So, we're done with another Olympics. Some dreams realised. Some shattered. Some taking another step towards realization.
With Reetika Hooda's elimination from the women's 76kg wrestling, Indian participation came to an end in Paris. A fortnight that began so promisingly with Manu Bhaker's two medals early on had its troughs to deal with, and eventually ended up as the third-most successful campaign ever for India. Paris promised a lot more, but proved that there are no guarantees in sport at any level.
INDIA'S OLYMPIC MEDAL TALLY | INDIA AT PARIS OLYMPICS | LATEST OLYMPIC NEWS |
This is the best and worst of India's Paris 2024, as told by the numbers:
6
The good 6 is that India won six medals at Paris 2024. Comparisons with Tokyo and whether that could've been bettered will always be there, but every Olympic medal is a treasured possession for the athlete and the country. Six more were added to that collection over the last fortnight.
But also, six more could have been added. Bhaker could've added another medal, and so too Arjun Babuta, Mirabai Chanu, Lakshya Sen, and the mixed teams of Anant Jeet Singh Naruka-Maheshwari Chauhan and Ankita Bhakat-Dhiraj Bommadevara, but all of them finished fourth. That dreaded fourth. The dream of double digits was brought crashing down by the barest of margins.
1
There were firsts that came from shooting in Paris. First, Bhaker became the first Indian post-independence to win multiple medals at the same Olympics.
Swapnil Kusale's bronze was also India's first ever medal in the 50m 3 Position event.
13
In two ways, it wasn't unlucky 13 for India at Paris. The men's hockey team won bronze, making it 13 medals in hockey for India at the Olympics.
In addition, Neeraj Chopra, Manu Bhaker and 11 players from the hockey team all became multiple Olympic medallists as well.
10
Indian hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh was the backbone of the team that won bronze in Paris. India scored 15 goals in their 8 games in Paris, 10 of them came from the big man through eight dragflicks and two penalty strokes.
52 years
India beat Australia in men's hockey at the Olympics for the first time in 52 years, with a 3-2 win in the group stages. The team then rounded it off quite nicely with their first back-to-back Olympic hockey medals since 1972 - 52 years ago.
89.34, 89.45
One thing you can never doubt about Neeraj is his ability to turn up at big events. He may have been beaten in the final by an incredible performance from Arshad Nadeem, but with 89.34m in qualifying and 89.45m in the final, Neeraj produced the second and third best throws of his life.
0.32
After their excellent performance at the World Championships last year, there was much hope from the Indian men's 4x400m relay team. They didn't make the final, but they missed out only by a whisker, finishing 4th in their heat, just 0.32 seconds behind Italy in the last automatic qualification spot in their heat.
21years, 24 days
It's been a dark period for Indian wrestling over the last year and a half. That was compounded in Paris by Vinesh Phogat's disqualification after she failed to make the correct weight on her second day of competition. But some of that gloom was eventually lifted by Aman Sehrawat, who became the youngest Indian to win an Olympic medal in an individual event.
5, 8
Aman's medal was significant because it kept alive a streak to make it five straight Olympics with at least one wrestling medal for India. It was also India's 8th wrestling medal at the Olympics, with the first one having come in 1952.
12
For the first time in 12 years, India won an Olympic medal in shooting - Manu Bhaker leading a stunning Olympic revival for Indian shooting.
16
While shooting broke a streak that needed breaking, a badminton streak that could've done with continuing was broken. After medals in London, Rio and Tokyo, this was the first time since Beijing 2008 that India finished an Olympics without a badminton medal.
82-1
Yui Susaki had never lost a bout at international level. 82 of them. Until she ran into Vinesh Phogat. With a tactical masterclass in her first-round bout, Vinesh produced one of the great Olympic upsets.
100
Those 100 grams that she couldn't get out of her body. That's all there were between Vinesh and an Olympic final. It could've been a crowning moment in India's games, but it ended up as the biggest heartbreak.
2
Mirabai Chanu could've joined Neeraj, Bhaker and those hockey players as multiple Olympic medallists, but eventually, that dreaded curse of fourth place struck for her as well. A missed 114kg lift in her final attempt saw her miss out on bronze by just 2kg.
0.1
The bronze in the 10m air pistol in her first event at Paris was already an incredible way to exorcise the ghosts of Tokyo that had haunted her, but perhaps looking back, Bhaker will look at the 0.1 point by which she missed the silver medal in that event.
2.6
In the shootoff of the men's individual archery round of 16 match, 2.6cm is all that separated Dhiraj Bommadevara from the quarterfinal. He shot a 10, but his Canadian opponent's 10 was just a bit closer to the centre.
21-13 8-3
At this stage of the men's singles badminton bronze medal match, it would've been easy to put money on Lakshya Sen winning it. However, from there, Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia woke up, and bronze was taken away from the Indian.