After a lull of over half a century, Indian hockey has finally won back-to-back medals at the Olympics. The men's team on Thursday bagged its second successive Olympic bronze as Harmanpreet Singh and co edged out Spain 2-1 in the third-place match. (Highlights | Medal Table | Schedule & Results)
India won the bronze medal at Tokyo 2020 Games as well and the medal in Paris is the first time in 52 years that the Indian hockey team has won successive Olympic medals. The last time the Indian team won back-to-back Olympic medals was in 1968 and 1972 where also they won bronze medals.
India have a glorious record in Olympics hockey and on Thursday another chapter was added in that record.
The most successful team in Olympics history, India now have 13 medals at Summer Games. Their eight gold medals are five more than the second-best Pakistan. This terrific record of the Indian hockey team invokes nostalgia among fans and the current lot of players are trying to take the team back to its glory days.
With a second successive Olympic medal in the bag, it is a good time to take a look at all of India's 13 Olympic Games medals.
1. 1928 Amsterdam - Gold
India made their debut in Olympic hockey in 1928 in Amsterdam and in their very first attempt won gold. It was an incredible campaign for the Indian team as they did not concede even a single goal and routed opposition after opposition through their way to the gold medal. In the final, India defeated the hosts Netherlands 3-0.
The wizard of hockey, Major Dhyan Chand, was India's top-scorer with 15 goals, the second-best was seven.
2. 1932 Los Angeles - Gold
Only three teams participated in the hockey competition of the 1932 Olympics and India thrashed Japan and United States to win the gold.
India defeated United States 24-1, which still is the biggest margin of victory for an Olympic hockey match.
3. 1936 Berlin - Gold
In Berlin, India made it three in three as they demolished oppositions to win another gold. The Indian team was so strong that in the semifinal they defeated France 10-0 and in the final they breezed past Germany 8-1. The goal against Germany in the final was the only one they conceded in their gold winning campaign.
4. 1948 London - Gold
Olympics were re-started after a gap of 12 years due to World War II and the map of the world had changed. India were in the hockey competition for the first time as an independent nation and so were Pakistan.
However, the changed map of the world had no effect on the Indian team as they cruised to their fourth straight gold medal. India defeated their former colonizers Britain in the final, that too by a margin of 4-0.
5. 1952 Helsinki - Gold
The 1952 Olympic Games brought the fifth gold medal on the bounce for India. They played three knock-out matches and won all of them. India defeated Netherlands 6-1 in the gold medal match.
6. 1956 Melbourne - Gold
India made it out six out of six in Melbourne with another stunning campaign where they refused to let opposition score even a single goal. India scored 36 goals in three group stage matches but won the semi-final against Germany and the final against Pakistan 1-0 each.
7. 1960 Rome - Silver
After being undefeated for 32 years at the Olympics, Indian team finally faced a defeat, that too in the final against Pakistan. India dominated the group stage but the quarterfinal and semifinal saw tough competition. In the final, Pakistan finally managed to upstage India to end their run of six successive gold medals.
8. 1964 Tokyo - Gold
After the silver of 1960, four years later, Indian hockey was back again at the top. The Indian team avenged their final loss in the Rome Olympics against Pakistan by beating their arch-rivals 1-0 in the gold medal match.
9. 1968 Mexico City - Bronze
First time in their 40-year history at the Olympics, India could not get into the final of the hockey competition. Australia managed to defeat India in the extra time to advance to the final and India had to then manage with a bronze.
10. 1972 Munich - Bronze
Another Olympic Games where India failed to reach the final. They were defeated 2-0 by Pakistan in the semi-final. The team scraped through to the bronze medal after a last minute winner against the Netherland to win the third place play-off 2-1.
11. 1980 Moscow - Gold
After failing to make it to past the first round for the first time ever in 1976, Indian team made a comeback in the 1980 Moscow Olympics by winning their eighth and last gold.
However, only five teams participated in the hockey competition as 66 nations led by the United States, which included the strong hockey playing nations, had boycotted the Moscow Olympics.
12. 2020 Tokyo - Bronze
The bronze medal at Tokyo ended India's four decade long drought for an Olympics medal in hockey. The Indian team lost just two matches, both to the finalists Australia and Belgium, in the competition. They also defeated Germany 5-4 in a thrilling contest in the bronze medal encounter.
13. 2024 Paris - Bronze
The 2024 Paris Olympics were special for India not just because they bagged consecutive medals for the first time since 1972. It was made special by a win against Australia since the same Olympics, 1972.
India were among the best teams in the tournament and lost just two matches, both of them narrowly. They defeated Spain 2-1 in the bronze medal match to finish third.
