Paris: India’s performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics resulted in a total of six medals—one silver and five bronze. This marks one of the country’s better performances at the Olympics, although it fell short of the seven medals tally achieved in Tokyo 2020.
Neeraj Chopra secured a silver medal in the men’s javelin throw, becoming the first Indian athlete to win consecutive Olympic medals in track and field.
Manu Bhaker was a standout, earning two bronze medals in shooting—one in the individual 10m air pistol event and another in the mixed team event with Sarabjot Singh.
Swapnil Kusale added another bronze in the men’s 50m 3 positions shooting event.
The Indian men’s hockey team repeated their Tokyo success, winning a bronze medal by defeating Spain.
Aman Sehrawat earned a bronze in the men’s 57kg freestyle wrestling, making him the youngest Indian Olympic medalist.
Despite these successes, India also faced some near misses, with several athletes finishing just outside the medal positions, finishing in fourth place or just outside the podium. This included Lakshya Sen in badminton and Mirabai Chanu in weightlifting, both of whom narrowly missed bronze medals.
Some of the most notable near misses include:
Lakshya Sen (Badminton) – Lakshya fell short in the bronze medal match after a tough competition, missing out on adding a medal to India’s tally.
Mirabai Chanu (Weightlifting) – Chanu, who had won a silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, narrowly missed a medal in the women’s 49kg category by just one kilogram (TheDailyGuardian).
Arjun Babuta (Shooting) – Babuta finished fourth in one of the shooting events, just missing the chance to secure a medal for India (Sporting News).
Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling) – Phogat was disqualified from her final bout after being found overweight by just 100 grams, leading to a heartbreaking exit just before potentially earning a silver medal (TheDailyGuardian).
These athletes’ performances were strong, but the competition was fierce, resulting in narrow misses for the podium finishes.
Overall, while the Paris campaign matched India’s London 2012 haul, it is considered the nation’s third-best Olympic performance, following Tokyo 2020 and London 2012.
