Indian Tennis ace: Leander Paes

After a gap of over four decades, Leander Paes, had the Indian flag flying at the medal presentation ceremony at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He won a bronze medal in the single event of Lawn Tennis by defeating Fernando Meligeni of Brazil. His journey to the finals was blocked by American great Andre Agassi who eventually won the gold medal. Paes, whom Agassi describes as a flying jumping bean, a bundle of hyperkinetic energy, has been the torch-bearer of Indian tennis after turning professional in 1991.

Leander Paes emerged on the Indian tennis horizon by wining the Wimbledon Junior title in 1990. Since then this tennis stalwart has been representing India at various international tournaments. Leander has brought glory to India by winning many events, of which the Davis Cup and the bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics is worth mentioning.

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav: The forgotten hero

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav alias K. D. Jadhav was independent India`s first ever Olympic medal winner. He fought official apathy and overcame financial crunch to win a bronze medal in wrestling at the 1952 Helsinki Games.

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav was born in Goleshwar village, a small village on the banks of the Krishna River in Karad taluka of Maharastra. He did his schooling in Tilak High School in Karad between 1940-47. Since his grandfather, Nanasaheb, was an excellent wrestler, Khashaba grew up in a household that breathed and lived wrestling. During his school days, he achieved success in sports like weightlifting, swimming, running, gymnastics and Malkhamb apart from wrestling.

Since his father, Dadasaheb, was a wrestling coach, Khashaba was initiated into wrestling from the tender age of five. His mother was simple, quiet, humble, reticent and accommodating - qualities that Khashaba imbibed in his life. In spite of the family barely making two ends meet, Khashaba would travel to the neighbouring villages to see the wrestling matches held in the fairs. In 1934, at the age of eight, he won his first bout in a mere two minutes against the wrestling champion in the match held at the Rethare village. He received formal training in wrestling in Tilak College and it was at this juncture that he resolved to become a distinguished wrestler. He wrestling mentors in this college were Baburao Balawde and Belapure Guruji. His success in wrestling did not prevent him from achieving good grades in academics.

He also participated in the Quit India Movement of 1942. Providing shelter and a hiding place to the revolutionaries, circulating letters against the British were some of his contributions to the movement.

His career in wrestling started in the period 1948-1954 when he started studying in Rajaram College at Kolhapur. His remarkable wrestling skills won him laurels in the inter-college and inter-university competitions. Through persistence and perseverance, he also achieved success at the national level, and qualified to participate in the Olympics. On India’s first Independence Day, 15th August 1947, he resolved to unfurl the Indian tri-colour in the Olympics.

His trip was sponsored by close friends, well wishers and teachers. He stunned the audience in the 1948 Olympics in London by defeating the Australian wrestler in the first few minutes of the bout and came in sixth in the 52 kg flyweight category. He was the first Indian to achieve this high a place in the individual category until 1948. Considering that the technique of wrestling on the mat was unheard of in the country, his success was indeed commendable. The role played by his coach Prof. Govind Purandare of Rajaram College as his guide and mentor proved to be crucial.

After finishing 6th at the 1948 Olympic Games, Jadhav fought his way to represent India at London Olympics. He defeated wrestlers from Canada, Mexico and Germany, to win bronze medal on 23rd July 1952. Thus he created history.

Japan wrestlers toured India in the year 1953. In the bouts that ensued, Khashaba defeated the world champion Unemori and continued his winning streak.

In 1955, he joined the police force as a sub-inspector. He won several competitions held within the Police department. He also performed National duties as a sports instructor. He was honoured by making him a part of the torch run at the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi. However, his feats did not adequately earn him the respect and appreciation he deserved. He served the police force for twenty-seven years and retired as an Asst. Police Commissioner from erstwhile Bombay. In spite of his meritorious service, Khashaba had to fight for his pension – a deplorable lack of rectitude for a person of his stature and respect.

He was honoured with several awards the Arjuna Award (in 2001, posthumously). In memory of his memorable win at the Olympics, a sculpture of Khashaba was erected in Kolhapur in 1960. The government to honour his feat, re-christened the wrestling venue in the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi as K. D. Jadhav Stadium.

