India at the Olympics
India was first represented in the Summer Games in the 1900 Paris Olympics. Norman Pritchard was the sole representative from India, and he was able to win two silver medals in athletics, one for the men's 200m sprint and another in the 200m hurdles.
Neeraj Chopra - the first track & field athlete to win a gold medal for India at the OlympicsOlympic historians have agreed to award Pritchard's medals to India despite India's lack of independence at the time. India first sent a team to officially represent them in 1920 and they have attended every Summer Olympics since then despite the fact that the Indian Olympic Association was not established until 1927. It was recognized by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) in the same year.
Their first Olympic medals since 1900 came when the Indian field hockey team won the gold in May 26, 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This was their first taste of Olympic gold but certainly will not be the last. As a matter of fact, India has won a gold medal in the Summer Games since 1928 all the way to 1956.
In 2012, Sushil Kumar won the silver medal for wrestling (men's freestyle 66 kg) and became India's second multiple individual Olympic medalist since Norman Pritchard with his first being a bronze in the 2008 Beijing Olympics for the same sport and weight class.
India made their debut in the Winter Olympics in 1964 and then came back in 1968. They ended up missing all of the Winter Games until 1988 and then missed again the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway and then came back in 1998. They have never missed a single Winter Olympics since then. Their luck is a bit different though in the Winter Games because they are yet to win their first medal from any of the Winter Olympics' event.
Trivia
- India's first Olympian Norman Pritchard went on to star in Hollywood and Broadway.
- At the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Indian athletes had to march behind Great Britain's flag as it was still a British colony.
- India is the country in the world with the lowest number of total Olympic medals per capita.
- The majority of Olympic medals won by Indian athletes is in the sport of field hockey.
- The first individual Olympic gold medal won by an Indian athlete was by Abhinav Bindra in 2008 (shooting).
- Neeraj Chopra won India's first-ever Olympics track and field gold medal in the men's javelin event in Tokyo 2020.
- From 1900–1936 Bangladesh competed as part of British ruled India.
Related Pages
- India at the Winter Olympics
- List of all countries that have participated at the Olympic Games.
- About Sport in India
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