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About Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics
Originally scheduled to be hosted in 2020, the Tokyo Summer Games was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. When it was finally hosted between July 23 and August 8, 2021, it proved to be arguably India’s most successful Olympics venture.
The Tokyo Olympics was funded by an astonishing budget of 400 billion Yen (3.6 billion US dollars), and the government had signed a partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO) to ensure decent work during the preparation for the Games.
For the seventh successive Olympic Games, the United States topped the medal tally, being the only nation to cross 100 medals (113 total, 39 gold). China achieved second spot with 89 medals (38 gold), while Japan matched its best-ever Olympics finish by achieving third on home soil, getting 58 medals (27 gold).
Javelin star Neeraj Chopra headlined India’s successes, as the nation won seven total medals. Neeraj won gold in the men’s javelin throw, only India’s second-ever individual gold medal.
Wrestling won India two medals. Bajrang Punia got bronze in the men’s freestyle 65 kg, while Ravi Kumar Dahiya won silver in the men’s freestyle 57 kg event.
India’s female athletes performed exceptionally. Lovlina Borgohain brought medal glory back to women’s boxing, clinching bronze. Mirabai Chanu won silver in women’s 49 kg weightlifting, while badminton star PV Sindhu made it back-to-back Olympic medals. Sindhu followed up her Rio 2016 silver with bronze in Tokyo.
But arguably India’s most romantic medal was the bronze in men’s field hockey. Once the powerhouse of the sport – and still the most successful Olympic nation in hockey with eight golds – India revived memories of the “good old days” with a hockey medal after 40 years.
But Tokyo 2020 saw some interesting records broken as well. At the age of just 12, Syrian table tennis player Hend Zaza became the youngest-ever Olympian at the Summer Games. Equestrian Mary Hanna, 66, from Australia, became the second-oldest female athlete in the history of the Summer Olympics. And in a landmark moment, Kiwi weightlifter Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender athlete born male to participate in a female event.
The Olympics also proved historic for the nations of San Marino and Turkmenistan, who won their first-ever medal at Tokyo 2020.