The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris is in full flow. Those who have been watching Indian sportspersons in action would have seen that one result everybody dreads: a fourth-place finish. Badminton star Lakshya Sen broke a billion hearts after losing the bronze medal match. Shooters Maheshwari Chauhan and Anant Jeet Singh Naruka suffered the same fate in the skeet mixed team event. Shooter Manu Bhaker, who has made the nation proud by winning two bronze medals, finished fourth in the 25m pistol final. Archers Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara lost the mixed team archery match for the bronze. Shooter Arjun Babuta, who was in the second place for some time in the 10m air rifle final, ultimately missed a medal.
So near, and yet, so far: Indian sportspersons have missed out on several medals at the ongoing Olympics. These fourth-place results have evoked memories of several well-known Indian performances at the Olympics in which our sportspersons did not achieve a podium finish by a short distance.
It is impossible to imagine how a sportsperson competing at the highest level feels after failing to earn that precious moment of glory. There must be disbelief, sadness, and an uncomfortable awareness that one may not come so close to such a rare achievement again. Fans are disappointed, too, but they reconcile with the outcome as their focus shifts to sportspersons taking part in other events.
Growing up in a middle-class home with a black and white television in the 1980s, this writer remembers watching that occasion in 1984 when ‘Payyoli Express’ PT Usha clocked 55.42 seconds in 400m hurdles to set a national record in Los Angeles. However, she missed the bronze medal by one-hundredth of a second. The most popular Indian track and field athlete of her generation, Usha won countless medals in her distinguished career. Four decades after her fourth-place finish in Los Angeles, however, most people think of her as an unlucky star who did not win a richly deserved Olympic medal.
Whenever a sportsperson performs creditably without being able to win a medal, armchair analysts, among them ordinary fans and seasoned experts, find reasons for the failure. Ultimately, however, everybody has to accept the reality as it exists: which is, a performance has not delivered the desired outcome.
As a child, one heard stories from elders in the family about how the great Milkha Singh had missed a bronze medal by a fraction of a second in the 400-meter final in Rome (1960). It was only after growing up that one realized that at least one elder at home added a lot of fictional spice to his vivid descriptions of Singh’s famous finish. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s 2013 biopic ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, a biopic tribute to ‘The Flying Sikh’, makes us proud of his achievements – and also makes us sad.
Results in sports have an undeniable association with luck. At times, the difference between those who win and those who don’t is so less that the role of luck in determining the outcome becomes obvious. Whether or not the gap is less, a fourth-place finish lives on as a memory of what might have been. Indian tennis stars would know what that means, 1996 Atlantic Olympics singles bronze medalist Leander Paes having failed to repeat the magic in doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi after losing the doubles match for the bronze medal in Athens (2004). Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna also lost the mixed doubles bronze medal match in Rio de Janeiro (2016). A little bit of luck on a good day on the courts, and these results could have been different.
Winning an individual Olympic medal is a rare feat in Indian sport – at least, until today. Abhinav Bindra shot his way to a gold medal in Beijing (2008) in the 10m air rifle event, but he finished fourth in the same event in Rio de Janeiro eight years later. Bindra’s inability to win a medal in Rio de Janeiro broke the hearts of everybody, who had assumed that a podium finish for the gold medal winner in 2008 was a certainty. That result also shows that in a challenging event such as the Olympics, history rarely repeats itself.
India has missed out on Olympic medals in team events, too, losing the bronze medal men’s football match to Bulgaria 3-0 at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne. The woman’s hockey team reached the semi-finals in Tokyo in 2020, losing the battle for the third place to Great Britain 4-3. How disappointing must it be to miss out on an honour as prestigious as an Olympic medal? That is a question only those who miss out can answer – or perhaps, even they cannot.
For any sports lover, watching an underdog compete against the best without crumbling under pressure is a satisfying experience. Who will forget that great day in Indian sport in Rio de Janeiro (2016) when Dipa Karmakar, a gymnast from India where the event is hardly popular, finished fourth in the vault event? Nobody had expected this outcome, and, yet, didn’t we all wish she had won a medal?
When we remember those who finished fourth, it is difficult not to think that, had they fared slightly better, India’s list of individual medals would have been much longer. Some sports lovers would know of wrestler Dinkarrav Shinde, who failed to win a freestyle featherweight bronze in Antwerp (1920), while Keshav Mangave lost the featherweight bronze playoff in Helsinki (1952). Wrestlers Sudesh Kumar and Prem Nath would have written their names in the record books in the men’s freestyle, 52kg and 57kg categories, respectively, in Munich (1972). Rajinder Singh failed to get a medal in men’s 74kg freestyle in Los Angeles (1984). Weightlifter Kunjarani Devi was a fourth-place finisher in Athens (2004). Shooter Joydeep Karmakar missed the bronze in men’s 50m rifle prone in London (2012), so did golfer Aditi Ashok in Tokyo (2021).
Finishing fourth is particularly disappointing, because getting so close to a medal in a competition at the highest level is everything but easy. As the Olympics in Paris go on, let us hope none of the remaining Indians finish fourth this time.
The writer, a journalist for three decades, writes on literature and pop culture. Among his books are ‘MSD: The Man, The Leader’, the bestselling biography of former Indian captain MS Dhoni, and the ‘Hall of Fame’ series of film star biographies. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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