three Olympic games held at St.Louis(1904), London(1908) and Stockholm(1912) respectively. Even after starting to participate again in 1920 Olympic games, our country didn't win a single medal in 1920(held at Antwerp) and 1924(held at Paris) Olympic games.

At the 1928 Olympics which was held at Amsterdam, Netherlands, the dominance of the Indian Men's Hockey team began. From then the Indian Hockey team has totally won 8 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals in 12 Olympic Games starting from 1928 to 1980(held at Moscow). This is all because of a great man called Major Dhyanchand. He won 3 consecutive gold medals from 1928 to 1936(held at Berlin). During that Berlin Olympics, Adolf Hitler saw Dhyanchand playing hockey and he offered Dhyanchand for German citizenship but Dhyanchand eventually refused his offer. The silver medal was won in the 1960 Olympic Games held at Rome and the bronze medals were won during the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games which were held at Mexico City and Berlin respectively. The last Olympic medal which our country won in hockey was at the 1980 Moscow Olympics which was a gold. After that the dominance of India in hockey began to fall.

During the 1952 Olympics held at Helsinki, Finland, Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav won a bronze medal in Men's Wrestling Freestyle 57 kg category. He was the first individual to win an individual medal for Independent India.
During the 1984 to 1992 Olympic Games held at Los Angeles, Seoul and Barcelona respectively, our country failed to win a single medal.


During the 1996 Olympics held at Atlanta, USA, Leander Paes won the bronze medal in Men's Tennis Singles category. He won the bronze medal by defeating F Meligeni of Brazil in the bronze medal match after losing to Andre Agassi of USA in the semifinals. It was 44 years since an Indian had won a individual medal at the Olympics. And this was the first medal since Indian Men's Hockey Team's gold medal in 1980 at the Moscow Olympics.

At the 2000 Olympics, held at Sydney, Karnam Malleshwari won a bronze medal in Women's weightlifting 69 kgs category, becoming the first Indian woman to bag a medal at the Olympics.
During the 2004 Olympics, held at Athens, Greece, Rajyavardhan Singh Ratore won the silver medal in Men's double trap shooting. He was also the first Indian Individual to win a silver medal in Olympics.

At the 2008 Olympics held at Beijing, China, there was a huge achievement awaited for the Indians. Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the 10m air rifle category in shooting. He became the first Indian to win an individual gold medal for India. I still remember this moment in TV when Abhinav was receiving the gold medal and the National Anthem singing at the back with our tricolour flag flying high with pride. Sushil Kumar won a bronze medal in Men's 66kg Wrestling Freestyle category. Vijender Singh won a bronze medal in Men's Boxing Middleweight category. India was placed 50th in the Medal's tally.

At the 2012 Olympics, held at London, it was the best Olympics in terms of medals for our country. India had won 6 medals which include 2 silver and 4 bronze medals. Vijay Kumar won silver medal in Men's 25m rapid fire pistol category in shooting. Sushil Kumar won a silver medal this time in the men's wrestling 66kg freestyle category. He then went on to become the first Indian to win individual medals in multiple Olympic Games. Saina Nehwal won a bronze medal in Badminton Women's singles. Mary Kom won a bronze medal in Boxing Women's Flyweight category. Gagan Narang won a bronze medal in Men's 10m Air Rifle shooting. Yogeshwar Dutt won a bronze medal in men's wrestling 60kg freestyle category. It was the first time in the history that two female athletes won medals in a single Olympic Games.

At the 2016 Olympics held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, India won a silver medal and a bronze medal. P V Sindhu won the silver medal in the Badminton Women's Singles. She went on to become the youngest Indian to win an Olympic Medal. Sakshi Malik won the bronze medal in the Women's Wrestling 58 kg Freestyle category.

SOME MEDALS WHICH WE NARROWLY MISSED

Our country's sporting legends had missed out some medals by small margins for which they regret for their whole life and made them feel sad with pain and sorrow.
During the 1960 Olympics held at Rome, Italy, Milkha Singh finished 4th with a timing of 45.6 seconds in Men's 400m Athletics. The final decision was made with a photo-finish and the flying Sikh missed out a bronze medal for our country.

During the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, P T Usha lost her bronze medal by one-hundredth of a second. She finished 4th place in Women's 400m Hurdles category.

At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes narrowly missed out a bronze medal in Tennis Men's Doubles event by losing in the bronze medal match to Ancic and Ljubicic of Croatia.

At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Dipa Karmakar, the first Indian female gymnast to participate in the Olympics missed out the bronze medal in the Vault event by finishing 4th . Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna missed out a bronze medal in Mixed Doubles Tennis by losing in the bronze medal match to Hradecka and Stepanek of Czech Republic.

SOMETHING WHAT WE LACK FROM OTHER COUNTRIES

India is a country with rich history in sports. But we are feeling pride of sending a maximum of just 118 athletes to a mega global events like the Olympics. It is not just efficient for a country with a population of 130 crores. A small country like Jamaica is producing world class talents in the form of Usain Bolt and had won 8 gold medals in 3 Olympic games. And another small country called Puerto Rico which has a population of around 4 lakhs, has produced a gold medal winner in the form of Monica Puig. She had won the Tennis Women's Singles Gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Our country is filled with immense talents that we fail to recognize all the time. Now, our Indian Government is now spending a lot for the players who have the capability to win a Olympic medal.

CONCLUSION

Even though the government is trying to gloom our talents, we the people of India should respect all the other sports that are in the list of games for the Olympics. We should encourage and guide the young talents who are interested in sports. If we do all these things, our country will surely get succeed in the future events approaching.


JAI HIND!!!