Kallem Vennela Reddy
The Indian contingent consisting of 117 athletes participated in 69 medal events across 16 sports for the Summer edition of Paris Olympics 2024, which was held from July 26 to August 11. The Olympians P.V. Sindhu (Badminton) and Sharath Kamal (Table Tennis) were the flagbearers of India at the opening ceremony.
India finished 71st on the medal table with six medals (0 Gold, 1 Silver, 5 Bronze), while the USA topped the table with 126 medals followed by China with 91 medals. The standout performance was in shooting, where Indian players secured three out of the six medals, making it India’s biggest haul in a sport in a single edition of Olympics. The other three medals were from hockey, wrestling, and athletics.
The Champs
Shooter Manu Bhaker, after Tokyo Olympics heartbreak, opened the account for India with a bronze medal in Women’s 10m air pistol event, becoming the first Indian female shooter to have achieved a medal in Olympics.
The duo Sarabjot Singh-Manu Bhaker bagged a bronze medal in Mixed team 10m air pistol event. With this medal, Manu Bhaker created history by becoming independent India’s first individual to win two medals in single edition of Olympics.
Another medal from shooting was added by Swapnil Kushale, by clinching a bronze in Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions event.
Indian Men’s Hockey team kept the hopes alive winning the nail-biting bronze medal match, marking their second consecutive Olympic medal since Tokyo. Harmanpreet Singh and team bid a memorable farewell to legendary goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who retired after this match.
The golden boy Neeraj Chopra earned a silver medal in Men’s Javelin Throw, becoming the most successful individual Olympian with back-to-back Olympic medals after a gold in Tokyo.
Aman Sehrawat ended India’s medal hunt at Paris with his bronze medal in Men’s freestyle 57kg wrestling event. He is now the youngest Indian Olympic medal winner (21 years and 24 days) breaking the record of PV Sindhu (21 years, one month and 14 days) at Rio Olympics 2016.
Narrow Misses
India had as many as six fourth-place finishes, missing the medals by a whisker. This is India’s highest ever fourth-place finishes in a single edition of Olympics.
It began with Arjun Babuta’s fourth place finish in Men’s 10m air rifle event. Then, Manu Bhaker missed out on a historic hat-trick by finishing fourth in Women’s 25m air pistol event. The duo Anantjeet-Maheshwari finished fourth in mixed team skeet shooting. Another duo Ankita-Dhiraj missed podium finish in mixed team archery. Lakshya Sen became first male badminton player to enter semi-finals in Olympics, but settled for fourth place. Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, the Tokyo Olympic Silver medalist, missed the medal by a narrow margin of 1kg in Women’s 49kg category.
Disappointments
The biggest heartbreak was Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification due to overweight ahead of historic finals in Women’s 50kg wrestling event when she was all set to become India’s first women to play finals in wrestling at the Olympics.
The other disappointments were from the performances of Tokyo Olympic medalists PV Sindhu, who lost in the pre-quarterfinals, and boxer Lovlina Borgohain, who suffered defeat in the quarterfinals.
Comparison with Tokyo
India ranked 48th in Tokyo with best-ever seven medals (including one gold). However, despite winning only 6 medals (no gold), Paris witnessed best performances with highest ever fourth-place finishes and a confirmed medal in wrestling, which unfortunately remained an unfulfilled dream due to disqualification.
How Vinesh missed it
On 6th August (Tuesday), Vinesh Phogat won three consecutive bouts and entered finals in 50kg wrestling event that was scheduled for 8th August (Thursday) at 12:30 am.
Vinesh weighed 2kgs more after the bouts on Day 1, so she was up all night taking drastic measures to cut weight. It was tough for her because she had been participating in 53kg category and had to switch to 50kg category for the Paris Olympics.
According to Olympics weigh-in rules, the weigh-in for each category takes place in the morning over two competition days. Throughout the entire weigh-in period, wrestlers can get on the scale as many times as they wish.
On 7th August (Wednesday) morning i.e., on Day 2, Vinesh failed the weigh-in by 100 grams. So, she was disqualified. According to wrestling rules, if the wrestler doesn’t attend or fails the weigh-in (the 1st or 2nd weigh-in), they will be eliminated from the competition and ranked last without a rank. It means she wouldn’t be eligible for silver medal.
Vinesh later appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for a joint-silver medal. However, the CAS dismissed Vinesh’s appeal costing India a historic medal. This signals the need for reconsidering rules of wrestling at least for medal matches when wrestlers fairly played all bouts and reached the final medal matches.
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