Part-II: Overview of Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics 

The 32nd Edition of Olympic Games took place in Tokyo, Japan from 23rd July, 2021 – 8th August, 2021.

• India finished with 7 Medals (1 Gold, 2 Silver, 4 Bronze) and has been ranked at 48th Position. This was India’s highest ever medals tally in an Olympics(Previous one was 6 medals at the 2012 London Olympics)
• The US topped the Medals tally with 113 Medals (39 G, 41 S, 33 B) followed by China & Japan.

India’s Medal Winners

Neeraj Chopra wins Gold in Javelin Throw

Neeraj Chopra (Haryana) won the Gold medal in Javelin throw event. It is India’s 1st medal in a Track & Field Event. With this win, he ends India’s 100-year wait for a track and field medal in the Olympics.

• Neeraj threw the Javelin to a distance of 87.58m to win the Gold Medal, Jakub Vadlejch (Czech Republic) won the Silver Medal, while Vitezslav Vesely (Czech Republic) took the Bronze Medal.
• Overall, it is only India’s 2nd Individual Gold Medal in an Olympics. India’s 1st Individual Gold Medal was won by Abhinav Bindra in 10m Air Rifle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
• Norman Pritchard is India’s first-ever medallist at the Olympic Games. Pritchard had won India two silver medals in Men’s 200m and Men’s 200m hurdles at the 1900 Paris Olympics.

Indian Men’s Hockey Team Wins Bronze

The Indian Men’s Hockey Team led by Manpreet Singh clinched the Bronze Medal by defeating Germany in the Bronze Medal Match. This is India’s 1st Medal from Hockey in 41 years (last medal from Hockey was at 1980 Moscow Games).Graham Reid is the coach of the Indian Hockey Team.

• It is India’s 3rd Bronze & 12th Medal (8 G, 1 S, 3 B) in Hockey overall.
• India won the 1st Medal (Gold) in Olympic hockey in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. It was also India’s 1st Gold medal ever at the Olympics.
• Incidentally, India won their 7th Gold Medal in Hockey during the 1964 Olympics Games held at Tokyo.

Lovlina Borgohain wins Bronze Medal in Boxing 

Lovlina Borgohain (Assam) clinched the Bronze Medal in the Women’s WelterWeight (64-69kg) Boxing Category. She was defeated by Busenaz Surmeneli (Turkey) in the semi-finals.

• Lovlina is only the 2nd Indian Woman Boxer and 3rd Boxer overall, after Vijender Singh (Bronze in 2008) & Mary Kom (Bronze in 2012) to win a Medal in the Olympics.

Wrestling

i.Ravi Kumar Dahiya (Haryana) bagged the Silver Medal in 57 Kg Freestyle Wrestling after being defeated by Zavur Uguev (ROC – Russian Olympic Committee).

• He became the 2nd Indian wrestler after Sushil Kumar to win an Olympic silver.  He is also the 4th Indian male wrestler and 5th overall to win a Medal at Olympics.
• Wrestler Sushil Kumar is the 1st Indian to win 2 Olympic medals (Bronze at 2008 Beijing Olympics & Silver at 2012 London Olympics). He didn’t participate in this Tokyo Olympics 2020.

ii.Bajrang Punia (Haryana) clinched the Bronze medal in the Men’s Freestyle 65 Kg category Wrestling after defeating Daulet Niyazbekov (Kazakhstan). ROC’s Gadzhimurad Rashidov also won the Bronze Medal.

• Takuto Otoguro of Japan won the Gold in event, while Haji Aliyev (Azerbaijan) won the Silver Medal.

iii.Other Significant Firsts in Wrestling

• KD Jadhav won India’s first-ever wrestling medal, a bronze medal in the men’s freestyle bantamweight event at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

• Sakshi Malik became the 1st Indian female wrestler to win an Olympic medal when she won bronze at Rio 2016.

