Sushil Kumar vs Bajrang Punia: Who is India's greatest wrestler ever? Well, it's a tough choice to make. Although, Bajrang Punia himself considers Sushil Kumar as the best player in the country in wrestling. But Punia proved himself too on world stages. Who is the best among the two of them? Let's discuss this in detail.

Sushil Kumar vs Bajrang Punia

Sushil Kumar records:

• Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar's first breakthrough in freestyle wrestling came in 1998 when he won a gold medal in his weight category at the World Cadet Games.
• He also won the gold medal in the Asian Junior Wrestling Championship held in 2000.
• In 2003, Sushil got the Bronze Medal in the Asian Wrestling Championship and the Gold Medal in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships. He finished fourth in the World Championships held in the same year.
• In 2005 and 2007, Sushil again raised the name of his country India in the world and won the gold medal in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships held in both these years. He was ranked 7th for the 2007 Commonwealth Wrestling Championships.
• On August 20, 2008, Sushil won the bronze medal by defeating Leonid Spiridonov 3:1 at the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing.
• In the 2010 World Wrestling Championships held in Moscow, Sushil became the first Indian to win a world title in wrestling. In the Commonwealth Games held in Delhi in the same year, on October 10, Sushil defeated Heinrich Barnes 7: 0 in the 66 Kg freestyle wrestling category and won the gold medal.
• In the 2012 Summer Olympics, Sushil won the silver medal. By winning it, he became the first Indian to win 2 independent Olympic medals for India. In the 2012 London Olympics, Sushil was the Olympic Flag Bearer for India in the Opening Ceremony.
• In the 2014 Commonwealth Games held in Glasglow, Scotland, Sushil won the gold medal by defeating Qamar Abbas in the 74 Kg final.

Read Also: Paris Olympics 2024: Indian athletes who qualified for the Paris 2024

Bajrang Punia records:

• Bajrang Punia's first major tournament was the 2013 Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi. He settled for bronze at the tournament after losing to North Korea's Hwang Ryong-hak in the men's freestyle 60-kg category. In the World Wrestling Championship 2013, Punia won a bronze medal in the 60-kg category.
• In 2014, Punia upgraded the colour of his medal to silver at the Commonwealth Games in the men's 61-kg category. He repeated his performance in the 2014 Asian Games. Again, in 2014, Punia settled for a silver medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships.
• He tasted his first gold medal, finally, after two years at the 2017 Asian Wrestling Championship held in Delhi. He won another gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 in the men's freestyle 65-kg category. He scored his 3rd gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games. He became world number 1 in the 65-kg category after clinching a silver medal at the 2018 World Wrestling Championship.
• Won the Gold Medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
• A bronze medal at the 2019 World Championship earned him a ticket to the 2020 Summer Olympics.
• Won the bronze medal in his maiden Olympics at Tokyo 2020, battling through a knee injury.
• Won Gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
• Punia has won the bronze medal in the World Wrestling Championships 2022. This was India's second medal at the World Wrestling Championships. Earlier he had won gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in the same year.

Read Also: India at Olympics: India's medals at the Olympics by sports

So, we can say both are fantastic wrestlers in their arena. Sushil Kumar gave new life to the sport fighting for identity by ending the 56-year wait for a medal in the Olympic Games. On the other hand, Bajrang Punia is the only Indian wrestler to win four medals in the global event. Moreover, Punia is one Olympic medal behind to break Sushil Kumar's record.

Indian women's wrestlers Aditi Kumari, Neha, Pulkit and Mansi Lather made it 4-on-4 by winning 4 Gold medals in 43kg, 57kg, 65kg and 73kg women's freestyle respectively in the U17 Wrestling World Championships 2024 in Amman.

Indian boys Ronak Dahiya and Sainath Pardhi already had won two bronze medals in the Men's Greco-Roman category and on Thursday it was the girl's time to bring glory to the country.

Read Also: Sushil Kumar vs Bajrang Punia: Who is India's greatest wrestler ever

Aditi, Neha, Pulkit and Mansi dominate in Women's fresstyle

Aditi Kumari defeated Maria Louisa Gkika of Grece by 7-0 in the final of the 43kg freestyle category to win India's first gold of the U17 Wrestling World Championships 2024.

