Indian Athletics at Olympics: 16th Final

From 1900 to 2020 (2021) Tokyo Olympics, India has won 2 Silver medals. With Neeraj Chopra entering the finals of Men’s Javelin Throw at Tokyo Olympics, India registered 16th instance of entering the finals in any event of Athletics at Olympics. The best finish after Norman Pritchard’s twin silver in 1900 Olympics has been 4th place finish by Indian legends, Milkha Singh (1960 Olympics) and PT Usha (1984 Olympics). Will Neeraj get India a medal in Athletics after 121 years!!

Indian History at Summer Olympics: Performances in Every Olympics
Indian Medals In Olympics: When and Who Got It!!
Indian Performance in 2020 Olympics
Indian Athletics at Olympics

Neeraj Chopra was India’s Flag bearer in 2018 Asian Games.

Key Career Highlights

1. 1st Indian athlete to win a World Title. He won in World U-20.
2. GOLD in 2016 World U-20 Championships with a throw of 86.48m.
3. 2016 South Asian Games: Gold with 82.23 m
4. 2016: Asian Junior Championships: Silver with 77.60m
5. 2017: Gold in Asian Championships – 85.23 m
6. 2018: Gold in Commonwealth Games – 86.47 m
7. 2018: Gold in Asian Games – 88.06

Indian Athletes at Olympics

• In 25 Olympics, 250 athletes have participated in different Track and Field events of athletics.
• 5 Field events: 52 Indian men and women have participated in Shot put, Discus throw, Hammer throw, Javelin throw, High jump, Long jump and Triple jump at Olympics.
• 3rd time at olympics Indians are participating in Javelin throw
• Javelin Throwers: 1984 Gurtej Singh, 2000 (Jagdish Bishno & Gurmeet Kauri), 2020 (Neeraj Chopra, Shivpal Singh, Annu Rani)

Facts About 16 Finals of Athletics

• Norman Pritchard and PT Usha entered two finals.
• 2 FINALS: 1900, 1948, 1984, 2004, 2020
• Finals in Field events: High Jump (1948), Triple Jump (1948), Long Jump (2004), Men’s Discus Throw (2012), Women’s discus throw (2012), Women’s discus throw (2020), Men’s Javelin throw (2020)
• 5th in 2004 Long jump is the best finish in Field events.
• 4th in 1960 and 1984 are the best finish in Track events.
• Women’s 4 × 400 metres relay team have entered the finals twice.

Finalists from India in Athletics

1. 1900: Norman Pritchard (Men’s 200 m and 200 m hurdles) – Two Silver medals
2. 1948: Gurnam Singh: 18th in Men’s High Jump
3. 1948: Henry Rebello: 13th in Men’s Triple Jump
4. 1960: Milkha Singh: 4th in Men’s 400 metres
5. 1964: Gurbachan Singh Randhawa: 5th Men’s 110 metres Hurdles Final – Time 14.0
6. 1976: Sri Ram Singh: 7th in Men’s 800 metres
7. 1984: PT Usha: 4th Women’s 400 metres Hurdles
8. 1984: PT Usha, M. D. Valsamma, Vandana Rao, Shiny Abraham-Wilson: 7th Women’s 4 × 400 metres Relay
9. 2004: Anju Bobby George: 5th Women’s Long Jump 
10. 2004: Sathi Geetha, K. M. Beenamol, Chitra Soman, Rajwinder Kaur, Manjit Kaur: 7th Women’s 4 × 400 metres Relay
11. 2012: Vikas Gowda: 8th Men’s Discus Throw
12. 2012: Krishna Poonia: 6th Women’s Discus Throw
13. 2016: Lalita Babar in 3000 m steeplechase 10th
14. 2020: Kamalpreet Kaur in Women’s Discus Throw – 6th – 63.70
15. 2020: Neeraj Chopra in Men’s Javelin throw