With the Tokyo Olympics being done, it was the best-ever performance for India with 7 medals. The games also saw some Indian athletes miss the podium by a narrow margin
So let’s find out about some Indian athletes who finished fourth at the Olympics throughout history.
List of the Athletes from India Who Finished Fourth at the Olympics
Milkha Singh (Men’s 400m – 1960 Rome Olympics)
Widely known as The Flying Sikh, the legendary Milkha Singh missed by a margin the bronze medal as he finished fourth in the Men’s 400m final at the 1960 Summer Olympics held in Rome. Considered as one of the favourites to make a podium finish, lost the medal by a whisker of mere 0.1 seconds as the Indian sprinter clocked 45.60 seconds whereas Malcolm Spence clinched the bronze medal with a timing of 45.50 seconds.
PT Usha (Women’s 400m Hurdles – 1984 Los Angeles Olympics)
Then at age of 20, PT Usha was so close to a historic medal but she finished 4th in the women’s 400m hurdles final at the 1984 Los Angeles Games and missed the bronze medal by a narrow margin of 1/100th of a second. Popularly known as ‘Payyoli Express’, the Indian sprinter clocked 55.42 seconds just 0.01 seconds behind Romania’s bronze medalist Cristieana Cojocaru (55.41).
Kunjarani Devi (Women’s 48kg Weightlifting – 2004 Athens Olympics)
The weightlifter from Imphal lifted a total of 190kg weight, 82.5kg in Snatch and 107.5kg in Clean & Jerk in the final of Women’s 48kg event at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens. The Indian finished at fourth-place as the Thai bronze medalist lifted 200kg in total.
Leander Paes & Mahesh Bhupathi (Men’s Doubles Tennis – 2004 Athens Olympics)
Heartbreak for the Indian legendary duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi as they lost the men’s doubles bronze medal match against Croatian pair of Mario Ančić/Ivan Ljubičić 6-7, 6-4, 14-16. As a result, finished fourth and missed out on the podium finish at the 2004 Athens Games.
Joydeep Karmakar (Men’s 50m Rifle Prone Shooting – 2012 London Olympics)
At the 2012 Olympics Games in London, shooter Joydeep Karmakar missed the medal by finishing 4th in the Men’s 50m Rifle Prone final with a total score of 699.1, just behind bronze medal winner Rajmond Debevec from Slovenia.
Also Read: List Of All The Medal Winners From India In The Tokyo Olympics
Abhinav Bindra (Men’s 10m Air Rifle Shooting – 2016 Rio Olympics)
The 2008 Beijing gold medalist, India’s ace shooter Abhinav Bindra aiming for his 2nd Olympic medal, couldn’t achieve that feat as he missed bronze in the men’s 10m air rifle final event at Rio 2016. Playing his last Olympics, Bindra had to settle for the fourth position with a score of 163.8 after losing a shoot-off for the 3rd-4th place.
Dipa Karmakar (Women’s Vault Gymnastics – 2016 Rio Olympics)
Hailing from Agartala, Tripura Dipa Karmakar made history by being 1st Indian woman gymnast to compete at the Games and reach the final of the Women’s Vault at Rio 2016. However, after reaching the final, she finished in the fourth position with a final score of 15.066. She successfully landed the most difficult ‘Produnova Vault’ in the final, she lost bronze by 0.150 points.
Sania Mirza & Rohan Bopanna (Mixed Doubles Tennis – 2016 Rio Olympics)
The Indian mixed doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna entered the Rio 2016 Games as 4th seeds and was India’s medal hope. The pair lost the mixed doubles semifinal match and had to compete for the bronze medal. However, they lost the bronze medal match against the Czech pair of Lucie Hradecká/Radek Štěpánek 1-6, 5-7 and finished in the fourth position.
Indian Women’s Hockey Team (2020 Tokyo Olympics)
The Indian eves led by Rani Rampal had their best-ever performance at the Olympics by reaching the semi-finals for the 1st time ever at Tokyo 2020. They made it to the semis by shocking favourites Australia in the quarter-final 1-0 and they lost against Argentina in the semi-final. They had a chance for a medal but lost to Great Britain 3-4 in a hard-fought bronze medal match.
Aditi Ashok (Women’s Golf – 2020 Tokyo Olympics)
Playing at her second Olympics, the 23-year-old golfer ranked 200th in the world finished 4th in the women’s individual stroke play event at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Aditi Ashok for three rounds held her place in the top 3; it was in the final round that she slipped to the fourth spot. By just one stroke, she lost the bronze medal.