FIH Hockey World Cup 2023: A look at India's Golden history in Olympics in field Hockey

FIH Hockey World Cup 2023: The Indian hockey men’s team has won eight Olympic gold medals in all, six of them in a row (from 1928-1956) and added two more at Tokyo 1964 and Moscow 1980.

India won their first Olympic hockey gold in the 1928 Olympic Games at Amsterdam. The 1932 Games at Los Angeles saw several bruised egos in the Indian hockey squad as the ‘Indians’ and the ‘Anglo-Indians’ were at odds against one another with one member of the squad even refusing to wear a turban, a part of the official team attire.

The 1936 Games in Berlin saw the Indian hockey team bag a third Olympic gold medal and it was a fitting send-off for the then 31-year-old Dhyan Chand, who announced his retirement post the tournament and was promptly handed captaincy. With World War II leading to the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Olympics, the Indian hockey side saw an enforced lull of 12 years at the Games but it ensured that India returned with a fourth gold medal and their first after independence.

Four years later, Balbir Singh Sr put up another heroic performance, scoring nine goals across three matches, eight of them in the semi-finals and finals, as the vice-captain of the team at Helsinki 1952. The crowning glory for the Indian hockey team came at the 1956 Games in Melbourne, as it completed a second hat-trick of Olympic golds and its first as an independent country.

The Indian hockey team’s Olympic dominance was ended by arch-rivals Pakistan at Rome 1960. India lost 0-1 in the final and Pakistan won their first Olympic gold. However, India came out trumps four years later as the sides met in a third-consecutive Olympic final at Tokyo 1964.

Three Olympics without the gold medal was unfamiliar territory for the Indian hockey team as coming into Moscow 1980, it had only managed two bronze medals at Mexico 1968 and Munich 1972 while recording an unheard of seventh-place finish at Montreal 1976.