Manu Bhaker became the only Indian to win two Olympic medals in a single edition
Manu Bhaker has become the first-ever Indian Olympian to win two medals in a single Olympic edition. While no other Indian Olympian has achieved Manu’s feat, few names have earned two medals across multiple editions. In the following paragraphs, let us look at Indian athletes and teams who have collected more than one medal at the Games.
While Saina Nehwal became the first Indian badminton player to grab a medal for India in the Olympic Games, PV Sindhu accepted the baton and went one step ahead of Nehwal. The veteran tennis player earned a silver medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics in the women’s singles badminton event. In a feisty finale versus Spain’s Carolina Marin that lasted for 83 minutes, Sindhu lost and missed the gold but settled for a silver.
Throwback to Carolina Marin's nail-biting victory over PV Sindhu in women's single badminton at Rio 2016! 🏸🥇#StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/1KrPQSYqd1
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) July 17, 2021
Four years later, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Sindhu won another medal but could not repeat her 2016 performance. She settled for a bronze medal by defeating Suzhou-based He Bing Jiao with sets of 21-13 and 21-15 in the women’s singles event. Back then, Sindhu became the first Indian female athlete to win two medals at the Games.
Hailing from Delhi’s Baprola, Sushil Kumar had a sloppy start in the 2008 Beijing Olympics after he lost the first bout in the 66kg men’s wrestling event. However, Kumar made an iconic comeback, winning three matches in the percentage round within 70 minutes. Kumar gifted India its first bronze in wrestling after a protracted period of 56 years.
TBT: Yonemitsu Ends Japan’s 24-Year FS Olympic Gold Medal Drought
— United World Wrestling (@wrestling) March 11, 2021
Tatsuhiro YONEMITSU // @JapanWrestling 🇯🇵 defeated Sushil KUMAR (IND) two-periods-to-none in the 66kg finals at the '12 London Olympic Games and claimed his nation’s first Olympic gold since the '88 Olympics. pic.twitter.com/2ktWM41djA
Four years later, Sushil Kumar was selected as the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent at the London Olympics in 2012. One of the biggest medal hopes in 2012, Sushil Kumar delivered by putting his health on the line. Battling with severe body aches, Kumar made it to the final, but exhaustion got the better of him, and he lost the finale to Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu. Kumar settled for a silver medal, and in 2012, he became India’s first Olympian to own more than one medal.
Apart from PV Sindhu, Sushil Kumar, and Manu Bhaker, no other individual athlete has won two or more than one medal at the Olympic Games. Therefore, let us look at the team with a history of winning Olympic medals at regular intervals for India—the men’s hockey team.
In the post-independence era, India's men’s hockey team has won on these occasions:
India in Olympics:
— क्रीडाप्रेमी (@Surendra21286) July 17, 2024
Indian men's hockey team won 8 Gold, 1 Silver and 3 Bronze medals in the Olympics. India, who won first Gold in Amsterdam 1928, went on to win 6 consecutive Golds. India won Bronze medal in Tokyo 2020.#IndiaInOlympics #Olympics #Paris2024 #Hockey pic.twitter.com/3KhFphZkS5
While this article focuses on Indian athletes, Norman Pritchard’s name has been included, given he was the first British-Indian to win medals for India under the British regime. In the 1900 Paris Olympics, Pritchard won a silver medal in the men’s 200metre sprint and in the men’s 200m hurdles.
India's only ever Olympic track medallist, a British man named Norman Pritchard who won silver in the 200m and 200m hurdles in the 1900 Paris games pic.twitter.com/P0RjTmRmGA
— Eddo Brandes Fan Account (@eddobrandesfan) July 27, 2024
It must be noted that even the hockey team before India’s independence won three more medals—gold medals in Amsterdam (1928), Los Angeles (1932), and Berlin (1936).
Following Bhaker’s success, all eyes will be fixated on Neeraj Chopra, India’s golden boy, who is expected to win another gold in javelin—a sport Chopra has consistently dominated since his medal win in the 2020 Olympics.