Published By: Rohit Chatterjee

Paris Olympics 2024: A Timeline of India’s Highest and Lowest

The Indian contingent finished with six medals at the Paris Olympics 2024

For India and its 117-strong contingent, the Olympic Games 2024 have come to an end. The South Asian nation finished the Games in Paris with six medals—one silver and five bronze. As it happens every four years, pundits have asked why, despite being one of the most populous countries on earth, India failed to hit the double digits when it comes to medal tally. The nation could not even match or surpass seven, the number of medals won at the previous Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

Nonetheless, a timeline of India's journey in Paris must be charted to celebrate the nation's highest and lowest points. After all, the lowest points deserve a shout out as well, given that the majority of our hard-working athletes hail from humble backgrounds and have fought several hurdles, such as financial issues, hunger, and, at times, even the federation, to represent the tri-colour and 141.72 crore Indians.

July 28

India opened its tally in Paris with Manu Bhaker's bronze in the women's 10m air pistol. She became the first Indian to win an Olympic medal in shooting.

July 30

Two days later, on July 30, Manu Bhaker, along with Sarabjot Singh, grabbed India's second medal, another bronze, in the 10m air pistol mixed team shooting event. By winning the second bronze medal, Manu Bhaker became the first Indian since 1947 to win two Olympic medals in a single Olympic edition. Not to forget, Bhaker also joined an elite list of Indian athletes with two Olympic medals.

August 01

India's third medal, another bronze, was grabbed by shooter Swapnil Kusale, who finished third on the podium in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions event. Kusale's medal was India's first in the mentioned event and India's third medal in rifle shooting since Abhinav Bindra's gold in 2008 and Gagan Narang's bronze in 2012.

August 08

Despite maintaining terrific form, India's men's hockey team suffered heartbreak when they lost to Germany in the semi-final. However, on August 8, the Men in Blue made a comeback and won India's fourth medal, a bronze, a back-to-back medal, given that the team had also won a bronze in the Tokyo Olympics 2020. The bronze-medal winning match also gave a perfect farewell to India's star hockey goalie, PR Sreejesh, who retired after the game.

August 08 called for a double celebration as India's golden boy, Neeraj Chopra, grabbed a silver. Indeed, gold was expected from him, given his dominance in javelin since Tokyo 2020. However, be it gold, silver, or bronze, winning back-to-back Olympic medals is a historic feat, and Neeraj did it in style. Not to forget, given he is only 26, India will undoubtedly expect one more from him in the 2028 Olympics.

August 09

To be honest, nobody expected India to win another medal, but little-known youngster Aman Sehrawat shocked the world by winning India's sixth and last medal of the Paris Olympics 2024. Not to forget, at 21 years and 24 days, Sehrawat also became India's youngest Olympic medalist. At Paris, Sehrawat's medal was India's only medal in wrestling across categories.

Curse of fourth

The curse of fourth followed the Indian contingent as multiple athletes with medal-winning capabilities and performances failed one step away from the podium.

In the 10m air rifle shooting, Arjun Babuta crashed out, and the mixed archery team of Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat met the same fate. Manu Bhaker also had the chance to win a third medal but crashed out with rank four in the 25m pistol event. The Paris Games also saw badminton star Lakshya Sen lose a bronze, whereas the mixed skeet team of Anantjeet Singh and Maheshwari Chauhan also missed a medal by a whisker. Mirabai Chanu's also finishing fourth was a disappointment for the nation.

A heartbreak like no other

While fourth-place finishes certainly disappointed the Indian fans, Vinesh Phogat's disqualification was undoubtedly the lowest for India. Despite reaching the finale and a confirmed silver medal in the pocket, Phogat's disqualification shattered India's heart into millions of pieces. However, there's still hope that Phogat could share the silver medal if the Court of Arbitration accepts her plea for Sport (CAS). For the unversed souls, following the disqualification, Phogat also announced her retirement from the game.

The Paris Olympics 2024 was a bittersweet event for India. Despite winning six medals, India still has a long way to go in athletics. The nation failed to match its tally of the Tokyo Olympics 2020—a year when the world grappled with the pandemic. Not to forget, finishing below neighbouring country Pakistan also left the Indian contingent slightly embarrassed, given that Pakistan had only sent eight athletes compared to India's 117 athletes.

With the government pushing multiple sports schemes and the nation's change in attitude, which is shifting towards other sports alongside cricket, the least we hope to see is India hitting the double-digit medal tally at the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics.