India at the Olympics
| India at the Olympic Games | ||||||||||||
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| Olympic history | ||||||||||||
| Summer Games | ||||||||||||
| Winter Games | ||||||||||||
India first participated at the Olympic Games in 1900, with a lone athlete (Norman Pritchard) winning two medals- both silver- in athletics. The nation first sent a team to the Summer Olympic Games in 1920, and has participated in every Summer Games since then. India has also competed at several Winter Olympic Games beginning in 1964. Indian athletes have won a total of 26 medals, all at the Summer Games. For a period of time, India national field hockey team was dominant in Olympic competition, winning eleven medals in twelve Olympics between 1928 and 1980. The run included 8 gold medals total and six successive gold medals from 1928–1956.
History
Early History
India sent its first athlete to the Olympics for the 1900 games, but an Indian national team did not compete at the Olympics until the 1920 Games. Ahead of the 1920 Olympics, Sir Dorab Tata and Governor of Bombay George Lloyd helped India secure representation at the International Olympic Council that allowed it to participate in the Olympic Games. India then sent a national team to the 1920 summer Olympic Games, comprising four athletes, two wrestlers, and managers Sohrab Bhoot and Fyzee.
The Indian Olympic movement was thus established: some founders of this movement were Dorab Tata, A.G. Noehren (Madras College of Physical Education), H.C. Buck (Madras College of Physical Education), Moinul Haq (Bihar sports associations), S. Bhoot (Bombay Olympic Association), S.R. Bhagwat (Deccan Gymkhana), and G.D. Sondhi (Punjab Olympic Association); Lt.Col H.L.O. Garrett (from the Government College Lahore and Punjab Olympic Association) and Sagnik Poddar (of St.Stephen's School) helped organise some early national games; and prominent patrons included Maharajas and royal princes Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, Ranji of Nawanagar, the Maharaja of Kapurthala, and the Maharaja of Burdwan .
In 1923-24, a provisional All India Olympic Committee was formed, and in Feb 1924 the All India Olympic Games (that later became the National Games of India) were held; a few sportsmen from these games were selected to represent India at the 1924 Paris Olympics: the Indian team at the Paris Olympics included seven athletes and seven tennis players, with Harry Crowe Buck as manager.
India's National Olympic Committee, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), that was responsible for sending teams to the Olympics, was officially established in 1927.
In 1928, the Indian Olympic Association selected seven athletes to represent India, with G. D. Sondhi as manager for the team. By this time, the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) had also been established and it sent a hockey team to the Olympics. The national hockey team and additional sportspersons were similarly sent to the Olympic Games in 1932 (four athletes and one swimmer) and 1936 (four athletes, three wrestlers, one Burmese weight-lifter), along with three officials headed by team manager Sondhi.
Thus, India’s Olympic delegation in the early Olympic Games was as follows:
- 1900: One athlete
- 1920: 6 competitors (four athletes, two wrestlers) and managers Bhoot and Fyzee
- 1924: 14 competitors (seven athletes, seven tennis players) and manager Harry Crowe Buck
- 1928: 21 competitors (seven athletes and a hockey team of 14) and manager G D Sondhi
- 1932: 30 competitors (four athletes, one swimmer, and a hockey team of 15) and three officials headed by manager G D Sondhi
- 1936: 27 competitors (four athletes, three wrestlers, one Burmese weight-lifter, and a hockey team of 19) and three officials including manager G D Sondhi
- 1948: 79 competitors and a few officials headed by chef-de-mission Moin ul Haq
- 1952: 64 competitors and some officials headed by chef-de-mission Moin ul Haq
From 1948 onward, because of the Indian Olympic Association's wider outreach, India began sending delegations of over 50 sportspersons representing several sports – each selected by its sports federation – to the Olympics. The delegation was headed by a chef-de-mission.
Recent History
The 2012 Summer Olympics saw an 83-member Indian contingent participating in the games, and set a new best for the country with six total medals. Wrestler Sushil Kumar became the first Indian with multiple individual Olympic medals since Norman Pritchard in 1900. However, both of Norman Pritchard's medals were silver, while Sushil Kumar had one silver and one bronze.
