Published By: vikramsharma

Indian Sportsmen Who Brought Glory for India at the Olympics (Part II)

Team sports like hockey are not part of this list, only individual medal winners’ names are included in the list.  

The Olympics is the biggest sporting event in the world and it takes place every four years. When it comes to India’s performance in the Olympics, the nation has won a total of 35 medals since the inception of the modern-day Olympics in 1900 in Paris. Here is a list of Indian sportsmen who brought glory to India at the Olympics. Team sports like hockey are not included in this list, only individual medal winners’ names are included. In Hockey, India was a name to reckon with as it won a record eight gold medals, six of which were consecutive.

KD Jadhav 

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav, better known as KD Jadhav, became the first Indian to win an individual medal in the men’s bantamweight wrestling category in 1952. 

KD Jadhav was a wrestler who won the bronze medal at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki and became the first-ever Indian to win an individual medal at the Olympics. KD Jadhav was famously known as “Pocket Dynamo” and finished in the sixth position in the 1948 London Olympics. But with his sheer dedication and hard work, he managed to win a bronze medal at the 1952 edition of the game. The medal was a reward for his hard work.

Leander Paes

Leander Paes won the bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and broke the chain of India’s bad performance in the last three Olympics. 

In the last three Olympics before the Atlanta Olympics, India didn’t win any medals and the last time India won a medal at the Olympics was in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. With his win, Paes also became the second individual medal winner at the Olympics after KD Jadhav. He lost to Andre Agassi in the semi-final but managed to win the bronze by defeating Fernado Meligani in the bronze medal match.

Karnam Malleswari

Karnam Malleswari became the first woman from India to win an individual Olympics medal when she won a bronze medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. 

Karnam Malleswari won a bronze medal at the Sydney Olympics, in 2000 in the 54 kgs weightlifting category. She became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal individually. She managed to win the bronze medal by lifting 110 kgs in the snatch category and 130 kgs in the clean and jerk for a total of 240 kgs.

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore was an army man who won the silver medal in the men’s double trap shooting category at the Athens Olympics, in 2004.

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore became the first Indian to win a silver medal in an individual sporting event at the Olympics. Rathore had to shoot both his flying clay targets with his final attempt in the men’s double trap shooting category and he accurately shot down both and confirmed India's first individual silver medal in the Olympics.

Abhinav Bindra

Abhinav Bindra created history by winning India’s first-ever individual Olympics gold medal. He achieved the feat in the men’s 10 metres air rifle shooting category at Beijing Olympics 2008.

One of India’s most proud moments at the Olympics came at Beijing 2008 when shooter Abhinav Bindra won a historic gold medal in the men’s 10 metres air rifle shooting category. Bindra shot a near-perfect 10.8 with his final shot and won India’s first-ever individual Olympic gold medal.