India's Olympic journey

In the last 112 years, India has won just 20 medals - nine gold medals (8 in hockey and one in shooting), four silver and seven bronze medals.  NDTV.com traces those scattered but glorious moments of India's Olympic history that brought some cheer to the nation.

1900 PARIS OLYMPICS: MAIDEN MEDALS

In 1900, an Anglo-Indian called Norman Pritchard was holidaying in Paris. The Olympics Games were being held and he participated in two events. Thus began India's maiden participation in Olympics. Pritchard won silver in both the events that he took part in - the 200 metres race as well as 200 metres hurdles. Olympic historians have argued his nationality as India was under the colonial rule in 1900. Some say he participated as an Indian while some argue that he represented Britain. The International Olympic Committee, however, has recognized him as an Indian.

1928 AMSTERDAM OLYMPICS

This was the year that marked Indian hockey's arrival on the world stage. India won their first Olympic gold medal by beating Netherlands. In this event, a total of 22 players were allowed in each team.

Team: Richard Allen, Dhyan Chand, Maurice Gateley, William Goodsir-Cullen, Leslie Hammond, Feroze Khan, George Marthins, Rex Norris, Broome Pinniger, Michael Rocque, Frederic Seaman, Ali Shaukat, Jaipal Singh and Sayed Yusuf.

1932 LOS ANGELES OLYMPICS

The 1932 Games were held during the 'Great Depression' in Los Angeles, USA. Not many athletes from the last Games participated in the Los Angeles Games as they could not pay for their trip. In fact, no other city bid to host the Games. But hockey gold medalist of 1928 came and stole the thunder. India beat Japan in the final.
Team: Richard Allen, Muhammad Aslam, Lal Bokhari, Frank Brewin, Richard Carr, Dhyan Chand, Leslie Hammond, Arthur Hind, Sayed Jaffar, Masud Minhas, Broome Pinniger, Gurmit Singh Kullar, Roop Singh, William Sullivan and Carlyle Tapsell.

1936 BERLIN OLYMPICS

In the history of Indian hockey, Berlin Olympics Games were very eventful. Not only did India made a hat-trick of Olympic gold medals but they did it convincingly as they scored a total of 38 goals while only one goal was scored against them.

Team: Richard Allen, Dhyan Chand, Ali Dara, Lionel Emmett, Peter Fernandes, Joseph Galibardy, Earnest Goodsir-Cullen, Mohammed Hussain, Sayed Jaffar, Ahmed Khan, Ahsan Khan, Mirza Masood, Cyril Michie, Baboo Nimal, Joseph Phillips, Shabban Shahab-ud-Din, Garewal Singh, Roop Singh and Carlyle Tapsell.

1948 LONDON OLYMPICS

After a hiatus of 12 years, Olympics Games returned. Post World War II, the biggest sports event took off in London. But that did not have any effect on Indian hockey team's form. They won the gold for the fourth time in a row beating Britain on their home soil in the final. This was the first medal won by an independent India.

Team: Leslie Claudius, Keshav Dutt, Walter D'Souza, Lawrie Fernandes, Ranganathan Francis, Gerry Glacken, Akhtar Hussain, Patrick Jansen, Amir Kumar, Kishan Lal, Leo Pinto, Jaswant Singh Rajput, Latif-ur-Rehman, Reginald Rodrigues, Balbir Singh Sr., Randhir Singh Gentle, Grahanandan Singh, KD Singh, Trilochan Singh and Maxie Vaz.

1952 HELSINKI OLYMPICS

The Helsinki Games in Germany were special for India as for the first and so far the only time they won two Olympic medals. They won gold for field hockey and a bronze in freestyle wrestling by KD Jadhav.

India's Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav won a bronze medal in the freestyle bantamweight wrestling. KD Jadhav first participated in London Olympics in 1948 in the flyweight category and finished sixth. In the next Olympics at the Helsinki in 1952 he emerged as a strong contender.

Hockey Team: Leslie Claudius, Meldric Daluz, Keshav Dutt, Chinadorai Deshmutu, Ranganathan Francis, Raghbir Lal, Govind Perumal, Muniswamy Rajgopal, Balbir Singh Sr., Randhir Singh Gentle, Udham Singh, Dharam Singh, Grahanandan Singh and K. D. Singh.

