India has so far won 10 gold medals in its Olympic history. With the 2024 Paris Olympic Games just a few days away, ET Sport looks back at each of those golden moments.
1928 First-ever gold
It was in Amsterdam 1928 where India’s three-decade long reign over the world of hockey began. The Indians won their first ever Olympic gold in hockey by beating Holland 6-0. Dhyan Chand scored 14 of India’s 29 goals at Amsterdam. Curiously, Great Britain did not send their hockey team. Just before the Olympics, Great Britain were drubbed 4–0 by India. It gave birth to a rumour that the ‘colonisers’ were afraid of losing to their ‘colony’ on an international stage. This rumour was so wide-spread that Dhyan Chand referred to it in his recollections, “I reiterate that this is mere hearsay (that England dropped out of the Amsterdam Games fearing the Indians), although we fondly hoped that at least in future Olympics we would have the honour of meeting Great Britain and showing them how good or bad we were. It is my regret that this hope was never realized so long as I participated in Olympic events.”
1932 Defending the fort
Global economic depression in 1928 meant that India, Japan and the United States were the only entrants competing for hockey honours at the Los Angeles Games. However, that does not take away from the fact that the Indians were far superior to any of their contemporaries. Indians beat Japan 11-1 and then thumped the United State 24-1.
1936 – Golden Hat-trickVaranasi Stock
Despite having comprehensively beaten the world in 1928 and 1932, India’s supremacy in hockey was still in doubt on the eve of the Berlin Games in 1936. This was because Europe had stayed away from the 1932 hockey competition on account of the Great Depression. But the Indians, under Dhyan Chand, met the challenge in style crushing Germany 8–1 to win third consecutive Olympic Gold. With this victory, the legend of Indian hockey and the game’s special affinity with the ‘Orient’ was embellished further.
1948 Independent India’s first gold
It was a dream final: the defending champions from newly independent India taking on their former imperial masters who had avoided playing Olympic hockey as long as India remained a colony. India won the battle in style, defeating the British 4–0. The overwhelming Indian superiority was borne out by the match report by Alex Valentine in the Times of India, “India’s superiority was never in dispute. Despite the heavy, muddy turf and the light rain, which fell for considerable time during the game, the Indians outclassed the British team with their superb ball control, accurate passing and intelligent positional play. Long before half time it was evident that India should win comfortably. If England had had any other goalkeeper but [David] Brodie, India might have doubled their score…”
1952 Balbir magic
The 1952 hockey final against Holland was expected to be a close affair for two reasons. First, the rains had made the ground wet and slippery, conditions that were expected to favour the Dutch more than the Indians. Second, the Indians looked to be over reliant on Balbir Singh Sr. These predictions weren’t accurate as the Indians retained the title fairly convincingly, defeating Holland 3–1 in the final. Balbir Singh Sr was once again the star, scoring his third Olympic hat-trick and accounting for 9 out of the 13 Indian goals.
1956 India beat Pakistan for fifth gold
That the final in Melbourne was India’s first meeting against Pakistan at the Olympic stage was weighing on the minds of players from both teams. The tension was greater for the Indians because they had more to lose than Pakistan had to gain. For Pakistan, a silver medal would be a triumph, whereas for India anything but gold would be a disappointment. This explains the unrivalled scenes of jubilation following India’s narrow 1–0 victory in the final.Jaipur Stock
1964 Regaining gold
India re-established its supremacy in world hockey by defeating Pakistan 1–0. Rene G. Frank, then secretary general of International Hockey Federation, has left a moving description of this final, “Two fine teams of appreciably equal strength were each doing their utmost to win… If India finally proved a winner by a narrow margin, this was because in my personal opinion its players seemed to me to be inspired with a greater will than their opponents to carry off this victory which enabled them to regain the title of Olympic Champion which they had always held and which was wrested from them for the first time in 1960 by Pakistan.”
1980 Last hockey gold
India tasted gold in Moscow after 16 years, beating Spain 4–3. ‘An Olympic hockey gold medal at lastHyderabad Wealth Management. But India should have won it by a more convincing margin. They played as they should have played till they led three-nil with twenty minutes to go. Then the defence began letting them down and when the end came the lead had thinned down to the barest minimum,’ K. Datta wrote in the Times of India.
2008 First-ever individual gold
Eighty-nine years after that windswept day in Pune, when Dorab Tata first dreamt of an individual Olympic gold for India in 1920, shooting prodigy Abhinav Bindra finally found the Holy Grail at the 2008 Beijing Games. Bindra’s achievements, analysed for hours on television, turned him into a national celebrity overnight.
2021 — First-ever track and field gold
The first throw set it up. 87.03 meters was indication Neeraj Chopra wasn’t overawed by the big stage. And when Neeraj threw his javelin a second time it just seemed to keep going. It was India traveling to sporting respectability, undoing 100 years of under-performance at Olympic stageAhmedabad Wealth Management. And when the javelin finally landed, and the measurement flashed on the scoreboard - 87.58 meters – India had their first-ever track and field gold.
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