India in Olympics
Author: MADHU
India first participated in Olympics in 1900 in Paris. The country was represented by Norman Pritchard, an Anglo Indian who was holidaying in Paris during that time. He bagged two silver medals in 200m. dash and 200m hurdles. Then after a gap of 20 years India again participated with two athletes in 1920 Antwerp Olympics and with eight members in 1924 Paris Olympics.
But the more organised, official representation by India, was made in 1928 Amsterdam, with the formation of Indian Olympic Association in 1927. Dorabji Tata was the first president and Dr A C Northern of Young Men's Christian Association, Madras was the secretary. That year, Indian Hockey team participated in their first Olympic hockey event and won the gold medal under the captaincy of Jaipal Singh. For the next 6 successive Olympics spanning 28 years from 1928-1956, Indians retained their gold medal for the hockey event. Hockey wizard Dhyan Chand played a major role in Indian victory in the first three successive wins. It was definitely the golden era of Indian Hockey in Olympics, during which India played 24 matches and won all 24, scored 178 goals (at an average of 7.43 goals per match) and conceded only 7 goals. India again won two more gold medals in Olympic hockey in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
In athletics, six Indians and the 4x400 women's relay team have reached the finals of their events in Olympics. They are Norman Pritchard in 1900 (two silvers in sprint and hurdles), Henry Rebello in 1948 London (Triple Jump), Milkha Singh 1960 Rome ( fourth place in 400 metres), Gurbachan Singh Randhawa 1964 Tokyo (fifth place in 100 m hurdles), Sriram singh 1976 Montreal ( seventh in 800m), P.T Usha in 1984 Los Angeles ( fourth in 400m hurdles) who unfortunately lost her bronze by 1/100th of a second and the 4 member squad of the 400m. women's relay P.T.Usha, M.D.Valsamma, Vandana Rao, Shiny Abraham reached seventh place, the same year.
Apart from Hockey and a few fine performances in athletics, India's record in the Olympics paints a dismal picture, for a country having a population of over a billion people. Apart from the 8 gold medals, one silver medal and two bronzes in Hockey, two silver medals in athletics, India has won bronzes for wrestling ( Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav 1952 Helsinki), shooting ( Dr Karni Singh 1964 Tokyo), tennis ( Leander Paes 1996 Atlanta) and weightlifting ( Karnam Malleswari 2000 Sydney).
India, population 1.1 billion, still chasing the elusive gold
Anju Bobby George to carry tricolour at Olympics
KARNAM MALLESWARI
Weightlifter
Indian weightlifter from Andhra Pradesh. She became the First Indian woman ever to win an Olympic medal. She won bronze in 69kg category at Sydney Olympics 2000. She has also won gold in Istanbul World Championship (1994) and Asian Championships (54-kg category) at Pusan, Korea (1995). In World Weightlifting Championship at Guangzhou (China) on November 19, 1995 Malleswari set a new world record by winning three golds in 54-kg category. She was awarded 'Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award' in 1994-95.
LEANDER PEAS
Lawn Tennis Player
Leander Paes, India's Tennis pride, was born in Goa on June 17,1973 and brought up in Kolkata. Born into a family of sportsmen; His father, Vece was a member of the Indian field hockey team which won a bronze medal in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games and mother, Jennifer a member of the basketball team; Leander began playing tennis at the age of 5.
He captured the 1990 Wimbledon Junior title and was ranked as the No.1 junior player in the world at one time. Since then he has been representing India at various international events winning matches bringing glory to the country. He is also a member of the Davis Cup squad since 1990, compiling a 32-19 career record (21-12 in singles). In 1996 Atlanta Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the Tennis event and made India proud with this individual medal won after a long gap of 44 years. The last individual medal being the wrestling medal won by K.D Jadhav in1952 Helsinki Olympics.
He teamed up with Mahesh Bhupathi to form the Indian doubles team and the duo in 1999, showed their class by winning the French Open and Wimbledon and entering the finals of the two other Grand Slam Tournaments; the Australian and US Opens. But the dream team separated soon after, due to mutual misunderstanding. They came together again in time for the Sydney Olympics and started regaining their lost prestige at the end of 2000, winning the Men's Double title in Japan Open 2000 followed by Worlds Doubles Championship in Bangalore, Verizon Atlanta Challenge, US Clay court Championship in Houston and at Roland Garros defeating the Czech pair of Petr Pala and Pavel Vizner, ranked no. 2 in the world.
