Sports enthusiasts, critics, journalists, news channels, spectators and a sea of eager fans seem to already have fixed a date or two with their favorite players but only to watch them play on television.
Friendly bets between mates to who will clinch a medal or how many may also have been placed by now. After all, it is the largest contingent ever in the history of Indian sports to be participating in Olympics.
Before we move ahead with adding a few more names to the list of achievers at Olympics in about a month from now, let’s get our quick home-work done.
If there is any confusion from who got our first ever medal to who is the first woman medallist or from who reincarnated another era of medals to the rise and rise of Indian athletes, then this list is a must to get your facts cleared.
Events are compiled in chronological order of its happening:
1900 Paris
Norman Pritchard –
Silver: 200 meter and 200 meter Hurdles
1928 Amsterdam
Hockey (Men’s) – Gold
1932 Los Angeles
Hockey (Men’s) – Gold
1936 Berlin
Hockey (Men’s) – Gold
1948 London
Hockey (Men’s) – Gold
1952 Helsinki
1) Hockey (Men’s) – Gold,
2) Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav –
Bronze in Wrestling (Men’s Freestyle Bantamweight)
1956 Melbourne
Hockey (Men’s) – Gold
1960 Rome
Hockey (Men’s) – Silver
1964 Tokyo
Hockey (Men’s) – Gold
1968 Mexico City
Hockey (Men’s) – Bronze
1972 Munich
Hockey (Men’s) – Bronze
1980 Moscow
Hockey (Men’s) – Gold
1996 Atlanta
Leander Paes – Bronze in Tennis singles
2000 Sydney
Karnam Malleswari – Bronze in Weightlifting (Women’s 69 kg)
2004 Athens
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore – Silver in Shooting (Men’s Double Trap)
2008 Beijing
Gold:
Abhinav Bindra-
Shooting (Men’s 10 meter Air Rifle)
Bronze:
1) Vijender Singh-
Boxing (Men’s 75 kg)
2) Sushil Kumar –
Wrestling (Men’s 66 kg)
2012 London
Silver:
1) Vijay Kumar –
Shooting (Men’s 25 rapid Air Pistol)
2) Sushil Kumar-
Wrestling (Men’s 66 kg)
Bronze:
1) Gagan Narang –
Shooting (Men’s 10 meter Air Rifle)
2) Saina Nehwal-
Badminton Women’s singles
3) Mary Kom –
Boxing (women’s Flyweight)
4) Yogeshwar Dutt
Wrestling (Men’s 60 kg)
Thirteen Olympians spread over a timeline of 17 events along with men’s Hockey team having 11 medals to their credit. These are a thing of past to boast of forever, take inspiration and move ahead. Fresh year, fresher start. This year looks promising with great talent taking center stage, leaving us with sky scraping expectations and hopefully broken records, fingers crossed!