Paris Olympics: USA-China-Japan occupy top three spots; Team India finishes at 71st spot with 6 medals

United States ended the Paris Olympics 2024 at the top of the medal tally with a total of 126 medals, including 40 gold medals, 44 silver and 42 bronze medals on Sunday.

In second place is China, who ended their campaign with 40 gold, 27 silver, and 24 bronze medals, making it a total of 91 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.

The Indian contingent finished at the 71st spot, with a silver medal and five bronze medals to their name, bringing home a total of six medals, Olympics.com reported. A contingent of 117 Indian athletes pursued medals and sporting glory at the marquee event.

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. Since the Munich 1972 Games, team India won two successive bronze medals at the marquee event.
Aman Sehrawat added to the tally, becoming India’s youngest Olympic medallist with a bronze in wrestling.

Despite these achievements, India faced significant disappointments in Paris 2024. 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. But the archers made history by becoming the first archers from India to reach an Olympic medal match.

Some other setbacks for India included, star pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty missing out on a medal despite being in a fine form, crashing out in the semifinals of men’s doubles badminton. Also, PV Sindhu failed to make it a hat-trick of medals at three successive Olympics.

The veteran archer and multi-time Olympian Deepika Kumari failed to return home with a medal despite immense level of experience and success at non-Olympic events. Boxers Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain, the latter being Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist, could not get the country some highly-anticipated medals.

Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification just before a historic final of women’s 50 kg also contributed to the nation’s woes.

Indian athletes participated in 69 medal events across 16 sports, including archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, equestrian, golf, hockey, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, and tennis.

Returning Olympic medalists in the Indian contingent included Neeraj Chopra, badminton star PV Sindhu, weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, boxer Lovlina Borgohain, and select members of the Harmanpreet Singh-led Indian men’s hockey team.

To date, India has won 41 Olympic medals. The nation’s Olympic journey began with Norman Pritchard’s two silver medals in Paris in 1900. KD Jadhav earned India’s first individual medal from an independent nation with a wrestling bronze at Helsinki in 1952.

Karnam Malleswari became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal with her weightlifting bronze at Sydney 2000.

Abhinav Bindra was the first Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal with his shooting triumph at Beijing 2008, a feat that remained unmatched until Neeraj Chopra’s javelin gold at Tokyo 2020.

Men’s hockey, with 13 medals, including eight golds, has been the most successful sport for India, followed by wrestling with eight medals.

India’s best-ever Olympic performance came at Tokyo 2020, where the nation won seven medals, including one gold.