Paris (France): With the conclusion of the closing ceremony on Sunday, the world's biggest sporting extravaganza, the Paris 2024 Olympics, has come to an end. It has been a record-breaking event in terms of crowd attendance, athletes' performances, medal wins, etc. So, as the Paris Games are concluded, let's take a look at the medals tally and understand which country has done best and where India stands.
India didn't have a tournament to remember as at least six players missed out on a medal by the nearest margin, finishing fourth in their respective events. Neeraj Chopra had to settle for silver after Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem registered his personal best with a throw of 92.97m, and Vinesh Phogat's disqualification from women's 50kg freestyle wrestling was nothing short of a heartbreak. However, with Vinesh's appeal being accepted by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), the hope of equalling the country's previous best in terms of medals remains high. Notably, a contingent of 117 Indian athletes had competed for medals in the Paris Games this year.
Manu Bhaker clinched India's first medal at these Games, earning bronze and becoming the first Indian woman to medal in Olympic shooting. She then made history by becoming the first Indian to win two medals in a single Olympic edition, following her mixed team 10m air pistol bronze with Sarabjot Singh. Her medal with Sarabjot was also the country's first team medal in shooting. Swapnil Kusale contributed a third medal in shooting, marking India's largest haul in this sport at a single Olympics. It was India's first-ever medal in the 50 m rifle three positions.
The Indian men's hockey team repeated their Tokyo 2020 success by securing bronze in Paris. Neeraj Chopra further enhanced his Olympic legacy, claiming silver in the javelin throw and becoming the most successful individual Olympian from India. Aman Sehrawat added to the tally, becoming India's youngest Olympic medallist with a bronze.
The nation narrowly missed out on six potential medals, with athletes finishing fourth in their events, including Lakshya Sen, Mirabai Chanu, and Manu Bhaker, who was close to securing a third medal. Also, the mixed team archery duo of Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat could not win a medal for India, losing the bronze medal match.
There were few medal contenders in their respective disciplines, who faltered at the biggest stage including star shuttler duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu, multi-time Olympian archer Deepika Kumari, Boxers Nikhat Zareen and Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain, and last but not the least Mirabai Chanu.
On the other hand, Olympic giants USA have continued their stellar show at the Summer Games and secured the top spot in the medal tally with a total of 126 medals, including 40 gold medals, 44 silver and 42 bronze medals on Sunday. China also didn't disappoint, clinching a total of 91 medals which includes an equal number of golds with the USA (40), 27 silver, and 24 bronze medals. The third place was bagged by Japan, who took home 20 golds, 12 silver and 13 bronze medals, which is a total of 45 medals while India finished at the 71st spot, with a silver medal and five bronze medals to their name, bringing home a total of six medals. India may add one more silver if the CAS and ad-hoc division give the appeal's result in Vinesh's favour.
🇮🇳🙌🏻 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝘄𝗿𝗮𝗽! Here are the final medal standings, with India finishing with 6 medals, one fewer than the Tokyo Olympics.
— India at Paris 2024 Olympics (@sportwalkmedia) August 11, 2024
😞 If fourth place hadn't been a curse, we could have achieved a double-digit medal count for the first time in our Olympic history.
👉… pic.twitter.com/Y7gjhWHIqs
India's best-ever Olympic performance came at Tokyo 2020, where the nation won seven medals, including one gold. In this edition, the Indian contingent equalled the number of medals won at the 2012 London Olympics with a count of six. However, the Indian athletes won two silver and four bronze medals, but in Paris, they managed to win only one silver and five bronze. To date, India has won 41 medals across 26 Olympic Games, according to the Paris Olympics official site.