After that, Neha continued the momentum for India So Tsutsui of Japan by technical superiority 10-0 in the final of the women's freestyle 57kg to clinch India's second gold. That was Neha's third win by superiority or fall in the tournament.

Pulkit then ensured India's third gold of the night and competition by beating Daria Frolova (AIN) 6-3 in the women's freestyle 65kg division.

In the end, Mansi Lather made it 4 out of 4 for India in the Women's freestyle wrestling by pinning Hanna Pirskaya (AIN) while leading 5-0 in the final of the women's freestyle 73kg category.

After the Paris Olympics 2024, now Paris Paralympics is going to start from 28th August. The 84 contingent will compete for India at Paralympics 2024 which will run till September 8. This time Indian athletes are participating in 12 sports. This is India's largest contingent so far in the Paralympics. Bhagyashree Jadhav and Sumit Antil will be India's flag bearers.

So before the start of the games, let's take a look at the medals India won at the Paralympics so far.

Also Read: India's largest contingent to compete in Paris Paralympics 2024

India won 31 Paralympic medals so far

The Paralympic Games started in 1960. India sent an Indian contingent for the first time in 1968. The Paralympic Games started for India long after the Summer Olympics. Despite this, the country has so far won 31 medals in the Paralympics, including 9 gold, 12 silver and 10 bronze medals. India has participated in 11 editions so far.

India got 19 medals in Tokyo Paralympics

54 athletes had participated in the Tokyo Paralympics and won a maximum of 19 medals which included 5 gold, 8 silver, and 6 bronze medals. Out of a total of 162 nations, India had finished 24th in the overall medal tally at Tokyo, while its accomplishment of 19 medals is ranked 20th based on the number of medals.

Murlikant Petkar won the first medal

Murlikant Petkar, the hero of the 1965 Indo-Pak war, is India's first Paralympic medal winner. Murlikant Petkar won the gold medal in swimming in the Men's 50m Freestyle 3 event at the 1972 Heidelberg Games.

Petkar, a soldier of the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) in the Indian Army, was a boxer. He became paralyzed after being shot during the India-Pakistan war of 1965. After this, he started swimming. In 2018, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award.

Joginder Singh Bedi captured 3 medals

In the 1984 Paralympics, Bhimrao Kesarkar won the silver medal in men's javelin throw L6 with a throw of 34.55m. While Joginder Singh Bedi had won silver medal in Men's Shotput L6, a bronze medal in Men's Javelin Throw L6 event, and bronze medal in Men's Discus Throw L6 event.

India at Paralympics 2004

India has participated in every Paralympic Games since 1984, but the next medal came in the 2004 Paralympics in Athens. Devendra Jhajharia won the gold medal in the men's javelin throw F44/46 event. At the same time, Indian powerlifter Rajinder Singh Rahelu won the bronze medal in the men's 56 kg weight category by lifting 157.5 kg. 

In London 2012, High jumper Girisha N Gowda won the silver medal for India. 

Also Read: Largest refugee team set to compete at Paris Paralympics

India at Paralympics 2016

Tamil Nadu's Mariyappan Thangavelu won the gold medal in the men's high jump F42 event at the Rio 2016 Paralympics. He had jumped 1.89m. At the same time, Varun Singh Bhati won the bronze medal in the high jump competition. 

Avani Lekhara creates history

Avani Lekhara won the gold medal in her first Paralympics. She set a new Paralympic record of 249.6 in the women's 10m air rifle shooting standing SH1 final in Tokyo. With this, Avani became the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic gold medal.

India at Paralympics: India's Medals so far

PR Sreejesh, the legendary former Indian hockey goalkeeper expressed his admiration for former India cricket coach Rahul Dravid’s coaching philosophy and is hoping to follow a similar path in mentoring the next generation of hockey players, keeping the 2036 Olympics in mind. Sreejesh wants to work closely with the country's junior and emerging talents. He aims to groom the future stars of Indian hockey just like Dravid did with the Under 19 players.

Read Also: India at Olympics: Every member of the medal-winning hockey teams

Rahul Dravid's journey began with nurturing India’s U-19 and A team players before leading the senior side. Sreejesh wants to play a similar role within the hockey setup.

"I want to become a coach. That was always my plan but now there is a question of when. After retirement, family comes first. I need to talk with them if they are OK with this. Now you have to listen to your wife a little bit," Sreejesh told PTI.

