Special Sub-Topic: Olympics - The Indian Journey Click Here To Play: Olympics - The Indian Journey

The first Olympic medals credited to India were won by an Anglo Indian athlete named Norman Pritchard in the 1900 Summer Olympics held at Paris. What led to the controversy surrounding these medals?

The medals were claimed by both India and Great Britain.. Norman Pritchard was an Anglo Indian who was born and brought up in Calcutta, India. He moved to England in 1900 and competed in the AAA Championships as a member of the London Assembly Constituency and the Bengal Presidency Assembly Constituency. His performance in these games earned him a place at the Olympics where he won two silver medals - 200 meters and 200 meters hurdles. These medals were then claimed by both India and Great Britain. While the International Association of Athletics Federations lists him as a British athlete, the International Olympic Committee still credits these medals to India. Pritchard later moved to the United States of America and became a silent film actor under the name of Norman Trevor. He acted in films like "Beau Geste" and "Dancing Mothers" apart from several Broadway shows.

While India did officially participate in the 1920 Antwerp and 1924 Paris Olympics, the medal tally did not increase until the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. In which team sport, also the country's national game, did India strike gold in these games?

Field Hockey. Under captain Jaipal Singh, the Indian men's field hockey team competed in their first ever Olympic Games at Amsterdam in 1928. India defeated Netherlands 3-0 in the finals to claim their first ever Gold medal at the Olympics. Dhyan Chand, who scored all the three goals in the last five minutes of the match, was also the highest goal scorer of the tournament with 15 goals to his credit, way more than the second highest scorers which included three players tied with five goals each.

India won eight gold medals at various different Olympic Games in the 20th century. Were all these medals were won in the same sport?

y. All of India's eight gold medals at the Olympics during the 20th century were won by the men's field hockey team. After their first gold at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, India went on to win five more gold medals in a row remaining unbeaten till the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. During this period, India won all the 24 matches it played, scoring an aggregate of 178 goals and conceding only 7 to the opposition. This winning streak was broken by another team from the subcontinent, Pakistan who won the 1960 Rome Olympics finals by one goal (1-0) leaving India with the silver medal. India went on to win the gold at two more Olympic games - 1964 Tokyo and 1980 Moscow.

India won a bronze medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Nicknamed the Pocket Dynamo, in which sport did KD Jadhav win the first individual Olympic medal for independent India?

Wrestling. KD Jadhav first competed in the Olympics at the 1948 London Olympics where he finished in sixth place in the flyweight category. Backed by the Maharaja of Patiala, Jadhav managed to gain an entry at the Olympic trials for the 1952 games where he secured for himself a place at the event. Competing in the 52kg freestyle category, he sailed through the first five bouts before he was caught off guard by the techniques of Japanese wrestler Shonachi Ishi. Jadhav did manage to defeat him but the bout tired him out and he ended the games with a bronze medal. Apart from lack of adequate training facilities, KD Jadhav also had to overcome various financial difficulties to compete at the 1952 Olympics. The principal of the college in his village mortgaged his own house to fund Jadhav's travel expenses and the other farmers helped out by providing him with groceries for his trip.

Milkha Singh represented India in the 400 meter sprint at the 1956 Melbourne and 1960 Rome Olympics. Which of these medals did he win for the country?

He didn't win any Olympic medals. Fondly known as the Flying Sikh, Milkha Singh won gold medals at the 200 meters and 400 meters sprint in the 1958 Asian Games and 400 meters sprint at the 1958 Commonwealth Games. Despite finishing second in all the races prior to the final at the 1960 Rome Olympics, Singh returned home empty handed losing the bronze medal by 1/10th of a second.

Who was the first Indian woman to reach the finals of the Olympics, at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics?

PT Usha. PT Usha, an athlete from the state of Kerala, finished first in the semi finals of the 400 meters hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics becoming the first Indian woman to reach the finals at the Olympics. Unfortunately, she lost the bronze by 1/100th of a second and India had to wait longer for its first female Olympic medal winner. Mary Kom is a boxer, Saina Nehwal is a badminton player and Anjali Bhagwat is a shooter.

Tennis player Leander Paes won a bronze medal for India at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Did he win this in the men's singles or doubles category?

Singles & S. This individual Olympic medal for India came after a gap of more than forty years (bronze medal in wrestling at the 1952 Helsinki games). Paes had earlier participated in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics where he had lost in the men's tennis doubles quarter finals with partner Ramesh Krishnan.

India's wait for its first female Olympic medal winner finally ended in the 2000 Sydney Olympics with a bronze medal won by Karnam Malleswari. In which sport did she compete?

Weightlifting. Prior to these Olympics, Karnam won silver at the 1998 Asian Games held in Thailand. However, at the 1999 Athens World Weightlifting Championship she was unable to win anything and her subsequent selection to represent India at the Olympics was met with some criticism. She went on to win the bronze medal in the women's 69kg category at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Which Indian sportsperson became the first to win an individual gold medal for India with a gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics?

Abhinav Bindra. Abhinav Bindra is an Indian shooter from the state of Punjab and first competed in the Olympics at the 2000 Sydney games where he was the youngest Indian participant. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, he broke the existing Olympic record and yet failed to win a medal. 28 years after India last won a gold medal at the Olympics (the men's field hockey team at the 1980 Moscow Olympics), Bindra won a gold medal in the men's 10 meter air rifle category at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Another Indian shooter, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won the first individual silver medal for independent India at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Prakash Padukone is a badminton player and Vijay Amritraj is a tennis player.

India won two bronze medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Were both the bronze medals won in the same category?

n. India's first Olympic medal in boxing came when Vijender Singh won the bronze medal in the men's 75kg category. Wrestler Sushil Kumar won the second bronze for India in the men's 66kg freestyle category.