Other Significant Achievements by Indians

• Aditi Ashok (Karnataka) finished 4th in the Olympic Games’ golf competition.
• Indian Women’s Hockey Team led by Rani Rampal reached the Semi-finals for the 1st time in History. However, it was defeated by Argentina in the Semi-finals & by Great Britain in the Bronze Medal match.
• Avinash Sable (Maharashtra) failed to qualify for the finals of the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase event. However, in the process of qualification, he set a new national mark in Steeplechase with a timing of 8:18.12s.
• Indian Men’s 4X400m relay team (Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Tom Noah Nirmal, Rajiv Arokia and Amoj Jacob) created an Asian Record by timing 3:00:25 secs, but they failed to qualify for the final round. The earlier Asian record was held by Qatar.

World Records (WR)

i.Triple Jump – Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela) won the Gold medal in Women’s Triple Jump after setting a World Record of 15.67m.

ii.Swimming (4x100m mixed medley relay) – Great Britain’s Team of Kathleen Dawson, Adam Peaty, James Guy and Anna Hopkin won the Gold medal in the Inaugural Olympic 4X100m Mixed Medley relay. The Team set a new WR by finishing in 3 min 37.58 sec.

iii.Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica) became the 1st woman to win a ‘Double-Double’ in Olympic track and Field.

• She clinched Gold Medal in both Women’s 100m as well as 200m event, she had won the Gold Medal in the two events at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Medals by Other Countries

i.Badminton – Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) won the Gold Medal in the Men’s Singles event of Badminton. China’s Chen Yufei won the Gold medal in the Women’s Singles event.

ii.Artistic Gymnastics – Vanessa Ferrari (Italy) who won the Silver Medal in Floor Exercise of Artistic Gymnastics, became the 1st Italian to win an individual Olympic medal in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, and the first medallist for the Italian women’s team since the 1928 Summer Olympics.

iii.Tennis 

• Men’s Event – i) Gold – Alexander Zverev (Germany), ii) Silver – Karen   Khachanov (ROC), iii) Bronze – Pablo Carreño Busta (Spain).
• Women’s Event – i) Gold – Belinda Bencic (Switzerland), ii) Silver – Markéta Vondroušová (Czech Republic), iii) Bronze – Elina Svitolina (Ukraine).

iv.Football 

• Men’s Football – Brazil won the Gold Medal defeating Spain (Silver) in the Final. This is Brazil’s 2nd consecutive gold medal in men’s football. It became the fifth team in history to win consecutive men’s titles at the Olympics. Argentina was the last to accomplish the feat in 2004 and 2008.  Mexico won the Bronze Medal.
• Women’s Football – Canada clinched their 1st-ever gold medal in women’s Olympic football after defeating Sweden in the finals. The US took the Bronze Medal.

Youngest & Oldest Medal Winners

i.Momiji Nishiya (Japan) at 13 years old became the Youngest Gold Medallist in the history of Olympics. She won the Women’s Street Skateboarding event of the 2020 Olympics.

ii.At 37 years, Lyu Xiaojun (China) became the oldest man to win an Olympic Gold Medal in Weightlifting. He clinched the Gold Medal in Men’s 81 Kg Category Weightlifting.

Winners of Inaugural Olympic Sport Events

The Tokyo Olympics witnessed the introduction of several new games – Karate, Skateboarding, Sport Climbing, Surfing, and 4x400m mixed relay.

i.Surfing – Italo Ferreira (Brazil) clinched the Gold Medal in the Men’s Surfing, while Carissa Moore (USA) clinched the Gold Medal in the Women’s Surfing. They became the 1st ever Surfing Olympic Champions.

ii.Skateboarding – Yuto Horigome (Japan) clinched the Gold Medal in the 1st ever Skateboarding competition held at the Olympics.

iii.Sports Climbing –  Alberto Ginés López (Spain) clinched the Gold Medal in Men’s Sports Climbing event, while Janja Garnbret (Slovenia) won the Gold Medal in the Women’s Sports Climbing event.

iv.Karate

Men’s events

Women’s events

Overall Medals Tally of India

About International Olympic Committee (IOC)

President – Thomas Bach
Headquarters – Lausanne, Switzerland

Part-I: Overview of Ongoing Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics