From: banarji@unixg.ubc.ca (Ajai Banarji)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Olympic Trivia-Complete list of South Asian medallists
Date: 17 Aug 92 21:42:35 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Originator: banarji@unixg.ubc.ca


	OLYMPIC TRIVIA-COMPLETE LIST OF SOUTH ASIAN MEDALLISTS

	India left Barcelona with no medals, emulating their performance of
1976, 1984 and 1988. Pakistan maintained its 1988 standing with one bronze.
At this stage it may be interesting to see the record of South Asian medallists
in the Olympics since 1896.
	The story of South Asian medals is for all practical purposes the 
story of field hockey in the Olympics. 
	India participated for the first time in 1928. The earlier contests 
in 1908 and 1920 were both won by England. In those days there were (at least
for hockey) separate teams fro England, Scotland etc.
	It is also interesting to note that Britain did not participate in
hockey in the Olympics from 1928 to 1936 though they were among the leading
teams at that time. It is said that a loss to India would have been too
embarassing. 
	Here is the list of all hockey medallists since 1928

			Gold		Silver		Bronze
1928	Amsterdam	India		Holland		Germany
1932	Los Angeles	India		Japan		USA		
1936	Berlin		India		Germany		Holland
1948	London		India		Britain		Holland
1952	Helsinki	India		Holland		Britain
1956	Melbourne	India		Pakistan	Germany
1960	Rome		Pakistan	India		Spain
1964	Tokyo		India		Pakistan	Australia
1968	Mexico City	Pakistan	Australia	India
1972	Munich		W. Germany	Pakistan	India
1976	Montreal	New Zealand	Australia	Pakistan
1980	Moscow		India		Spain		USSR
1984	Los Angeles	Pakistan	W. Germany	Britain
1988	Seoul		Britain		W. Germany	Holland
1992	Barcelona	Germany		Australia	Pakistan

	Now for non-hockey medals. India opened its account in Paris in 1900,
when Norman Pritchard won 2 silvers in 200 M and the now-discontinued 200 M
hurdles. Nothing much is known about this person; it is not even clear if
he was an Indian citizen.
	The only other Indian medallist was Kha Shaba Yadav who won a
bronze in bantamweight free-style wrestling in 1952. (Later he became a
police officer in Hyderabad. He died in an accident a few years ago.)
	Pakistan has two other medallists: Mohammed Bashir won a bronze in
welterweight free-style wrestling in 1960, while H. S. Syed won a bronze
as a middleweight boxer in 1988.
	Sri Lanka has one medal-a silver by Duncan White in the 400 M hurdles
in 1948.
	Thus India's best ever Olympics performance was in 1900 (2 silvers) 
or 1952 (1 gold, 1 bronze). Similarly Pakistan's best was in 1960 (1 gold,
1 bronze). 
	There have, of course, been a number of near misses by South Asian
participants. In Pakistan's case, the near misses are the 4th-places in
hockey in 1948 and 1952.
	For India, the near misses of P. T. Usha (4th in women's 400 M
hurdles in 1984) and Milkha Singh (4th in 400 M in 1960) are well known.
It is perhaps not so well known that several Indian wrestlers have also
reached 4th place. (Apparently no one from Pakistan has narrowly missed
a medal). The Indian wrestlers who have reached 4th place are:

1920	Shinde		Featherweight
1952	K. D. Mangove	Featherweight
1972	Sudesh Kumar	Flyweight
1972	Prem Premnath	Bantamweight
1980	Jagminder Singh	Welterweight

	Finally, it may be hard to believe, but India came 4th in soccer in
1956. The Indian women's hockey team came 4th (out of 6) in 1980.
	South Asian countries might do better if cricket was included in
the Olympics. It was included once, in 1900. Only 2 teams participated.
Britain got the gold and France the silver.