1956 MELBOURNE OLYMPICS

Melbourne Olympics was historical for India as they achieved a feat that is yet to be surpassed. They won gold for the consecutive sixth time. This is the highest number of consecutive gold medals won by any country in any sport.

Team: Leslie Claudius, Ranganathan Francis, Haripal Kaushik, Amir Kumar, Raghbir Lal, Shankar Lakshman, Govind Perumal, Amit Singh Bakshi, Raghbir Singh Bhola, Balbir Singh Dosanjh, Hardyal Singh Garchey, Randhir Singh Gentle, Balkishan Singh Grewal, Gurdev Singh Kullar, Udham Singh Kullar, Bakshish Singh and Charles Stephen. (bharatiyahockey.org)

1960 ROME OLYMPICS

After a 56-year long dominance in Olympic Games, India slipped in Rome and lost to their archrivals Pakistan in the final and had to be content with a silver medal.

Team: Joseph Antic, Leslie Claudius, Jaman Lal Sharma, Mohinder Lal, Shankar Lakshman, John Peter, Govind Sawant, Raghbir Singh Bhola, Udham Singh Kullar, Charanjit Singh, Jaswant Singh, Joginder Singh and Prithipal Singh.

1964 TOKYO OLYMPICS

Hurt in Rome, India bounced back and clinched the gold. With other athletes coming empty handed, hockey remained one sport that assured Indians of a medal.

1968 MEXICO AND 1972 MUNICH OLYMPICS

These two Olympic Games saw the Indian hockey team sliding as they finished third with bronze medals in Mexico and Munich. These two editions of the Games heralded India's decline.

Team (1972): Mukhbain Singh, Virinder Singh, Harcharan Singh, Harmik Singh, Kulwant Singh, Krishnamurthy Perumal, Ajitpal Singh, Harbinder Singh, Ashok Kumar, Kindo Michael, Galesh Mollerapoovayya, Govin Billimogaputtaswamy, Charles Cornelius, and Manuel Frederick.

1980 MOSCOW OLYMPICS

In 1980, Indian hockey team raised its performance and won gold. But as they say 'all good things come to an end', with that gold medal, Indian hockey slowly slipped out of contention.

Team: Allan Schofield (goal-keeper), Bir Bhadur Chettri, Sylvanus Dung Dung, Rajinder Singh, Davinder Singh, Gurmail Singh, Ravinder Pal Singh, Vasudevan Baskaran (captain), Sommayya Maneypande, Maharaj Krishan Kaushik, Charanjit Kumar, Merwyn Fernandes, Amarjit Singh Rana, Mohamed Shahid, Zafar Iqbal, and Surinder Singh Sodhi.

1996 ATLANTA OLYMPICS

India's Leander Paes, within a year after his arrival in the professional tennis, along with Ramesh Krishnan played in 1992 Barcelona Olympics. They were routed in the quarterfinals. Missing the medal so closely hurt many Indians. In the next Olympics in 1996 at Atlanta, Paes played singles despite nursing a wrist injury. He brought smiles to million people as he won a bronze medal.

2000 SYDNEY OLYMPICS

Karnam Malleswari was selected for 2000 Sydney Olympics ahead of Kunjarani Devi and because of her form; questions were raised over her selection. However, she not only silenced her critics but also made her country proud. Taking part in the women's 69 Kg category of weightlifting, Malleswari won a bronze medal to become first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal.

2004 ATHENS OLYMPICS

At the Athens Olympics in 2004, 390 athletes from 106 countries participated in 17 shooting events. India also fielded their shooting team but only one man emerged victorious. Rajyawardhan Singh Rathore, who took part in men's double trap, won a silver medal. His performance in Athens has evoked hopes of better performance from Indian shooters in Beijing.

2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS

For the first time in the history of Indian hockey, the Indian team failed to qualify for the Olympics. Despite this setback, the 2008 edition of the Games remains India's best so far. India won a gold and two bronze medals in Beijing. Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra clinched gold in the Men's 10m Air Rifle event, while wrestler Sushil Kumar (66 kg freestyle wrestling) and middleweight boxer Vijender Singh won bronze medals in their respective categories. India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal fell short of a medal as she was beaten in the quarterfinals.