Who is the first Indian to win individual gold medal in Olympics?

Answer 1

The first individual medalist representing India was Norman Pritchard who won silver in the 200 meter dash and 200 meter hurdles in the 1900 Olympics in Paris. Pritchard was of British descent and moved to England permanently in 1905. The first individual medalist of Indian descent from India was Khashaba Jadav who won bronze in Men's Freestyle Bantamweight Wrestling at the 1952 Games in Helsinki. In the 2008 Games in Beijing, Abhinav Bindra became the first Indian to win gold in an individual event when he won the men's 10 meter air rifle competition. This was India's 9th gold medal in Olympic competition. The other eight have been won by the hockey team.

Answer 2

There are several possible answers to this question, depending on what you really want to know.

a) Nobody has ever won an Olympic medal in India, as the Olympic Games have never been held in India.

b) The first man with an Indian passport to win a medal was Norman Pritchard, who won two silvers in the 1900 games in Paris, for the 200m and the 200m hurdles. However this bald statement is problematical for several reasons.

i) The games were only called Olympic retrospectively, and were called International Competitions. The International Olympic Committee played no part in their organisation.

ii) Entries were made by individuals and clubs, and not by National Olympic Committees. Norman Pritchard entered as part of the Amateur Athletic Association team, from Britain.

iii) Although Pritchard was born in india, this was only because his thoroughly British parents lived there. He qualified for the AAA team in London, and returned to live permanently in Britain in 1905.

c) The first men with Indian parents to win a medal were some of the members of the gold-medal-winning Indian Hockey Team in 1928. The IOC lists 15 medallists (Wikipedia has 20), including Ali Shaukat, Dyan Chand, Feroze Khan, Jaipal Singh and Sayed Yusuf.

Answer 3

Abhinav Bindra became the first Indian to win an individual Olympic Gold Medal when he won the 10m air rifle at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Answer 4

Norman Pritchard won the first medal which was silver.

Answer 5

Leander Paes.

Leander won a bronze medal in men's singles tennis at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.

Answer 6

Leander Paes won the bronze medal in 1996 summer olympics.

Answer 7

Norman Pritchard (India) won a silver for India at 1900 (200 meters).

Answer 8

Abhinav Bindra (10 metre air rifle).