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).