He died in an accident in Karad on 14 August 1984. It took fifty years for India to win its next Olympic medal in the individual category, which makes Khashaba’s bronze effort, achieved in trying circumstances, even more commendable.

Norman Pritchard: The Forgotten Olympian

Norman Pritchard is a "controversial" Olympian in that he is claimed by both Britain and India as having competed for them at the 1900 Olympics. Going by this, he becomes the first ever medal winner from the country. He won two silver medals in 1900 Paris Games in 200m dash and 200m hurdles. The doyen of British Olympic historians, Ian Buchanan, notes that Pritchard was a member of an old colonial family and although he was born in India, he was indisputedly British.

Norman Gilbert Pritchard was born on the 23rd of June, 1877, in Alipore, Calcutta (India under British Raj), to George Petersen Pritchard and Helen Maynard Pritchard. His schooling is unknown but he completed his graduation from St. Xavier’s College Calcutta. He lived in the fashionable Robinson Road and worked for the Bird & Co., a well known trading company.

Norman’s first love was soccer. He is known for scoring the first hat-trick in an open football tournament in India, achieving the feat for his college against Sovabazar in July 1897. Pritchard also won the Bengal province 100 yards sprint title for seven consecutive years from 1894 to 1900 and set a meet record in 1898-’99. He also set 10.0 seconds 100m record for Bengal. He later served as the Secretary of the Indian Football Association from 1900 to 1902.

In 1900, Pritchard went for a pleasure tour to England. In June, he became a member of the elite London Athletic Club. The next day he won the Club’s challenge for 440 yards hurdle. Later, he also won the 100 yards and 200 yards hurdles. Owing to these successes, he was selected to represent his club, the Bengal Presidency AC, at the British AAA Championships. The winner of this championship was to be given the opportunity to participate at the 1900 Olympics. Pritchard was runner-up in this event, and was selected to represent Great Britain at the Olympics.

He participated in five Olympics events (60 m, 100 m and 200 m sprints, and 110 m and 200 m hurdles). He performed exceptionally well, finishing runners-up in both the 200 m sprint and hurdles, only behind Walter Tewksbury and Alvin Kraenzlein, both from USA, respectively. Though he was supposed to represent Great Britain, the International Olympic Committee registered his nationality as Indian. He was awarded an honourary silver medal by the AAA and a penknife by the French Olympic Association.

He returned to India, but moved permanently to England in 1905. Later, he moved on to America, to try his hand in acting in Hollywood. He took the screen name Norman Trevor and acted alongside Hollywood legends, such as Ronald Colman in famous films like Beau Geste (1926), Dancing Mothers (1926) and Tonight at Twelve (1929).

He died penniless in California, in and out of mental asylums, presumably from a chronic brain disease, unclassified in that era on the 31st of October, 1929.

The Olympics recognize him as a representative of British India, and his medals are accredited to India. Remembering Norman!

India's Olympic medals

India first participated in Olympics in 1900 in Paris. The country was represented by Norman Pritchard, an Anglo Indian who was holidaying in Paris during that time. He bagged two silver medals in 200m dash and 200m hurdles.

Indian athletes have won a total of 20 medals (till now), 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.

The 2008 Summer Olympics has been the best ever Olympics for India with India winning three Olympic medals in three different sports and also winning first individual Olympic gold medal won by Abhinav Bindra.

Look at the following table for India's performance in Summer Olympics:

		GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
	Paris 1900	0	2	0	2
	Amsterdam 1928	1	0	0	1
	Los Angeles 1932	1	0	0	1
	Berlin 1936	1	0	0	1
	London 1948	1	0	0	1
	Helsinki 1952	1	0	1	2
	Melbourne 1956	1	0	0	1
	Rome 1960	0	1	0	1
	Tokyo 1964	1	0	0	1
	Mexico City 1968	0	0	1	1
	Munich 1972	0	0	1	1
	Moscow 1980	1	0	0	1
	Atlanta 1996	0	0	1	1
	Sydney 2000	0	0	1	1
	Athens 2004	0	1	0	1
	Beijing 2008	1	0	2	3
TOTAL		9	4	7	20

Sushil Kumar to be India's flagbearer at London Olympics

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced on Sunday, 15th July, that Sushil Kumar, a bronze medallist at the Beijing Games, would be India’s flag-bearer at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics on July 27.

