Top 10 Indian athletes who narrowly missed out on an Olympic medal

These athletes came very close to making history but it was a case of so close yet so far for them.

Winning an Olympic medal is one of the biggest achievements for Indian athletes. It does not matter which sport they play, any upcoming sports personality hopes to wear an Olympic medal around their neck. Standing on the podium and hearing your country’s national anthem ring around on the biggest stage is a joy second to none.

India may be a populous country, but it underwhelms in the Olympic Games. However, their performance in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was the best-ever. The Indian contingent managed seven medals at the quadrennial event, with one gold, two silver and four bronze medals.

Having said that, there were a couple of athletes that came very close to winning an Olympic medal. They missed out on the podium finish by a whisker and will attempt to do better next time around. Similarly, in the past as well, Indian athletes came mighty close to winning an Olympic medal, but failed at the final step. 

Here are the top 10 athletes from India who narrowly missed out on an Olympic medal:

Gurcharan Singh - Sydney 2000

Gurcharan Singh was a boxer who contested in the light heavyweight category at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He reached the quarterfinals by defeating South Korea's Ki Soo-choi and South Africa's Danie Venter in the first two rounds. A win against Ukraine's Andriy Fedchuk in the next round would have ensured a bronze minimum.

However, Gurcharan fell one step away from a bronze medal. He lost the bout 60–42 , as his opponent found a chunk in his armour in the last round.

Joydeep Karmakar - 2012 London

There were not a lot of expectations from Joydeep Karmakar during the London Olympics in 2012. After a tense qualifying round, Joydeep made it to the final round with a total score of 51.7, finishing in the seventh spot of the shooting event. Slovenia’s Rajmond Debevec finished third with a total of 701.0 after his qualification scores were added. Joydeep scored 699.1.

Dipa Karmakar - 2016 Rio

One of the top Indian athletes, Dipa Karmakar won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She became the first Indian female gymnast to do so in the history of the Games. The Indian athlete came into the Rio Olympics as India’s ace women’s gymnast and achieved a score of 14.833 to qualify for the finals of the vault event. Dipa missed out on a medal by an agonizing 0.15 points finishing in fourth place.

Milkha Singh - 1960 Rome Olympics

“The Flying Sikh” was the first-ever Indian to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal and was considered as one of the favourites for the 400m event at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

Singh grabbed the lead in the early stages but at around the 250m mark, he made the fatal mistake of slowing down. As a result, Otis Davis and Carl Kaufmann overtook him for the first and second positions with a timing of 44.9 seconds. Milkha Singh and Malcolm Spence also broke the pre-Olympic record with a timing of 45.6 and 45.5 seconds, respectively. It ultimately needed a photo-finish to determine the bronze medal winner, with the Indian athlete losing out by 0.1 seconds.

PT Usha - 1984 Los Angeles

One of India’s star athletes at that time, PT Usha was the Asian record holder and had won silver at both the 100 and the 200m events at the Asian Games in 1982 in New Delhi. However, The outcome of the 400m hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was terribly disappointing.

Towards the end, Morocco’s Nawal El Moutawakel and USA’s Judy Brown edged in front, leaving Usha and Romania’s Cristieana Cojocaru fighting for the final podium place. Everyone’s beloved “Payyoli Express” missed out on an Olympic podium by just 0.01 seconds. The photo finish suggested Cojacaru finished ahead of Usha.

Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupati - 2004 Athens

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are the most iconic Indian pair in the sport of tennis. Both of them are considered the best-ever doubles players in their own respect. The duo were representing India at the 2004 Athens Olympics in the men’s doubles. They made their way into the semi-final after beating pairs which had the likes of Andy Roddick and Roger Federer.

The pair entered into the bronze medal match after losing to Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schuttler. They came up against Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in the match that was to decide the winner of the bronze. However, the pair lost to the Croatian duo and bowed out in fourth place, without a medal.

Abhinav Bindra - 2016 Rio

Abhinav Bindra was the only Individual gold medal winner from India at the time. He did so by winning the gold in shooting’s men's 10m air rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. However, he came mighty close to adding another Olympic medal to his tally during the 2016 Rio Olympics. 

Abhinav Bindra finished seventh in the qualifying rounds out of eight available places. Furthermore, the final was a nail-biter, but the shooter finished in fourth place, missing out on a bronze medal.

Rohan Bopanna/Sania Mirza - 2016 Rio

Sania Mirza has a legendary status in the women's doubles circuit. She was partnering with Rohan Bopanna at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The pair eased their way into the semi-final, where they lost to American pair Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram.

The bronze medal match saw them come up against Czech Republic’s Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek. The Indians lost the bronze medal match 1-6, 5-7 just a whisker away from a podium finish.

Aditi Ashok - 2020 Tokyo

Indian golfer Aditi Ashok came into the Tokyo Olympics with a rank of 200 in the pro circuit. The golfer was a surprise performer in the women’s individual stroke play event. She was constantly among the medal places after Round 3 was over. However, the tide changed in the final Round 4.

New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and Japan’s Inami Mone performed exceptionally well and overtook Aditi, who slipped down to fourth place from second.

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Deepak Punia - 2020 Tokyo

Deepak Punia was contesting his debut Olympics like many other Indian wrestlers in Tokyo. However, he was one of the favourites to win a medal in the men’s freestyle 86kg category. Deepak Punia failed to qualify for the final in his category, as he was beaten by David Taylor in the semi-finals. 

As a result, Punia made his way into the bronze medal match. The grappler faced San Marino’s Myles Amine and the bout did not go in his favour. He lost the contest 2-4 and missed out on a first Olympic medal. 

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