Indian Olympic history

Indian history in Olympics dates back to 1900 Paris games. Norman Pritchard was the only person to represent India at that time and returned with two silver medals in athletics. After a gap of 20 years India was again represented by two athletes in 1920 Antwerp games.

But a more organized representation began in 1928. This was the first official representation after the formation of Indian Olympic Association in 1927. And thus began the golden era of Indian Hockey. This was their first visit to the Olympics and their first Gold medal as well. The captain was Jaipal Singh. Next 28 years and 6 Olympics were the witnesses of Indian dominance in the World Hockey. India won 6 consecutive gold medals. Dhyan Chand was the main contributor to this success. 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.

Apart from hockey, Indians have performed 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.

Other than this, India's record in the Olympics paints a rather gloomy 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 silver in shooting (Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore 2004 Athens), 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).

We wish best of luck to the Indian contingent for the 2008 Beijing Olympic.