After the lavish Ambani Wedding, the Internet is now flooded with the news of the Paris Olympics 2024. Somewhere, people are constantly tweeting in favour of the Indian athletes, while somewhere people continue to troll the ones who couldn’t win. On one hand the media appreciates Vinesh Phogat for her efforts and feels bad for her disqualification, while on the other, they troll her for not being able to lose weight.
If you’ve spent even ten genuine minutes on the internet, then you might be aware of all these issues, and even if you’re not, we are here to your rescue. In this 2024 Paris edition, India scored 6 medals, which includes 5 bronze and one silver medal. This article covers information about India’s previous Olympics performances, Paris Olympics and the loopholes we need to take in consideration, for a better performance.
India and its Olympics performances
India has been a Participant of this prestigious competition for over 100 years now, starting from Paris 1900 to Paris 2024. Amongst all these years, India showcased its best performance at Tokyo 2020. In this long journey, the country has faced the highs and the lows, from achieving almost 8 gold medals in hockey in the long run, to not being able to achieve even a single gold this year, the journey continues.
1900 Paris Olympics
In the 1900 Paris Olympics, the only representative from India was Norman Pritchard who won two silver medals in the 200m sprint and 200m hurdles respectively.
Golden Era of the Indian Hockey Team
The golden era of the Indian Hockey team, started in 1928, Amsterdam Olympics where Dhyan Chand led the hockey team and they won their first Gold. After, this victory the victory series continued, with the country winning Gold in the 1932 Los Angeles and the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
1948 London Olympics
India participated for the first time as an independent nation, in the London 1948, where the Indian hockey team returned with their fourth gold medal. This game brought a new name in recognition, “Balbir Singh Sr.”
1952 Helsinki Olympics
Another addition to India’s victory was in the 1952, Helsinki edition where the wrestler, KD Jadhav won the first individual bronze Olympic medal. This year also was a milestone for India as Nilima Ghose was the first Indian woman to participate in the 100m sprint and 80m hurdles.
India and its Olympic Performances (1964-2004)
The sixth gold medal by the Indian hockey team was won in the Tokyo 1964.
In the 1968 Mexico and the 1972 Munich Olympics India got its hand on Bronze.
The era between the 1980-1992 competition was a tough time, as the country couldn’t get its hands on any medals in these years.
However, in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics the legendary tennis player Leander Paes, won bronze in the men’s single, putting a full stop to the medal drought in India.
In the year 2000, another milestone was hit as Karnam Malleswari became the first Indian woman, who won a medal in the Olympics, which was a bronze medal in weightlifting.
The first shooting medal in Olympics was won in the year 2004 by Armyman Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.
India and its Olympic Performances (2008-2020)
Year 2008 marks a history in the field of Indian Olympics as Shooter Abhinav Bindra, got his hands on the gold medal in the 10m Air rifle event, which also gave him the title of winning the nation’s first solo gold. In the same year, bronze medals were also won by Boxer Vijendra Singh and wrestler Sushil Kumar.
The first Olympic medal in badminton was won by India’s daughter, Saina Nehwal in 2012, London Olympics.
In the 2016 Rio Olympics, female athletes kept the country’s pride in their hands where PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik became the only athletes to win medals.
2020 Tokyo Olympics, was the best Olympics performances by India
The 2020 Tokyo, was the best performances by India, till date. This year, the men’s hockey team won a bronze. Neeraj Chopra gained all the limelight after being the winner of the first track and field gold medalist from India in the Javelin throw. This year, India won 7 medals in total.
INDIA IN 2024 PARIS OLYMPICS
This year, India wrapped up it’s victory after winning 6 medals, which includes a silver and five bronze. The silver won by Neeraj Chopra added to his fame, while Manu Bhaker made her place in the list of fame, by not only being the first female athlete to win a medal in shooting but also by being the first Indian athlete, after independence, to win two medals in one edition.
One of the most tragic yet heartbreaking moments in the history of Indian Olympics, was the disqualification of the Indian freestyle wrestler Vinesh Phogat, from the gold medal bout because of her being overweight by 100gm. The verdict on it is yet to come. Just after this heartbreaking moment, the wrestler chose to give up on her career, and retire from the sport.
India’s Rank at the 2024 Olympics
India’s rank in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics is 71st.
2024 Paris Summer Olympics Medal Table of India
| No. | Name | Medal | Sport |
| 1. | Neeraj Chopra | Silver | Javelin Throw |
| 2. | Manu Bhaker | Bronze | Shooting |
| 3. | Manu Bhaker, Sarabjot Singh | Bronze | Shooting |
| 4. | Swapnil Kusale | Bronze | Shooting |
| 5. | Field Hockey Team | Bronze | Hockey |
| 6. | Aman Sehrawat | Bronze | Wrestling |
Conclusion and Some Ways Through Which We Can Improve our Olympics Performance
Through this article, our readers must have definitely got an idea of the India’s Olympic history. Well, the shocking part is, India even in its best performance has been able to win only 7 medals in 2020. So, the question in our head continues to bang, what must India as a country do to improve its performance in the sports field? There are many debates on this topic, however certain suggestions given below, if implemented can bring a change in the long run :
- The government needs to lay a little more emphasis on sports, rather than completely diverting its emphasis towards the field of education. Also the complex social stratification system of India, the biased caste divisions, stops the growth of sports culture and often the real talents are not recognised due to such differences.
- The talent amongst the students can be identified and nurtured from a young age, by providing proper training facilities, coaches, infrastructure, etc at the grassroots level.
- The Indian athletes who are generally forgotten after certain points, if included in major decision makings, player selections etc can work as a thread for change.
- The sports schemes like the ‘Khelo India’ and national sports development fund, should be strengthened to improve the condition of sports in the country.
- The next competition are to be held in 2028 in Los Angeles. As a view to improve its performance, India must start focusing on its preparations and aim to increase its athletes count, in order to give an equal competition to other countries.