Speaking at a conference in New Delhi, IOA Acting President V K Malhotra announced that the Olympic bronze-medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar will be India’s flag-bearer.

The names of top boxer Vijender Singh, tennis legend Leander Paes and ace shooter Abhinav Bindra were also doing the rounds for the honour. Vijender, Sushil and Bindra had all returned with medals from the last edition of the Games in Beijing in 2008.

While Abhinav Bindra was the first choice for IOA, it wasn’t possible with his 10m air rifle event scheduled for July 30. He was reluctant to do the honours for close to six hours as that could lead to some injury ahead of his event.

Similarly, Vijender's weigh-in is scheduled for July 28 so it was tough for him to do the honours. Paes had led the contingent in 2000 Sydney Games and IOA decided Sushil should do the honours this time.

Indians who have qualified for London Olympics so far

The Indians who have qualified for London Olympics so far

Athletics :

Vikas Gowda, discuss throw; Gurmeet Singh, 20 km walk; Om Prakash Singh Karhana, shot put; Mayookha Johny, triple jump; Tintu Luka, 800 m; Krishna Poonia, discus; Ram Singh Yadav, marathon; Baljinder Singh, 20km walk; Seema Antil, discus

Archery:

Chekrovolu Swuro, Deepika Kumari, Jayanta Talukdar, Laishram Bombayla Devi

Swimming:

Virdhawal Khade: 100 freestyle; Sandeep Sejwal: 100, 200 breast stroke; Saurabh Sangwekar, 1500 freestyle; Aaron D'souza, 200 freestyle

Boxing:

Manoj Kumar (64kg); L Devendro Singh (49kg); Jai Bhagwan (60kg); Vikas Krishan (69 kg); Vijender Singh (75kg); Shiva Thapa (56kg); Sumit Sangwan (81kg)

Shooting:

Abhinav Bindra, 10 M rifle; Joydeep Karmakar, 50 M rifle prone; Ronjan Sodhi, double trap; Vijay Kumar, 25m rapid fire pistol; Sanjeev Rajput, 50m rifle 3 position; Anuraj Singh, 10m air rifle; Rahi Sarnobat, 25m pistol; Shagun Choudhary, trap; Manavjit Singh Sandhu, trap; Heena Sidhu, 10m air rifle

Wrestling:

Yogeshwar Dutt; Amit Kumar; Geeta Phogat

Badminton:

Will be finalized by WBF on May 3, 2012. Saina Nehwal, now No. 5 in the world, is a certainty.

Tennis:

The qualification will be done based on the ITF World Ranking (52 weeks rolling professional) of the players as on June 6. It remains to be seen which two players make the men's doubles cut.

Note: Some more Indians can qualify in weightlifting, table tennis, rowing and judo

India at the Olympic Games

India first participated in Olympics in 1900 in Paris. The country was represented by Norman Pritchard, an Anglo Indian who was holidaying in Paris during that time. He bagged two silver medals in 200m dash and 200m hurdles.

Then after a gap of 20 years India again participated with two athletes in 1920 Antwerp Olympics and with eight members in 1924 Paris Olympics, and has participated in every Summer Games since then. India has also competed at several Winter Olympic Games since 1964.

But the more organised, official representation by India, was made in 1928 Amsterdam, with the formation of the National Olympic Committee for India is the Indian Olympic Association in 1927. Dorabji Tata was the first president and Dr A C Northern of Young Men's Christian Association, Madras was the secretary.

Indian athletes have won a total of 20 medals (till now), 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.