"The way I wanted is start with the juniors, and Rahul Dravid is an example. It's like you develop a bunch of players, get them into the senior team, and let them follow you," he said.

Sreejesh wants to transform Indian Hockey setup into the World's best side before the 2036 Olympics

Sreejesh wants to start at the grassroots level, working his way up to the position of chief national coach by the time the 2032 Brisbane Olympics arrive. Sreejesh believes that the Indian Hockey setup can rule the world once again like they did in the 50's and 60's.

"I start this year, next in 2025, we have the junior World Cup and in another two years, the senior team will be playing the World Cup. So maybe, by 2028, I can produce 20 or 40 players and by 2029, I can have 15-20 players into the senior team, and by 2030 almost like 30-35 players in the senior side. And 2032, I will be ready for the chief coach's position. If India gets to host the 2036 Olympic Games, I want to be the India coach," Sreejesh concluded.

The former goalkeeper played a crucial role in India's bronze medal win at the recently-concluded Olympics in Paris. He was also a part of the team that won bronze in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.

It was in the javelin throw that the rivalry between India's Neeraj Chopra and Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem came out onto the Olympic stage at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. Neeraj won gold and Arshad couldn't medal in Tokyo, but both athletes dominated the field in Paris and the latter shattered the Olympic record to take gold. Neeraj could only get to silver but with his season-best throw. Neeraj would've had to throw more than 90m to win the gold. By winning the gold in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Neeraj had joined shooter Abhinav Bindra as the only two Indians to have won an Olympic gold medal in an individual event. Bindra feels that winning back-to-back medals at the Olympics is an “Incredible feat”.

Read Also: Some major controversies of the Paris Olympics 2024

“I think we are all very proud of him. The Pakistani (Arshad Nadeem) is a worthy winner on the day, the way he performed. But I think Neeraj should be proud of himself,” Bindra said in an interview with The Indian Express. 

“There will be a level of disappointment, which is fine because that’s how the life of an athlete is. You’re not gonna get everything going your way, but he performed admirably. A lot of expectations were also on him. It’s not easy to be in that spot, but he delivered. Now, he can go back to the drawing board and reassess what needs to be done. Really work on how he can make the big leap,” said Bindra. 

‘Olympics is a platform which is imperfect for performance,’ Abhinav Bindra in an interview

Abhinav Bindra thinks that the Olympics is an imperfect platform for athletes to put in their best performance as there are so many things moving around it. “The Olympics is a very, very hard platform to perform at for a variety of reasons. But the Olympics is also a platform that is imperfect for performance. Because there are external expectations, and you also have internal expectations, that just doesn’t allow you to let go,” said Bindra. 

Read Also: India at Olympics: India's medals at the Olympics by sports

Arshad Nadeem threw 92.97m to win the gold while Neeraj could manage to throw 89.45m. He hasn't been able to get past that 90m mark and he will be desperate to do that in the coming years. The 2008 Gold medallist Bindra said that it's not easy for the athletes to put in their best performance over and over again at the Olympics. 

“Performance sometimes is almost artistic. That’s where you almost have to allow it to happen. And the ability to let go is very difficult. So skill is almost thrown into the dustbin. Sometimes for most athletes, there will be a few who are just so great, but for a majority, it’s not just picking up your skill and trying to get things together. You have to almost find perfection on that imperfect day,” he concluded. 

The Olympic Games bring together thousands of athletes from multiple sports disciplines every four years, but only a few return home with a medal. Winning an Olympic medal is the greatest achievement a professional athlete can achieve in his career and, as you can imagine, winning a good handful of them is something that exceeds anyone's expectations. In this article, we will discuss the Olympic facts about athletes who have the most consecutive Olympic gold medals.

Also Read: Olympic Facts: From Youngest to Oldest to most successful medalists and more

Olympic Facts: Most Consecutive Olympic Gold Medals

7. Paul Elvstrøm (Sailing) | 4 

Danish yachtsman, Paul Elvstrøm, who is considered the greatest sailor in Olympic history, dominated Finn-class sailing between 1948 and 1960. He is one of only three Olympians to win the same individual event four times in a row. Elvstrøm is also one of only four athletes to compete in eight or more editions of the Games. He was the first Olympic athlete to take individual golds in four consecutive Games.

