India owns these unique feats at Olympics
The 33rd edition of the Summer Olympics will be underway on July 26 in Paris, the capital of France. Over 10,000 athletes will feature at the Paris Games for 19 days, which involves 329 events. India, which will field 113 athletes, own a total of 35 medals at the Games. Have a look at India's unique records at the Olympics.
Eight gold medals in hockey
It is worth noting that India overall owns 10 Olympic gold medals, with individuals winning two of those. As many as eight gold medals have been won by the Indian men's hockey team. Interestingly, the Indian hockey contingent won six successive gold medals between 1928 and 1956 at the Olympics. The editions 1964 and 1980 saw India win two more gold medals in hockey.
India's first Olympic gold after independence
Interestingly, India as an independent nation won its first-ever Olympic gold medal in 1948. The Indian men's hockey team defeated Great Britain 4-0 in the final to secure a momentous gold medal. The final was tagged as the "Battle of Champions". The Indian team didn't concede a single goal that year while scoring 29 times.
7 medals in 2020 Tokyo Olympics
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 because of the pandemic saw India bring home seven medals, its best-ever haul at an Olympics. India's medalists in Tokyo: Mirabai Chanu (silver in weightlifting), Lovlina Borgohain (bronze in boxing), PV Sindhu (bronze in badminton), Indian men's hockey team (bronze), Ravi Dahiya (silver in wrestling), Bajrang Punia (bronze in wrestling), and Neeraj Chopra (gold in javelin throw).
Abhinav Bindra: India's first-ever Olympic gold medalist
Over a century after first competing at the Olympics, India finally opened its gold medal account in Beijing, 2008. Shooter Abhinav Bindra became India's first-ever individual gold medalist as he won the men's 10-meter air rifle event, securing a total of 700.5 points. Notably, Bindra became the first Indian to hold the World Shooting Championships and Olympic titles concurrently.
Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra scripted history at Tokyo Games
India's third and only other athletics medal at the Olympics came after as many as 121 years. Neeraj Chopra scripted history by securing a historic gold medal in men's javelin throw at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021). He brought home India's first-ever gold medal in athletics at the Olympics. Chopra also became India's second Olympics individual gold medalist after Bindra.
Two Olympic medals in boxing
India didn't have a single Olympic medal in weightlifting prior to this century. Karnam Malleswari ended the drought by clinching the bronze medal in the 2000 Sydney Games. It took the nation two more decades to get another Olympic medal in weightlifting. The wait ended with Saikhom Mirabai Chanu's silver in the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Three athletes with multiple individual medals
The 2020 Games saw PV Sindhu become the third athlete to clinch multiple Olympic medals for India. She joined Normal Pritchard (athletics) and Sushil Kumar (wrestling). India first participated in the Olympic Games in 1900, with a lone athlete Pritchard, who won two medals (both silver). Sushil clinched bronze in the 2008 Beijing Games and followed it up with a silver medal in 2012.
