Indian Athletes

Several Indian athletes have made the country proud in the last few years. Most recently, 23-year-old javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra garner much attention and praise after he won a gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Many other athletes, including Virat Kohli, Srikanth Kidambi, Rani Rampal, PV Sindhu and Mirabai Chanu have inspired several Indian youngsters to pursue a career in athletics.

India first participated at the Olympic Games in 1900, and became the first Asian nation to win an Olympic medal. Indian athletes have won 35 medals, all at the Summer Games. For a period of time, the Indian Men's Field Hockey Team was dominant in Olympic competition, winning eleven medals in twelve Olympics between 1928 and 1980. The run included eight gold medals of which six were won consecutively from 1928 to 1956. Some of Indian Olympians are Saina Nehwal, Mary Kom, Neeraj Chopra, Abhinav Bindra, Vijay Kumar, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

Indian cricketer Virat Kohli has been ranked 61st overall in the latest list of the world's highest-paid athletes. The Indian athlete was also the highest-ranked cricketer with combined total earning of $33.9 million between June 2021 and May 2022.

Norman Gilbert Pritchard (23 June 1875 – 30 October 1929), also known by his stage name Norman Trevor, was a British-Indian athlete, who became the first Asian-born athlete to win an Olympic medal when he won two silver medals in athletics at the 1900 Paris Olympics representing India. He won India's first medal at the Olympics in the 200 metres and the 200 metres hurdles. While research by Olympic historians has shown that Pritchard was chosen to represent Great Britain after competing in the British AAA championship in June 1900. However, the IOC still regard Pritchard as having competed for India, and his two medals are credited to India.

Milkha Singh, byname the Flying Sikh, is an Indian track-and-field athlete who became the first Indian male to reach the final of an Olympic athletics event when he placed fourth in the 400-metre race at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. At the 1958 Asian Games, Singh won both the 200-metre and 400-metre races. Later that year he captured the 400-metre gold at the Commonwealth Games, which was India’s first athletics gold in the history of the Games.