1900 Paris, France
Winner / Player/ Team
Event
Medal /Achievement
Athletics
Norman Pritchard
*
200 m. sprint
*
200 m hurdles
*
110 m hurdles
*
Silver Medal
*
Silver Medal
*
5th place
1920 Antwerp, Belgium
Chugle
Athletics -marathon
*
19th place
1928 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Hockey team under Captain Jaipal Singh till semifinals and under Vice captain Eric Pinniger in the finals. The team included Dhyan Chand who scored three goals in the last four minutes of the finals to sweep the Indian team to victory.
Hockey
Gold Medal by beating Holland 3 - 0 (India's first ever Olympic gold medal and victory in a world tournament)
Athletics
*
Mervyn Sutton
*
M C Dhawan
*
110m hurdles
*
triple jump
*
Reached semifinals
*
Cleared 44 feet and 9 ¾ inches
Hockey team under Captain Lal Shah Bokhari. Dhyan Chand (12) and Roop Singh (13) scored the maximum goals during the two games played against Japan (11-1) and USA (24-1).
Hockey
Gold Medal by beating USA 24-1- the first biggest
1936 Berlin, Germany
Hockey team under Captain Dhyan Chand. It was to be Dhyan Chand's last Olympic games
Hockey
Gold Medal by beating Germany 8-1 in the finals held on August 15 1936.
Zawweik from Burma
Weight lifting (India's debut)
15th place 75-kg class
1948 London, G. Britain
Hockey team under Captain Kishan Lal
Hockey
Gold Medal by beating Britain 4-0 in the finals (India's first gold medal as a free country).
Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav.
Wrestling
6th place in (freestyle/flyweight)
Henry Rebello
Athletics- Triple Jump
He made a new national mark of 50 feet and two inches, but could not participate in finals due to injury.
1952 Helsinki, Finland
Hockey team under Captain Kunwar Digvijay Singh Babu. Balbir Singh scored the maximum goals -9 out of the total goals scored in the three games played.
Hockey
Gold Medal by beating Holland 6-1 in the finals
Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav
Wrestling
Bronze medal-bantamweight freestyle
1956 Melbourne, Autralia
Hockey team under captain Balbir Singh. Udham Singh scored a total of 15 goals, the highest tally by an Indian at an Olympics till that date
Hockey
Gold Medal beating Pakistan 1-0 in the finals ( India's sixth consecutive Olympic gold medal, a record for any country in any team sport in the Olympics
D Rajagopal
Weight lifting
10th place in plus 90-kg class
1960 Rome, Italy
Milkha Singh
Athletics - 400m sprint
4th place, missed a medal by one-tenth of a second despite a time faster than the then world record
L K Das
Weight lifting
12th place in the 60-kg section.
Hockey team under captain Leslie Claudius
Hockey
Silver Medal, Pakistan beat India 0-1 in the final.
1964 Tokyo, Japan
Hockey team under Captain Charanjit Singh. Shankar Lakshman, Indian goalkeeper who saved India from defeat was justifiably awarded 'Man of the match'.
Hockey
Gold Medal in a narrow win beating Pakistan 1-0 in the finals
Dr Karni Singh the erstwhile Maharaja of Bikaner
Shooting
Bronze medal
Gurbachan Singh Randhawa
Athletics 110m hurdles
Fifth place
M L Ghosh
L K Das
Weight lifting
14th place - 56kg class
13th place - 60kg event
1968 Mexico city, Mexico
Hockey team under Captains Prithipal & Gurbux Singh
Hockey
Bronze Medal with Pakistan winning the gold and Australia the silver medal.
1972 Munich, W. Germany
Hockey team under Captain Harmeek Singh
Hockey
Bronze Medal with Germany winning the gold and Pakistan the silver medal
Anil Mondal
Weight lifting
Placed 12th in the 52-kg category
1976 Montreal, Canada
Sriram Singh
Athletics- 800m final
Seventh place
1980 Moscow, USSR
Hockey team under Captain Vasudevan Bhaskaran
Hockey
Gold Medal after 16 years by winning over Spain 4-3 in the finals
1984 Los Angeles , USA
P.T Usha
Athletics- 400m hurdles
Lost the bronze medal by 1/100th of a second
P.T.Usha, M.D.Valsamma, Vandana Rao, Shiny Abraham
Athletics- 4 X 400 m Women's relay
7th place
Mahendran
Weight Lifting
10th in the 52-kg class
1992 Barcelona, Spain
Deepankar Bhattacharya
Badminton
Made it to the second round lost to top seeded Chinese player in the second round.
Adhishekar
Weight Lifting
Placed 12th in the 52-kg event
Leander Paes and Ramesh
Tennis
Reached the quarterfinals of the doubles narrowly missing the bronze
1996 Atlanta, USA
Leander Paes
Tennis
Bronze medal
2000 Sydney, Australia
Karnam Malleswari
Weight Lifting
Bronze Medal in 69kg category
