India In Olympics
India was represented for the first time at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris. Sprinter Norman Pritchard, the country's only athlete at the 1900 Games, won silver medals in the men's 200m and 200m hurdles.
Indian athletes are probably best known at the Olympic Games for their performances in hockey. The men's team have won eight gold medals in the sport - more than any other NOC - which includes an incredible run of six consecutive gold medals at the Games between 1928 and 1956. India had to settle for silver at the 1960 Games in Rome, losing to Pakistan in the final, but the team reclaimed its title four years later at Tokyo 1964. India won bronze in both 1968 and
1972, and missed out on the podium altogether at Montreal 1976, but the team secured its eighth hockey gold medal at the 1980 Games in Moscow. Performances have not reached the same levels since then, and a low point came at London 2012 where the Indian team lost all five of its group games.
The Indian women's hockey team has only competed at the Olympic Games on two occasions. The team placed fourth on its debut in a round-robin style tournament at the 1980 Games in Moscow, and then finished bottom of Group B at Rio 2016.
Shooter Abhinav Bindra is the only Indian athlete to have won Olympic gold in a sport other than hockey, claiming gold in the men's 10m air rifle at the 2008 Games in Beijing. Bindra finished fourth in the same event at Rio 2016 on what was his fifth time competing at the Games. The Olympic appearance record for India is held by tennis player Leander Paes, who participated in seven consecutive editions of the Games between 1992 and 2016. Paes' best result was a bronze medal in men's singles at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
India won two medals at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Freestyle wrestler Sakshi Malik claimed bronze in the women's 58kg category, which was the fifth time an Indian competitor had finished on the podium in the sport. Badminton player PV Sindhu won silver in the women's singles, following in the footsteps of Saina Nehwal who won India's first Olympic medal in badminton - a bronze in women's singles - at London 2012.
