Paris Olympics: India returns home with 6 medals; 1 silver and 5 bronze

Team India finished their Paris Olympics campaign with six medals which included one silver and five bronze medals. The country sent a total of 117 contingents to compete in different events at the marquee event.

India finished in the 71st place on the Paris Olympics medals tally, while, the United States of America ended in top place with a total of 126 medals.

Manu Bhaker opened India’s medal tally at the Paris Olympics. The Indian shooter bagged a bronze and became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic shooting medal. The 22-year-old then etched her name in history by becoming the first Indian to win two medals at a single edition of the Olympics after she sealed a mixed team 10m air pistol bronze with Sarabjot Singh.

Swapnil Kusale added to India’s medal tally after he won a bronze medal in shooting at the Paris Olympics.

The Indian men’s hockey team levelled their Tokyo Olympics success with a bronze in Paris 2024, while Neeraj Chopra became the most successful individual Olympian after he claimed a silver medal in the men’s javelin throw event.

Later at the Summer Games, Indian wrestler Aman Sehrawat became the nation’s youngest Olympic medallist when he won bronze in wrestling.

However, India left the Paris 2024 Olympics with more heartbreaks than joy, as India missed out on six potential medals by a close margin, with the athletes finishing fourth in their respective events. This included Lakshya Sen, Mirabai Chanu and Manu Bhaker, who all could have bagged medals at the multi-sport event. Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification ahead of a historic final also added to India’s heartbreak.

There was Indian interest in a total of 69 medal events across 16 sports at the 2024 Summer Games: archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, equestrian, golf, hockey, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis and tennis.

India has won 41 medals at the Olympics to date. Interestingly, it was Norman Pritchard’s dual silver that opened India’s account in the 1900 Olympics, which were also held in Paris. KD Jadhav was the first individual athlete from independent India to get on the Olympic medal winners list. He won a bronze medal in wrestling at the 1952 Olympics, held in Helsinki. Weightlifter Karnam Malleswari became the first woman to win an Olympic medal in Sydney in 2000.