Elvstrøm won the Firefly sailing class in 1948. This class evolved into the Finn monotype class, which Elvstrøm then won in 1952, 1956, and 1960. After being a reserve on the Danish team in 1964, he competed in 1968 and 1972. Although he did not win a medal, he did place fourth in the 1968 Star class competition.

6. Alfred Oerter (Discus Throw) | 4

An Olympic legend, American discus thrower Alfred Oerter was the first track and field athlete to win four successive Olympic titles, a feat since equaled only by Carl Lewis in the long jump.

Oerter took the four consecutive Olympic gold medals in the discus in 1956, 1960, 1964, and 1968, setting a new Olympic record on each occasion, although he was never the favorite to win the event. His third victory in 1964 was remarkable for the fact that he overcame the handicap of neck and rib injuries, but still managed to set a career best.

Oerter retired after the Olympic Games of 1968 but returned to full-time competition in 1977 with the goal of making the 1980 Olympic Games and winning a fifth gold medal. His comeback was derailed by the 1980 Olympic boycott by the United States, but Oerter did post the longest throw in the world in 1980.

5. Carl Lewis (Long Jump) | 4

American former track and field athlete, Carl Lewis won four consecutive gold medals in the long jump at Los Angeles in 1984, Seoul in 1988, Barcelona in 1992, and Atlanta in 1996. 

Making his Olympic debut at the age of 23, Lewis won 10 medals, including eight golds, at the World Outdoor Championships. He is one of two athletes (the other being Paavo Nurmi) to win nine Olympic gold medals. Similarly, he is one of two (the other being Al Oerter) to win four golds in the same event. Lewis is now a full-time assistant coach at the University of Houston.

Also Read: 8 unbreakable Olympic records: Bolt, Phelps, Kim and more

4. Kaori Icho (Wrestling) | 4

Japanese freestyle wrestler Kaori Icho is the first female wrestler to win four consecutive Olympic gold medals, having won the event in 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016. Icho is also the first woman to win an individual gold medal in four straight Olympics, having started her historic run at the inaugural women's tournament in Athens in 2004. Multiple men have accomplished that feat, including American swimmer Michael Phelps.

Over the years, Icho had been a linchpin for Japan's historically dominant women's wrestling team. Ever since women's divisions were added to the Olympic wrestling program in 2004, she had earned gold in her weight class. In addition to her Olympic hardware, Icho has accrued 10 world titles and won 189 consecutive matches over a 13-year period from 2003-2016.

3. Katie Ledecky (Swimming) | 4

After winning the 800m freestyle event at the Paris 2024 Games, Katie Ledecky became the seventh Olympian to win four consecutive gold medals in the same event, and the second swimmer after Michael Phelps (who won the 200 IM in four consecutive Olympiads).

At the Paris 2024, Ledecky won her ninth gold medal and more deeply etched her name into the Olympic annals. She is now the most decorated female Olympian from the United States. Ledecky also ties with Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina for most Olympic gold medals won by a woman. Latynina won nine golds between 1956-1964.

2. Michael Phelps (Swimming) | 4

Michael Phelps is the first sportsperson to win four consecutive Olympic gold medals in the same event. He is an American former elite swimmer and the most successful and decorated Olympian of all time, with a total of 28 medals. He has an all-time high for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals at individual events (13), and Olympic medals at individual events (16). 

When Phelps won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, he smashed Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at a single Olympic Games. At the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, Phelps won six gold and two bronze medals for a total of eight medals of any color at one of the Events. He won four gold and two silver medals at the 2012 London Summer Olympics and five gold and one silver medals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics.

Also Read: Top 10 athletes in the world with the most Olympic medals

1. Mijain Lopez (Wrestling) | 5 

Cuban great Mijain Lopez became the first athlete in history to win the most consecutive Olympic gold medals. He won the title in the Olympic event five times.

Superstar of Greco-Roman wrestling and already crowned Olympic champion in the 130kg class in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2021, Cuban Mijain Lopez has pulled off an unprecedented tour de force. By winning (6-0) his bout against Chile's Yasmani Acosta Fernandez in the Paris Olympics 2024 final, the wrestler validated his domination of the Olympic event for the fifth consecutive edition. A feat that no other wrestler has achieved in any discipline.

At the last Olympics, Lopez became the first male wrestler to win four Olympic gold medals when he dominated in the Tokyo Olympics, blowing through the field unscored upon in four matches. He gave up two points in four matches this time.