India’s fourth-place finishes at Olympics

New Delhi: Indian shooter Arjun Babuta suffered a heartbreak as he ended fourth in the men’s 10m air rifle final on Monday, joining the list of heartbreaks Indian sports persons have suffered over the years at the Olympic Games. While we celebrate those who return with medals, it is important to remember those all but managed to earn the revered medals.
Here is a list of Indian athletes who finished fourth, just outside the podium positions at the quadrennial showpiece:
Dinkarrav Shinde – Antwerp 1920: Wrestler Dinkarrav Shinde could have become the first medallist of Indian origin at the Olympics but he suffered a heartbreaking loss the men’s featherweight bronze playoff. Norman Pritchard, a British-Indian athlete, had won two athletics silver medals at the 1900 Olympics.
Keshav Mangave – Hensinki 1952: KD Jadhav was the first individual Olympic medallist in Independent India when he claimed a bronze in men’s bantamweight. But India could have doubled its tally had wrestler Keshav Mangave not lost the featherweight bronze playoff.
Indian football team – Melbourne 1956: India had beaten hosts Australia on the way to the semi-finals before they went down 1-4 to Yugoslavia. They then lost 0-3 to Bulgaria in the third place match.
Milkha Singh – Rome 1960: Perhaps the most famous fourth place finish in Indian sport, Milkha Singh finished just 0.13 second behind the third-place finisher, setting a National Record that stood for the next 44 years.
Sudesh Kumar & Prem Nath – Munich 1972: India could have won three medals instead of one hockey bronze in 1972 but wrestlers Sudesh Kumar and Prem Nath finished fourth in the men’s freestyle 52kg and 57kg categories respectively.
PT Usha – Los Angeles 1984: This was the second biggest athletics heartbreak for India after Milkha’s miss 24 years prior. Usha missed the bronze in women’s 400m hurdles by one hundredth of a second.
Rajinder Singh – Los Angeles 1984: This was another missed medal in Los Angeles as wrestler Rajinder Singh lost the bronze medal playoff in men’s freestyle 74kg.
Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupathi – Athens 2004: After his men’s singles bronze in Atlanta 1996, Leander Paes could have become India’s first individual double Olympic medallist but he and Bhupathi lost a close third place contest in men’s doubles tennis.
Kunjarani Devi – Athens 2004: Weightlifter Kunjarani Devi ended fourth in women’s 48kg but she had to lift another 10kg if she wanted to step on to the podium.
Joydeep Karmakar – London 2012: With pistol man Vijay Kumar and rifleman Gagan Narang winning two shooting medals in the British capital, Joydeep Karmakar was on the verge of winning another medal in men’s 50m rifle prone final, finishing fourth.
Abhinav Bindra – Rio de Janeiro 2016: Having clinched the men’s 10m air rifle gold to become India’s first individual Olympic champion eight years ago, Bindra finished fourth best in the same category in Rio 2016.
Sania Mirza/Rohan Bopanna – Rio de Janeiro 2016: Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna were one of the favourites to claim a mixed doubles tennis medal but the pair went down in the third place match.
Dipa Karmakar – Rio de Janeiro 2016: The unlikeliest fourth place finish in Indian sporting history at the Olympics, Dipa Karmakar shocked the world finishing fourth in the women’s vault final, considering she hails from a country with barely any history in gymnastics. She produced the now famous Produnova vault, missing the medal by 0.15 points.
Aditi Ashok – Tokyo 2021: Woman golfer Aditi Ashok surprised Indian audiences after ending the first three rounds in second position but dropped to fourth on the fourth and final day, missing the medal by just a stroke, at the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Japan.
Indian hockey team – Tokyo 2021: The Rani Rampal-led Indian women’s hockey team were all but out of the group stage but just about managed to scrape into the quarter-finals where they stunned Australia. They lost a close (1-2) semi-final against Argentina, but were leading 3-2 against Great Britain before losing 3-4 in the bronze playoff.
Arjun Babuta – Paris 2024: Arjun Babuta was shooting well to stay in the top three of the men’s 10m air rifle final but a couple of poor shots saw the rifleman drop down to fourth place at the last minute to finish out of the podium positions.