Every time the Olympics comes around, we are reminded that she is a cruel mistress. One moment there is pure joy and jubilation, then on the turn of a dime there is heartbreak. Knowing all too well of this emotional roller coaster, the beautiful reality of the Olympics is its ability to unify a country in support of the athletes and coaches representing it on the world stage. At Paris 2024, India was represented by 112 athletes, competing in 69 events across 16 sports.
India’s overall performance at the Olympics has been underwhelming to say the least – heading into Paris 2024, India had accumulated a total of 35 Olympic medals since its first ever appearance in 1900: 10 gold, nine silver and 16 bronze. The expectation of the Indian Olympic Association was for India to improve on its record medal haul of 7 from Tokyo 2020.
Shooters led India on its hunt for medals
India’s first moment of joy at Paris 2024 came from Manu Bhaker’s performance in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol, ending India’s 12-year wait for a medal in shooting with a bronze win, the first Indian woman to win an Olympic shooting medal. Manu went on to further cement her name in Olympic history for India, becoming the first Indian to win two medals at a single Olympics after she won a bronze with Sarabjot Singh in the Mixed 10m Air Pistol. The Indian shooting pair defeated the Republic of Korea’s Oh Ye Jin and Wonho Lee 16-10 in the bronze medal match. Oh Ye Jin had won the gold medal in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol event a couple of days before that match.
India could be led to believe the medal floodgates were opening as it went onto secure its third overall medal at Paris 2024 through 28-year-old Swapnil Kusale’s bronze in the Men’s 50m Rifle 3 positions. Kusale also became the first Indian Olympic medallist in this event.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all smiles and celebrations for India’s 21 strong shooting contingent that competed across all 15 shooting events at Paris 2024. With a total of 208.4, Indian shooter Arjun Babuta finished fourth in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle final at Paris 2024. Croatia’s Miran Maricic made the medal cut-off with a score of 209.8. The Indian shooter was just 1.4 short of assuring himself a medal. Bhaker also missed out on a hat-trick of medals at Paris 2024, narrowly missing out on a bronze in the final of the Women’s 25m Air Pistol. Despite holding her place in the top three for most of the final, a poor series towards the closing stages saw her drop to fourth place after a shoot-off with Veronika Major of Hungary. In the shoot-off, Bhaker missed two targets compared to Major’s single miss. Adding to India’s fourth place heartache, Olympic debutants Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Maheshwari Chauhan lost 44-43, in their bronze medal Mixed Skeet shooting event, to Jiang Yiting and Lyu Jianlin of People’s Republic of China.
While India’s shooters secured three bronze medals, and missed their mark for three bronze medal prospects, the silver lining is that India’s shooting performance at Paris 2024 achieved a milestone for India – as it had never won three medals in one sport at the Olympics.
Archers set their eyes on first Olympic medal – but missed out
In similar fashion, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat created history by becoming the first Indians to reach the semi-finals of an Archery event at the Olympics, India’s best result ever at the Olympics for Archery. Bommadevara and Bhakat took on veteran archer Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold of the United States in the Mixed Team event. The pressure of the moment overcame Bhakat early, her first arrow in her opening two sets landing astray on the target. Not going down without a fight, India clawed back the third set and needed to win the fourth to take the match into a shoot-out for the bronze medal. But the heroic efforts of Bommadevara and Bhakat could not secure Indian’s first ever medal for Archery at the Olympics and heartbreakingly added to India’s fourth place finishes. Bommadevara and Bhakat showed promise, emerging as the top-seeded Indian archers from the men’s and women’s archery ranking rounds at Paris 2024, and the experience of missing out on a bronze medal will undoubtedly embolden their resolve to secure India’s first ever Archery medal in Los Angeles 2028.
India’s fourth place finishes at Paris 2024 didn’t end here.
Badminton speed dated its way through Paris, leaving empty handed but full of hope
Following the shock exit of medal hopefuls Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty from the Men’s Double event, and PV Sindhu from the Women’s Singles event, it was all on Olympic debutant Lakshya Sen to pursue a Badminton medal for India. Sen became the first Indian shuttler to reach the semi-finals in a Men’s Badminton event at the Olympics. Competing in the Men’s Singles, he topped his group, beat the likes of Jonatan Christie of Indonesia along the way, bested compatriot HS Prannoy in the pre-quarterfinals and then stunned Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien-Chen in an exhilarating quarter-finals. In his semi-finals, the Indian shuttler went down to defending champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and then lost to Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the Men’s Singles bronze medal match. Paris 2024 gold medal winner Viktor Axelsen has said that Sen deserved to win a medal, and predicts he will be a gold medal contender in Los Angeles 2028. India has never won an Olympic gold medal in Badminton.
India’s weightlifters and wrestlers were left heartbroken, but won the hearts of a nation
India has also never won an Olympic gold medal in weightlifting, and returning from injury in her third Olympic appearance, India’s Mirabai Chanu missed a bronze medal, by one kilogram, in the Women’s 49kg Weightlifting event at Paris 2024. Chanu lifted 88kg in the snatch, matching her personal best and national record, and 111kg in the clean and jerk for a total lift of 199kg. In what was a tight four-way contest, Surodchana Khambao of Thailand lifted 200kg (88kg snatch + 112kg clean and jerk) to nudge Chanu out of a podium spot.
The cruel mistress that is the Olympics was not done toying with India. The greatest moment of heartache for India at the Olympics came from the disqualification of two-time Olympian Vinesh Phogat from the Women’s 50kg freestyle wrestling category on the morning of her gold medal bout.
In an effort to come under the weight limit, Phogat’s efforts epitomises blood, sweat and tears – she gave it her all, even taking drastic measures of cutting her hair and drawing blood.
Phogat was eligible for competition on the opening day but despite best efforts throughout the night, she weighed in 100 grams over the 50kg weight limit. According to wrestling rules, if a wrestler fails the weigh-in on either day of the competition (preliminaries, and repechage and final rounds), they are eliminated from the event. As the whole country rallied in support behind Phogat following her disqualification, the toll of the journey in pursuit of her Olympic dreams was understandably too much. India’s most decorated wrestler, three-time Olympian, two-time World Championships bronze medallist, a three-time Commonwealth Games champion and gold medallist at the Asian Games and Asian Championships announced her retirement: “Mother, wrestling won against me, I lost. Your dreams and my courage are broken. I don’t have the strength to go on anymore. Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I will forever be indebted to all of you. Please forgive me.” On the turn of a dime – heartbreak.
All was not lost for India in the wrestling, 21-year-old debutant Aman Sehrawat and India’s only male wrestler defeated Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz in the bronze medal match of the Men’s 57kg freestyle wrestling category at Paris 2024. Sehrawat’s bronze makes him the youngest Indian athlete to win a medal at the Olympics, an honour previously held by badminton’s PV Sindhu.
A new era of hopes and dreams for Indian hockey
As Indian supporters all over the world dealt with the blow of Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification and retirement, the resurgence of Indian hockey during Paris 2024 dared everyone to believe that it was returning to its former glory. Taking the field against Spain in the Men’s hockey bronze medal match, India didn’t come out as strong as it did against Great Britain and Germany in the first two knockout matches.
Against Great Britain, India was a player down for three quarters of the match, from a red card given to Amit Rohidas. Rather than accepting defeat at the monumental task ahead, India played with conviction, skill and tenacity. Absorbing the pressure and barrage of Great Britain’s attacks on its goal line, they produced a defensive masterclass and eventually won the shoot-out, helped by the heroics of veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh. Great Britain on all accounts should have won the match, but India had other plans as it eyed back-to-back Olympic medals. In their semi-finals match up against Germany, India continued with its masterful display of hockey stick skills and strong attacking combinations. A late goal from Germany with six minutes left meant India lost 3-2 to Germany and India’s hope to improve on their bronze medal from Tokyo 2020 came to an end.
Before taking the field, one final time, Sreejesh left a note on social media for the fans:
“As I stand between the posts for the final time, my heart swells with gratitude and pride. This journey, from a young boy with a dream to the man defending India’s honour, has been nothing short of extraordinary.
Today, I play my last match for India. Every save, every dive, every roar of the crowd will forever echo in my soul. Thank you, India, for believing in me, for standing by me. This is not the end, but the beginning of cherished memories.
Forever a custodian of dreams. Jai Hind.”
Committed to ensuring the retiring goalkeeper finished his 335th cap for India with a medal around his neck, India, led by captain Harmanpreet Singh, beat Spain 3-2 to record their second consecutive bronze medal at the Olympics. With this result, Singh, wearing shirt no. 13, led India to secure its thirteenth Olympic medal for hockey, and finished Paris 2024 as the highest goal scorer – 10 goals from 8 games.
There is newfound confidence in gold medal hopes for India. Given the way the team played throughout the tournament, Indian Men’s hockey sent a very strong message – they are no longer attending to just participate, they are playing to collect the silverware.
Track and Field: From the rivalry on cricket field to javelin
Agonisingly, India was still left searching for that elusive gold medal at Paris 2024. All hope rested on the shoulders of currently reigning world and Asian Games champion, and Tokyo 2020 Men’s Javelin gold medallist – Neeraj Chopra.
Unfortunately, Chopra was unable to further the Olympic record-breaking distance of 92.97m thrown by Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem. Falling short of Nadeem’s throw, Chopra delivered the second-best throw of his career, with a distance of 89.45m. This secured India’s first and only silver medal at Paris 2024. Notably, Chopra’s silver medal at Paris 2024 and gold from Tokyo 2020 makes him India’s most successful track and field athlete.
From the city of love to the city of angels
As the curtain came down on Paris 2024, India’s final tally was 1 silver, 5 bronze, 6 fourth place finishes, and a gold medal taken from its grasps.
India’s robust contingent of 112 athletes and 140 support staff is a clear indicator that as India entered its bronze age at Paris 2024, the intentions of its aspiration at the Olympics are not to settle with mediocracy. With an increased focus on enhancing athlete support and performance, India is no longer attending the Olympics to merely participate. This mindset was evident across the performance of all athletes competing for India and supported by their comments in post-match interviews. There has been a paradigm shift in the mindset of India’s athletes and all those involved – dream the impossible. India’s success at the Olympics will come as its athletes continue to demonstrate that they can progress beyond the group stages and compete well into their respective events. Although success at the Games is often prematurely assessed on medal results, India unlocked many milestones at Paris 2024.
With the Olympic torch passed from Paris 2024 to Los Angeles 2028, India is well and truly capable of converting its bronzes to gold and silver, and securing medals from their fourth-place finishes. Gazing into the crystal ball, India should expect its first Archery medal, a gold in Badminton, and redemption for Vinesh in Wrestling. If India’s Men’s Hockey and shooters continue their current trajectory, an Olympic gold medal is not out of the question for India.