On 4 December 2012, the IOC banned the IOA due to election issues. The Indian athletes could, however, represent themselves in the Olympics as independent participants. This ban was lifted on 11 February 2014, and all medals won in 2012 were awarded to India.
List of Competitors
This list provides a comparative compendium of all the participants/competitors of India in the summer Olympic games.
| Games | Sports | Men | Women | Total | w.r.t prev year |  Gold |
 Silver |
 Bronze |
Total | w.r.t prev year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | NA | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | NA |
| 1920 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 5 | +4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 |
| 1924 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 7 | +2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1928 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 14 | +7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| 1932 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 15 | +1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1936 | 1 | 20 | 0 | 20 | +5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1948 | 10 | 79 | 0 | 79 | +59 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1952 | 11 | 60 | 4 | 64 | -15 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | +1 |
| 1956 | 8 | 58 | 1 | 59 | -4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 |
| 1960 | 6 | 45 | 0 | 45 | -14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1964 | 8 | 52 | 1 | 53 | +8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1968 | 5 | 25 | 0 | 25 | -28 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1972 | 7 | 40 | 1 | 41 | +16 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1976 | 2 | 20 | 0 | 20 | -21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| 1980 | 1 | 58 | 18 | 76 | +56 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| 1984 | 48 | +28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | |||
| 1988 | 7 | 46 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1992 | 5 | 53 | +7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1996 | 13 | 44 | 4 | 49 | -4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 |
| 2000 | 7 | 65 | +16 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2004 | 14 | 48 | 25 | 73 | +8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2008 | 12 | 31 | 25 | 56 | -17 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | +2 |
| 2012 | 13 | 60 | 23 | 83 | +27 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | +3 |
| 2016 | 11 | 48 | 38 | 86 | +3 |
This list provides a comparative compendium of all the participants/competitors of India in the winter Olympic games.
| Games | Sports | Men | Women | Total | w.r.t prev year | Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total | w.r.t prev year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | NA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NA |
| 1968 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1988 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | +2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1992 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1998 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2002 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | +3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Medal tables
Medals by Summer Games
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.svg.png){kind=small} 1896 Athens | did not participate | ||||
 1900 Paris | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 17 |
 1904 St. Louis | did not participate | ||||
 1908 London | did not participate | ||||
 1912 Stockholm | did not participate | ||||
 1920 Antwerp | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| 1924 Paris | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
 1928 Amsterdam | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 |
 1932 Los Angeles | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19 |
.svg.png){kind=small} 1936 Berlin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20 |
| 1948 London | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 22 |
 1952 Helsinki | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 26 |
 1956 Melbourne | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24 |
 1960 Rome | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 32 |
.svg.png){kind=small} 1964 Tokyo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24 |
 1968 Mexico City | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 42 |
 1972 Munich | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 43 |
 1976 Montreal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
.svg.png){kind=small} 1980 Moscow | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 |
 1984 Los Angeles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
.svg.png){kind=small} 1988 Seoul | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
 1992 Barcelona | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| 1996 Atlanta | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 71 |
| 2000 Sydney | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 71 |
 2004 Athens | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 65 |
 2008 Beijing | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 50 |
| 2012 London | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 55 |
 2016 Rio de Janeiro | |||||
| Total | 9 | 6 | 11 | 26 | 37 |
Medals by sport
| Sport | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Field hockey | 8 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 1 |
 Shooting | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 33 |
 Athletics | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 71 |
 Wrestling | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 43 |
 Boxing | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 64 |
 Badminton | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
 Tennis | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 28 |
 Weightlifting | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 9 | 6 | 11 | 26 | 38 |
List of medalists
See also
- Category:Olympic competitors for India
- India at the Paralympics
- India at the Asian Games
- India at the Commonwealth Games
- Olympic Gold Quest
External links
- "India". International Olympic Committee.
- "Results and Medalists". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee.
- "Olympic Medal Winners". International Olympic Committee.
- "India". Sports-Reference.com.
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