Total 117 Indian athletes formed the squad that was on the hunt for medals and sporting immortality Olympic Games 2024 in Pariswhich ran from July 26 to August 11.
In total, India won six medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics – one silver and five bronze.
Manu Bhaker won the first medal for India at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She took bronze and became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting. She then created history by becoming the first Indian woman to win two medals at a single edition of the Olympics after she took bronze in the mixed 10m air pistol shooting with Sarabjot Singh.
Swapnil Kusale won a third medal in shooting, making it India’s highest tally in any sport at a single Olympic Games.
The Indian men’s hockey team repeated its Tokyo 2020 success with a bronze medal in Paris and Neeraj Chopra became the most successful individual Olympian after winning a silver medal in the javelin throw.
Later, Aman Sehrawat became India’s youngest Olympic medalist when he won bronze in wrestling.
However, India left the 2024 Paris Olympics with more heartache than joy. India missed out on six possible medals, most of them by a whisker, as the athletes finished fourth in their respective events. These included Lakshya Sen, Mirabai Chanu and Manu Bhaker, who could have bagged her third medal of the Games.
The disqualification of Vinesh Phogat before a historic final further exacerbated India’s problems.
India was interested in a total of 69 medal events in 16 sports at the 2024 Paris Olympics: archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, equestrian, golf, hockey, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis and tennis.
Neeraj Chopra, badminton ace PV Sindhu, weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, boxer Lovlina Borgohain and select members of the Harmanpreet Singh-led Indian men’s hockey team were the other returning Olympic medallists in the Indian contingent for Paris 2024.
In total, India has won 41 medals at the Olympic Games so far. Interestingly, it was Norman Pritchard’s double silver medal that opened India’s account in Paris 1900.
KD Jadhav was the first individual athlete from independent India to make it to the list of Olympic medalists, with a bronze medal in wrestling at Helsinki 1952. Weightlifter Karnam Malleswari was the first woman to win an Olympic medal at Sydney 2000.
Rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra became the first Indian to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual event at Beijing 2008, and before Neeraj’s javelin triumph at Tokyo 2020, he was the only one to do so for over a decade.
With 13 medals, including eight gold medals, the men’s hockey championships contributed the most to India’s Olympic medal tally, followed by wrestling with eight medals.
India returned from Tokyo 2020 with its highest-ever haul of seven medals, including a gold.
