Sushil Kumar’s triumph to Saina Nehwal’s heroics: How did India perform at London Olympics 2012?

New Delhi: The 2012 London Olympics was India’s most successful Olympic outing ever until the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. In the UK capital, a total of 83 athletes represented India across 13 sports out of which six managed to win medals for the nation. India scripted history by bagging two silver and four bronze medals, recording their best performance at the Games at that point.

It was a double success for India as they convincingly overtook India’s previous best haul of three medals which they won at the previous edition of the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008. The games were held from July 27 to August 12 and saw champions in Vijay Kumar and Sushil Kumar – as the silver medallists, and Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, Gagan Narang, and Yogeshwar Dutt – as the bronze medallists.

The Indian contingent featured the Olympic medallists from Beijing, including the rifle shooter and Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, boxer Vijender Singh, and Sushil Kumar. However, Bindra couldn’t make it to the final rounds of his event in London and Vijender too couldn’t shine. Beijing bronze medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar was chosen as the nation’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony by the Indian Olympic Association. He managed to clinch another medal in men’s freestyle wrestling and register an elite record in the nation’s Olympic history.

It is noteworthy that two medals were awarded to athletes in shooting and wrestling and it was for the very first time that female Indian athletes (Saina Nehwal and Mary Kom) won two Olympic medals in a single edition of the Games.

With the Paris Olympics 2024 just a few days ahead, let’s look back at how India performed at the London Olympics 2012 and went on to register their best Games performance at that time.

India’s performance at London 2012 Olympics

Shooting stars

After Abhinav Bindra’s elite feat of bagging the first individual gold medal for the nation, the standards for the shooting event were already set high. It was Gagan Narang, a part of India’s shooting contingent, who became the first to open India’s medal tally, with a bronze in the 10m air rifle. India got its second champion in Narang’s fellow marksman Vijay Kumar who bagged India’s first silver of the tournament in the 25m rapid-fire pistol.

Saina Nehwal’s brilliance

The medal tally then shifted its focus to badminton where the third-seeded and world junior champion Saina Nehwal handed her country its first-ever women’s singles medal – a bronze that arrived after China’s Wang Xin pulled out of the match due to an injury. Nehwal had notably made it to the quarter-final stage in the 2008 edition. Her achievement sparked interest among Indians in the sport, making it the most followed in the country. PV Sindhu weighed in with a silver in the following edition of the Games.

Mary Kom punches her way to bronze

Mary Kom, who became world boxing champion for the fifth time that year, claimed India’s fourth medal – a bronze that came after losing to Nicola Adams of Great Britain in the first-ever women’s flyweight event in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Adams would go on to claim gold.

Grapplers hold tight

The time finally arrived for the Indian wrestlers as first, Yogeshwar Dutt defeated North Korea’s Jong Myong Ri to finish third in the men’s freestyle 60kg category and deliver India its fifth medal of the event. The spotlights made their way to India’s flag-bearer, Sushil Kumar, who carried a barrage of hopes after clinching a bronze in the prior Olympics edition in Beijing. He was able to live up to those expectations by giving India its second silver medal of the tournament through a scintillating performance. He scripted history in the process by becoming the first Indian to win two individual Olympic medals.

Near misses

Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar’s fellow marksman Joydeep Karmakar got a fourth-place finish in the 50m Rifle Prone event, missing out on a bronze which went to Slovenia’s Rajmond Debevec instead with a single-point advantage. Further, it was 19-year-old Indian wrestler Amit Kumar, who although made it to the quarterfinals but came up short in the tie-break, losing the draw in both periods.

Vijender Singh, who came on the back of his bronze medal show at Beijing 2008, was quite close to a medal at London 2012. The manner in which he started his campaign, it looked assured that he could go the distance but a quarter-final loss to Uzbekistan’s Abbos Atoev made Vijender return home early from London 2012.

 India competed with an 83-member delegation at the London Olympics 2012, the largest till that point, and recorded India’s best Olympics performance until 2020, winning two silver and four bronze medals.  Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today