Winning the gold medal at the Olympic games is the highest of honours for any athlete. The last Indian to win an Olympic gold was Neeraj Chopra. Neeraj competed in the men’s javelin throw at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. His throw of 87.58 metres proved to be enough to bag him the ultimate prize in Tokyo.
The latest edition of the Olympics is just around the corner. The grand event kicks off in 10 days with Paris being the hosts.
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India have amassed a total of 10 gold medals at the Olympics in their history with eight of them being won by the Indian Hockey team. The only two occasions when an individual athlete managed to get their hand on the gold are Neeraj Chopra as we saw earlier, and the other being Abhinav Bindra who bagged gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Apart from the gold medals, there are other athletes who despite not winning the ultimate prize have given a different dimension to various sporting events at the international event. In today’s story with The Sporting News, we see it all.
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Complete list of Indian firsts at the Olympic Games
Indian Men’s Hockey Team - Gold in Amsterdam 1928
The legendary Dhyan Chand’s Hockey team was the very first to create history at the Olympics representing India. They bagged the gold medal at the Amsterdam Olympics in 1928, starting a legendary streak that would extend to a total of eight gold medals out of ten for India.
KD Jadhav becomes the first individual athlete to win an Olympic medal
Despite India’s brilliance in field Hockey, they were still medal-less in individual sports at the Olympics, until 1952. It all changed in Helsinki when KD Jadhav won the bronze medal while representing the tricolour. Jadhav competed in a wrestling event in the bantamweight division.
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Leander Paes end a 16-year drought - Atlanta 1996
After winning numerous medals in the early days, India’s progress in the Olympics came to a halt after they went medal-less from 1980 to 1996. It was the legendary tennis player, Leander Paes, who broke the drought in 1996 in Atlanta by winning the bronze medal in the tennis event. He remains the first and only player to win an Olympic medal for India in tennis.
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Karnam Malleswari becomes the first woman to win an Olympic medal
India won just a single medal in the Sydney 2000 Olympics, but it proved to be a historic one indeed. Weightlifter Karnam Malleswari became the first woman from India to win an Olympic medal as she bagged bronze in Sydney at the turn of the millennium.
Abhinav Bindra becomes the first individual to win gold - Beijing 2008
Up until the Beijing Olympics in 2008, India had won eight gold medals in the Olympics with all eight of them being won by the Hockey team. However, it all changed when Abhinav Bindra bagged the gold in the shooting event at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Bindra competed in the 10-metre Air Rifle shooting event.
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Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore's silver lining in Athens
India once again won just a single medal in the 20004 Athens but it proved to be historic once again as Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore bagged a silver medal in the men's shooting event. Rathore became the first shooter to bag an Olympic medal for India.
Medals galore - London 2012
After a successful outing in Beijing, India created history at the London Olympics with their highest-ever medal tally at an Olympics. India won a total of six medals in London, despite none of them being gold, it proved to be a mighty successful Olympics for the Indians. London 2012 also saw India’s former no. 1 Saina Nehwal becoming the first individual to win an Olympic medal for India in badminton.
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Neeraj Chopra creates history - Tokyo 2020
India had never won a single medal in the Athletics event at the Olympics up until the Tokyo Olympics. Neeraj Chopra’s 87.58-meter throw in the final round of the Men’s Javelin throw proved to be enough for him to clinch the gold medal and become the first Indian in the process to win an Olympic medal for India in the Athletics event. He also became the second only individual to win an individual gold medal for India at the Olympics after Abhinav Bindra.
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PV Sindhu's brilliance - Tokyo 2020
PV Sindhu won the silver medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016, becoming the only Indian after Saina Nehwal to win an Olympic medal but she didn't just stop there as she once again bagged a medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, winning bronze. Sindhu became the first and only woman in Olympic history to win multiple medals for India
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