In the year 1928, Indian Hockey team participated in their first Olympic hockey event and won the gold medal under the captaincy of Jaipal Singh. For the next 6 successive Olympics spanning 28 years from 1928-1956, Indians retained their gold medal for the hockey event. Hockey wizard Dhyan Chand played a major role in Indian victory in the first three successive wins. It was definitely the golden era of Indian Hockey in Olympics, during which India played 24 matches and won all 24, scored 178 goals (at an average of 7.43 goals per match) and conceded only 7 goals. India again won two more gold medals in Olympic hockey in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

The 2008 Summer Olympics has been the best ever Olympics for India with India winning three Olympic medals in three different sports and also winning first individual Olympic gold medal won by Abhinav Bindra.

Olympic Rings

The Olympic Movement uses symbols to represent the ideals embodied in the Olympic Charter. The Olympic symbol, better known as the Olympic rings, consists of five intertwined rings and represents the unity of the five inhabited continents (Africa, America, Asia, Australasia, Europe). The colored version of the rings - blue, yellow, black, green, and red - over a white field forms the Olympic flag. These colors were chosen because every nation had at least one of them on its national flag. The flag was adopted in 1914 but flown for the first time only at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. It has since been hoisted during each celebration of the Games.

The Olympic motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius, a Latin expression meaning "Faster, Higher, Stronger". Coubertin's ideals are further expressed in the Olympic creed:

The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

Months before each Games, the Olympic flame is lit in Olympia in a ceremony that reflects ancient Greek rituals. A female performer, acting as a priestess, ignites a torch by placing it inside a parabolic mirror which focuses the sun's rays; she then lights the torch of the first relay bearer, thus initiating the Olympic torch relay that will carry the flame to the host city's Olympic stadium, where it plays an important role in the opening ceremony. Though the flame has been an Olympic symbol since 1928, the torch relay was introduced at the 1936 Summer Games, as part of the German government's attempt to promote its National Socialist ideology.

The Olympic mascot, an animal or human figure representing the cultural heritage of the host country, was introduced in 1968.

Ancient Olympic Games

The Ancient Olympic Games were a series of competitions held between representatives of several city-states and kingdoms from Ancient Greece, which featured mainly athletic but also combat and chariot racing events. During the Olympic games all struggles against the participating city-states were postponed until the games were finished.

The origin of these Olympics is shrouded in mystery and legend. One of the most popular myths identifies Heracles and his father Zeus as the progenitors of the Games. According to legend, it was Heracles who first called the Games "Olympic" and established the custom of holding them every four years. A legend persists that after Heracles completed his twelve labors, he built the Olympic stadium as an honor to Zeus. Following its completion, he walked in a straight line for 200 steps and called this distance a "stadion" (stadium), which later became a unit of distance. Another myth associates the first Games with the ancient Greek concept of Olympic truce.

The most widely accepted date for the inception of the Ancient Olympics is 776 BC; this is based on inscriptions, found at Olympia, of the winners of a footrace held every four years starting in 776 BC. The Ancient Games featured running events, a pentathlon (consisting of a jumping event, discus and javelin throws, a foot race and wrestling), boxing, wrestling, pankration, and equestrian events. Tradition has it that Coroebus, a cook from the city of Elis, was the first Olympic champion.

The Olympics were of fundamental religious importance, featuring sporting events alongside ritual sacrifices honoring both Zeus (whose famous statue by Phidias stood in his temple at Olympia) and Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia. Pelops was famous for his chariot race with King Oenomaus of Pisatis. The winners of the events were admired and immortalized in poems and statues. The Games were held every four years, and this period, known as an Olympiad, was used by Greeks as one of their units of time measurement. The Games were part of a cycle known as the Panhellenic Games, which included the Pythian Games, the Nemean Games, and the Isthmian Games.

The Olympic Games reached their zenith in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, but then gradually declined in importance as the Romans gained power and influence in Greece. There is no consensus on when the Games officially ended, the most common-held date is 393 AD, when the emperor Theodosius I declared that all pagan cults and practices be eliminated. Another date cited is 426 AD, when his successor Theodosius II ordered the destruction of all Greek temples. After the demise of the Olympics, they were not held again until the late 19th century.

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games are considered to be the world’s foremost sports competition and more than 200 nations participate. The Games are currently held biennially, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating, although they occur every four years within their respective seasonal games. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894. The IOC has since become the governing body of the Olympic Movement, whose structure and actions are defined by the Olympic Charter.