Indian men’s hockey team members seen celebrating soon after their arrival from Paris Olympics at IGI airport in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
Paris 2024 will be remembered for the six medals which brought joy to the Indians as well as the six fourth place finishes that resulted in heartbreaks.
A medal less than what the country got in the previous edition may have restricted the celebrations in the Indian camp, but the mixed bouquet of hits and near misses paint a promising picture of Indian sports.
Neeraj Chopra, Manu Bhaker, Sarabjot Singh, Swapnil Kusale, Aman Sehrawat and the Indian hockey team contributed in the six medals, including a silver and five bronze, and gave reasons to celebrate. India managed the 71st place on the medals tally. In Tokyo, one gold, two silver and four bronze had placed the country at the 48th spot in Tokyo three years ago.
Shooters Manu (25m sports pistol), Arjun Babuta (10m air rifle) and the mixed team pair of Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Maheshwari Chauhan (skeet), the archery mixed team pair of Ankita Bhakat and B. Dhiraj, shuttler Lakshya Sen and weightlifter Mirabai Chanu lost their respective bronze medal contests to miss podium finishes by a whisker.
2024 Paris Olympics in pictures | Joy, heartbreak and much more as emotions run high
Paris: India’s Neeraj Chopra reacts during the men’s javelin throw athletics event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France, on August 8, 2024.
Taiwan’s Wang Chi-lin (R) and Lee Yang celebrate winning the men’s doubles badminton quarter-final match against Thailand during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Porte de la Chapelle Arena in Paris on August 1, 2024.
India’s captain Harmanpreet Singh celebrates after scoring a goal during the men’s hockey bronze medal match between India and Spain at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Colombes, France, on August 8, 2024.
Salih Yildiz of Team Turkey shows dejection after defeat i the Men’s -60kg Elimination Round of 16 between Salih Yildiz of Team Turkey and Luka Mkheidze of Team France on day one of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Champs-de-Mars Arena on July 27, 2024 in Paris, France.
Manu Bhaker takes a selfie along with other medallists after winning bronze in women’s 10m air pistol in Paris Olympic 2024 in Chateaurouh shooting range in France on July 28, 2024.
Britain’s Andrea Spendolini Sirieix and Lois Toulson cry on the podium after winning the bronze medal on the podium of the women’s synchronised 10m platform diving final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, on July 31, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France.
Gold medallist Algeria’s Imane Khelif poses on the podium with tears during the medal ceremony for the women’s 66kg final boxing category at the Roland-Garros Stadium, in Paris on August 9, 2024. She faced an aggressive gender row before the victory.
India’s Vinesh Phogat seen after winning her Women’s Freestyle 50kg Round of 16 wrestling match against Japan’s Yui Susaki at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France, on August 6, 2024. The setback that Vinesh Phogat had to face before the final match came as a huge surprise to the world. She was ensured a silver medal after winning her Round of 16 match. But in the weight check before the final bout, she weighed 100 gm than the limit, which led to the disqualification of the athlete.
Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan seen after outshining the former world champion Neeraj Chopra in men’s Javelin throw on August 9, 2024. The victory was quite emotional, as Nadeem travelled a long way with umpteen hurdles before achieving this feat. Chopra’s mother’s words after the final match makes the victory even sweeter. She said,’…the one who got gold is also my child…’
Tara Davis-Woodhall, left, of the United States, celebrates with her husband Hunter Woodhall after winning the women’s long jump final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, on August 8, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France.
Alice Finot of Team France proposes to her boyfriend with Olympic pin after breaking European steeplechase record on day eleven of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France on August 06, 2024 in Paris, France.
Team Brazil is emotional after receiving their mark after participating in the Rhythmic Gymnastics qualifiers on August 9, 2024 atPorte de La Chapelle Arena, Paris, France.
Gold medalist Rebeca Andrade (C) of Team Brazil, silver medalist Simone Biles (L) of Team United States and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles (R) of Team United States celebrate on the podium at the Artistic Gymnastics Women’s Floor Exercise Medal Ceremony on day ten of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on August 5, 2024 in Paris, France
Andy Murray of Britain cries and waves to the spectators after he and his partner Daniel Evans defeated by Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul of the United States in the men’s doubles quarterfinals tennis match, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, on August 1, 2024, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France.
Manu Bhaker reacts after losing out on her third medal in the women’s 25m pistol event in Paris Olympic 2024 in Chateauroux shooting range in France on August 3, 2024.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic celebrates with his family in the crowd after beating Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in their men’s singles final tennis match at the Roland-Garros Stadium during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris on August 4, 2024. He also faced the much anticipated match with Rafael Nadal earlier.
Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President PT Usha embraces Indian goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh after the team’s Bronze Medal victory against Spain in the Men’s Hockey at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on August 8, 2024. This victory is a spectacular ending to the career of the goalkeeper who was a part of India’s redemption in hockey in the Olympics. Sreejesh was part of the Indian hockey team that won bronze medal in 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which was the first one after 1980. He is also named as India’s flagbearer in the Olympics closing ceremony with Manu Bhaker.
India’s Aman Sehrawat celebrates after the men’s freestyle 57kg bronze medal wrestling match against Puerto Rico’s Darian Tai Cruz at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, on August 9, 2024, in Paris, France. From a 10 year boy who become an orphan, Aman travelled a long way till achieving this enthralling victory.
Swapnil Kusale of India after winning the bronze medal in 50m rifle in Chateauroux shooting range in France Olympic 2024 on August 1, 2024.
Coco Gauff of the United States wipes her tears after arguing with the umpires during her women’s singles third round match against Donna Vekic of Croatia at the 2024 Summer Olympics, on July 30, 2024, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France. She was already trailing by a huge margin.
Gold Medallist, Sihyeon Lim of Team Republic of Korea, wipes away tears from Silver Medalist Suhyeon Nam of Team Republic of Korea in the mix zone after the Women’s Individual Archery competition on August 3, 2024 at Esplanade Des Invalides in Paris, France
Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia wipes away tears after winning bronze in an intriguing match match against Lakshya Sen of India at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena, Paris, France on August 5, 2024.
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Add to this the quarterfinal losses of boxers Nishant Dev and Lovlina Borgohain, just a step away from securing a medal, to the country’s so-near-yet-so-far moments.
The unexpected disqualification of wrestler Vinesh Phogat after reaching the women’s 50kg final was another huge blow to the country’s aspirations of securing medals in double digit.
After wrestler Sushil Kumar and shuttler P.V. Sindhu, Chopra became the third Indian to claim two consecutive individual medals. Always a big event athlete, Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Chopra managed his workload well and gave his best despite some injury issues to achieve his season best, 89.45m, which was close to his personal best 89.94m, to pick up a silver. The world champion needs to get fitter to raise his game in order to cross the much-awaited 90m mark.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem set a new Olympic record 92.97m to grab the gold medal.
After their flop shows in 2016 and 2020, the Indian shooters bounced back.
Following her disappointing show in Tokyo, pistol shooter Manu, who scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman shooter and the first one from the country to take two bronze medals in a Games (in 10m air pistol individual and mixed team with Sarabjot), displayed a superb turnaround.
Kusale added another bronze in the 50m rifle 3-position event.
Sehrawat, another product of Delhi’s famous Chhatrasal Stadium that produced wrestlers of the class of Sushil, Yogeshwar Dutt and Ravi Dahiya, gave a fine display of his grooming and skillset to land a solitary medal from wrestling.
Two-time World championships medallist Vinesh, dropping down to 50kg, gave the country reasons to celebrate by stunning World and Olympic champion Yui Susaki of Japan on her way to the final. But the joy was short-lived as the ace wrestler was overweight by 100gm during the weigh-in on the second morning ahead of her title clash.
She appealed against her disqualification and claimed a silver in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Sports lovers will await the CAS decision, expected on Tuesday, to know whether the country manages to match its medal tally in Tokyo.
The Indian hockey team showed consistency, despite the change in its coach about a year back, to retain its bronze medal. It delighted the crores of Indians, who are emotionally attached to the sport for its rich history in the country.
It was a fitting farewell to seasoned goal-keeper P.R. Sreejesh.
The country matched its second-best finish of six medals, achieved in London 2012, and the performance, for which the central government spent hundreds of crores through the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) and Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) to provide all sorts of support to the athletes, may make the decision makers brainstorm.
To put the heart-breaking moments into perspective, these tell us the capability of the Indian athletes at the biggest stage. These also underscore the necessity to continue with the all-round support so that the near-misses can be transformed into medals as the country aspires to bid for the 2036 Olympics.
As Paris closed its third Games with a distinct picture of France being a sporting nation, strongly rooting for its athletes throughout the Olympics, including the last event (the host’s title clash with the USA in women’s basketball), India would do well to take a leaf out of France’s book to transform itself as a sporting nation while nurturing hopes of taking a pride of place in the medals tally.