Best Olympics ever (7 medals) and Paralympics (19 medals) at Tokyo by Roshan Gawand
In 2021, India recorded its best performance at the 2020 Tokyo Games, picking up seven Olympic medals and 19 Paralympic medals. The event also marked 100 years of the country’s participation in the Games.
Best Olympics ever (7 medals) and Paralympics (19 medals) at Tokyo by Roshan Gawand
India sent its biggest contingents ever, with 126 competitors participating in the Olympics and 54 competitors in the Paralympic Games. In the Olympic Games, it won one gold medal, two silver medals, and four bronze.
And in the Paralympics, it brought home five golds, eight silvers, and six bronze medals. The highest medal tally in India’s history with both the Games.
Along with this being India’s best performance at the Games, it was also a time for many firsts. India made a surprise entry into the golfing arena. Aditi Ashok missed a podium finish by the narrowest of margins and finished fourth. Then there also was C. A. Bhavani Devi, India’s first-ever Olympic fencer, who reached the women’s sabre second round by defeating Tunisia’s Ben Azizi Nadia in the first round.
Best Olympics ever (7 medals) and Paralympics (19 medals) at Tokyo by Roshan Gawand
Mirabai Chanu opened the country’s medal tally by winning a silver medal in weightlifting.
Neeraj Chopra threw the javelin 87.58m to win the country its first-ever track and field gold.
Best Olympics ever (7 medals) and Paralympics (19 medals) at Tokyo by Roshan Gawand
Ravi Kumar Dahiya won a silver medal in boxing, while Lovlina Borgohain won the bronze in women’s welterweight.
Best Olympics ever (7 medals) and Paralympics (19 medals) at Tokyo by Roshan Gawand
P. V. Sindhu won the bronze in women’s singles badminton and Bajrang Punia won the bronze in men’s freestyle 65 kg.
Best Olympics ever (7 medals) and Paralympics (19 medals) at Tokyo by Roshan Gawand
Performing in the Paralympics
Avani Lekhara, on her debut outing at the Paralympics, returned home with two medals—a gold in women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 and a bronze in women’s 50m air rifle SH1.
She became the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic gold and the first Indian to win a medal in shooting.
Best Olympics ever (7 medals) and Paralympics (19 medals) at Tokyo by Roshan Gawand
While Sunil Antil clinched gold in men’s javelin F64 with a best throw of 68.55m, Harvinder Singh became the first Indian to win a medal in archery. The recurve archer won a bronze in the men’s individual recurve.
Bhavina Patel, in her maiden Paralympic outing, became India’s first table tennis player to win a medal. Her silver, which was won by beating world champions, including reigning champion Borislava Peric of Serbia, opened India’s medal tally.
Best Olympics ever (7 medals) and Paralympics (19 medals) at Tokyo by Roshan Gawand
Devendra Jhajharia’s silver medal in javelin F46 put him on equal footing with Joginder Singh Bedi. The two athletes have three Paralympian medals each and share the record of winning the most Paralympic medals.
Indian shooter Manish Narwal’s gold medal-winning 218.2 points in the finals of the P4 mixed 50m pistol SH1 event set a Paralympic record. Manish also holds the world record of 229.1 in this category.
In men’s high jump T47, Nishad Kumar brought home a silver medal and in men’s high jump T64, Praveen Kumar clinched the silver medal with his Asian record-setting leap of 2.07m.
With these wins, India finished 24th among the 162 performing nations.
India's first gold medal at Olympics by Ekta Singha
Previous shining moments
India, thus far, has collected a total of 35 medals in the Olympics and 31 in the Paralympics. Between 1928 and 1956, India picked up six successive gold medals in hockey. In 1948, India won the Olympic field hockey gold when the newly independent nation defeated Great Britain, its former colonizer, in London.
Then in 1952, KD Jadhav won independent India its first Olympic medal—a bronze in wrestling.
Best Olympics ever (7 medals) and Paralympics (19 medals) at Tokyo by Roshan Gawand
After winning the bronze in field hockey in the 1980 Summer Olympics, India didn’t win a single medal for 16 years. Tennis player Leander Paes, who won the bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics, broke this spell.
At the next Olympic outing in 2000 in Sydney, Karnam Malleswari won a bronze medal in the women’s 69 kg weightlifting category and became the first-ever Indian woman to win a medal at the Olympics.
Best Olympics ever (7 medals) and Paralympics (19 medals) at Tokyo by Roshan Gawand
And in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Abhinav Bindra became the first Indian to have won an individual gold medal.
At the Paralympics, swimmer Murlikant Petkar won India its first medal, and also the first individual gold in the 1972 Games.
In 1984, Joginder Singh Bedi won a silver in men’s shot put and a bronze each in discus and javelin. And he became the first multi-medalist Paralympian from India.
Best Olympics ever (7 medals) and Paralympics (19 medals) at Tokyo by Roshan Gawand
While there always were some star performances, the Tokyo Olympics gave the world a glimpse of India’s real potential. It was proof of the strengthening sports ecosystem in the country.
Best Olympics ever (7 medals) and Paralympics (19 medals) at Tokyo by Roshan Gawand
As Abhinav Bindra, who won India its first individual gold, put it, “It was a historic performance with the best-ever seven medals. There were moments of great triumph and heartbreaks, but that is what sport is all about. We have a good momentum now going forward.”
There’s no looking back now.