India at the Olympics

India first participated at the Olympic Games in 1900, with a lone athlete (Norman Pritchard) winning two medals in athletics. The nation first sent a team to the Summer Olympic Games in 1920, and has participated in every Summer Games since then. India has also competed at several Winter Olympic Games since 1964.

Indian athletes have won a total of 20 medals, mostly in field hockey. For a period of time, India's men's field hockey team was dominant in Olympic competition, winning eleven medals in twelve Olympiads between 1928 and 1980, including six successive gold medals from 1928–1956.

The National Olympic Committee for India is the "Indian Olympic Association", and was created in 1927.

Medalists

India's medal performance at the Olympics

India is remarkable among nations for having won very few Olympic medals despite a population exceeding a billion, around half of them under the age of 25. Numerous explanations have been offered for the dearth, including poverty, malnutrition, neglected infrastructure, the lack of sponsorship, the theft of money and equipment, political corruption, institutional disorganization, social immobility, the predominance of cricket and other cultural factors. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/sports/olympics/12indiagold.html?ref=olympics New York Times: With India’s First Gold, Suddenly a Billion People Notice the Olympics ] [http://www.sportstaronnet.com/tss2738/stories/20040918005300800.htm The mystery of the missing medals] [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/25/india.olympicgames2008 Track and failed: the making of a sleeping Olympic giant] [http://www.rediff.com/sports/2008/aug/04rajeev.htm Olympic machismo: The tale the medals tell]

According to several informal statistics, India is the country in the world with the lowest number of total Olympic medals per capita (of those countries that have actually won at least one medal). [cite web |title=Olympic Medals/Population |url=http://www.photius.com/rankings/medals2.html |publisher=Photius Coutsoukis |accessdate=2008-08-20 ] [cite web |title=Per Capita Olympic Medal Table |url=http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/reloly.html |accessdate=2008-08-20 |publisher=Herman de Wael ] According to another calculation, however, India ranks last but one, above Vietnam, in this statistic. [cite web |url=http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/spo_sum_oly_med_all_tim_percap-medals-all-time-per-capita |title=Sports Statistics > Summer olympic medals > All time (per capita) (most recent) by country |publisher=NationMaster.com |accessdate=2008-08-20 ]

ee also

* Indian Squad for 2008 Olympics
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* India at the Paralympics

References

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* [http://www.thesportscampus.com/beijing-news/india-olympic-history India's Olympic History]