As Neeraj Chopra grabbed a gold medal in the men’s javelin throw competition, India finished Olympics with their highest ever medal tally of 7.
Despite facing numerous challenges the Indian athletes displayed great promise and gave a sense of what can be achieved if they are backed properly by the sports authorities in India.
While the winners will deservingly take plaudits, there was much appreciation for a couple of near misses especially the women’s hockey team that went down 4-3 against Great Britain in a brave effort.
Still, it was a step in the right direction and lays the foundation for years to come. Let’s take a look at these athletes who brought glory to India.
Mirabai Chanu (Silver, women’s 49 kg weightlifting)
Mirabai Chanu won a silver medal in women’s weight lifting (49 kg). It was redemption for the athlete who failed to complete what was a regulation lift for her at Rio 2016.
With this medal, she scripted history as India won a medal for the first time on the opening day of the Olympics.
PV Sindhu (Bronze, women’s singles badminton)
PV Sindhu clinched a historic second medal at the Olympics adding to her haul from Rio 2016. Sindhu secured the bronze medal with a 21-13, 21-15 win against HE Bing Jiao of the People’s Republic of China.
She made history as the only Indian female athlete to win multiple Olympic medals, and only the second Indian – female or male – to medal twice in individual events at the Olympic Games.
Lovlina Borgohain (Bronze, women’s welterweight boxing)
Lovlina Borgohain joined Mary Kom as India’s second female boxer to win an Olympic medal.
She won her bronze medal by overcoming 2018 world champion Chen Nien-Chin in the quarterfinals, prevailing 4-1 on points.
Men’s Hockey Team (Bronze)
Indian Men’s Hockey team ended a 41-year drought for an Olympic medal as they beat Germany 5-4 in a thriller to clinch bronze.
This win was remarkable as at one point India were trailing 3-1 but four goals in the span of seven minutes, gave India its 12th Hockey medal at Olympics, a world record.
Ravi Kumar Dahiya Silver, (men’s 57 kg wrestling)
On his Olympic debut, Ravi Kumar Dahiya became only the second Indian wrestler to win an Olympic silver medal. He defeated Kazakh wrestler Nurislam Sanayev, who was leading the contest 9-2 points with 90 seconds on the clock.
This also meant India has won at least one medal in wrestling at the Games since 2008.
Bajrang Punia (Bronze, men’s 65 kg wrestling)
Bajrang Punia continued India’s success in wrestling at the Olympics as he won bronze after defeating Daulet Niyazbekov, of Kazakhstan.
His victory meant India now has 6 wrestling medals to their name since 2008 at the Olympics.
Neeraj Chopra (Gold, men’s javelin throw)
Neeraj Chopra ended India’s 100-year plus wait for a gold medal in Athletics at the Olympics when he hurled the javelin into the sky and recorded 87.58m.
This gold medal will go down in history as it was India’s first in track and field at Olympics. This also meant he became India’s only second individual Olympic champion after Abhinav Bindra (2008, men’s air rifle 10m), and also ended a 121-year wait for an Olympic medal of any colour in athletics.
| Game | Athlete | Medal |
| Javelin throw | Neeraj Chopra | Gold |
| Wrestling (57 KG) | Ravi Kumar Dahiya | Silver |
| Weight Lifting (49 Kg Women) | Mirabai Chanu | Silver |
| Women’s Singles Badminton | PV Sindhu | Bronze |
| Women’s Welterweight Boxing | Lovlina Borgohain | Bronze |
| Hockey | Indian Hockey Team | Bronze |
| Wrestling (65 Kg) | Bajarang Punia | Bronze |