India Strikes Gold in China - The First Olympic Truimph

The Olympics were first started by the Greek and the records of the first Olympia record back to 776BC in Olmypia, Greece. The records of history show that Olympics were held regularly till 393 AD and the rule was that Olmpics celebration had to mean that warring nations stop their wars and peace prevailed during the celebrations.

Interest in reviving the Olympic Games proper was first shown by the Greek poet and newspaper editor Panagiotis Soutsos in his poem "Dialogue of the Dead" in 1833 and this dream was then fulfilled by Evangelos Zappas, who sponsored the first modern international Olympic Games in 1859. The International Olympic Committee was founded in 1894 on the initiative of a French nobleman, Pierre Frédy, Baron de Coubertin. The IOC has become the heart of the "Olympic Movement," a conglomeration of sporting federations that are involved in the organization of the Games. All said and done, except for 3 exceptions, one during World War I and two during World War II, the Olympics have brought with them a spirit of Internation Competition with Peace.

The Indian response to this event that the world beholds as the biggest clash of the best of the best has been quite lukewarm.


The Journey So Far

Ever since 1900, India has been participating in the Olympics. Back then, 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. Those were the first ever medals that India won in the Olympic History. After that for two decades, India did not take part in Olympics and then in 1920 Antwerp Olympics India participated with a meager two participants and then with eight members in 1924 Paris Olympics.

Finally in 1927, with the formation of Indian Olympic Association, India made a more organized entry and the “Golden Period” of Indian Hockey began. 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.

Apart from hockey, the Indians barely managed a few candidates in athletics who reached the finals of their qualifying events. The names include 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. A medal here and there also came from other events like India won two bronzes, one by Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav in 1952 for wrestling, and the other by Dr Karni Singh in 1964 for shooting.


The Disastrous Recent Past

In the more recent past, 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, there was nothing India really did in almost 100 years after its first showdown. The recent medals include two more bronze medals won by Leander Paes in 1996 for Tennis, and by Karnam Malleswari in 2000 for weightlifting. Even in the latest 2008 Olympics, the Indian Hockey team which gave India a glorious past failed to even qualify. For the first time in the history of hockey in India, the Indian Hockey team — once known as the group of finest stick wielders in the world — has failed to qualify for the Olympic Games. This adds shame to stigma on the Indian Nation Game.

2004 – The Silver Lining

The year 2004 would have been a nightmare for India had Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore provided India with a rare moment to celebrate by winning the silver medal. Rathore did this feat in the Double Trap event and salvaged India’s pride. This was the first time any Indian ever reached the “Silver” in a non-team event and won the second highest individual achievement, but the Indian desire to reach the Gold medal, the feat of highest excellence was still an illusion.

2008 – India Strikes Gold at Beijing

Finally after 108 years of wait, the moment that a lot of Indians waited with abated breath finally arrived. The man who delivered the prize is Abhinav Bindra. Winning the gold, he created a new chapter in the history in Indian Sports.

Abhinav Bindra won the Gold Medal in 10M Air Rifle Shooting event.
Bindra had shot a total of 596 out of 600, shooting a perfect 100 in 3 of the 6 rounds of the qualifiers, to finish 4th and qualify 2 points behind Henri Hakkinen of Finland.China's Qinan Zhu was a point adrift of Hakkinen with a series of 100, 100, 100, 100, 99 and 98. But then he improved his game quite a bit at made it at 700.5 winning the gold and the local favourite and defending champion Qinan Zhu won silver with a 699.5, while Finland's Hakkinen won bronze at 699.4.

All said and done, this event made India get its 18th medal overall, and 7th Individual medal. But what makes it the most special is that it is the first ever Gold Medal won by an Indian.

The Road to the Future

For this Olympics, we still have a few events in which fellow Indians are eying their eyes on the illustrious medals. Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal is just one win away from ensuring another individual medal for India after she stunned fourth seed Chen Wang of Hong Kong to move into the quarter-finals of the women's singles badminton event. The other likely contestant is the hero of the 2004 Olympics Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in the Men's double trap event.

On a personal note, I feel it is a matter of disgrace that after 108 years of qualifying, with a population of more than 1 billion, we just managed to send 56 people to the Olympics, an event that has more than 10000 contestants. All said and done, the past cannot be changed, but the future can.

With a very high level of participation from countries around the globe, and the popularity of Olympic motto: Citius Altius Fortius - Faster, Higher, Stronger, the Indians need to really raise their level to compete strongly. It depends on us whether we want to add to the glitter of the Medals that blind the world or just let them rust so that the Luster is Lost.