They dream of gold: Meet India’s Olympic medal contenders

In 2012, Michael Phelps retired from swimming after winning 18 gold (22 total) medals in Olympics; yet he returned to the sport to get six more medals in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, taking his total count to 28 (and 23 gold).

Rafael Nadal skipped Wimbledon this year to focus on the Paris Olympics.

That’s just the kind of effect that this tournament has on sportspeople.

The summer Olympics, the biggest showcase in the world of sport, will begin on July 26 in Paris. In the following two weeks, the world’s best athletes will battle it out for that elusive medal that comes once in four years. From India, 117 athletes will be aiming for a top-of-the-podium finish. What shooter Abhinav Bindra did in 2008 and Neeraj Chopra did in the 2020 edition (held in 2021) has set the beginnings of a trend that continues to grow.

In the last summer Olympics, Team India brought home seven medals, its best tally ever. This year, India has several medal hopefuls, from athletics, shooting, wrestling, boxing, hockey, and badminton among others. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in badminton, Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain in boxing, Chopra in javelin throw, Manu Bhaker, Sift Kaur Samra, and Rhythm Sangwan in shooting, Mirabai Chanu in weightlifting, Antim Panghal and Vinesh Phogat in wrestling, and Aditi Ashok in golf are just some of the Paris-bound names that could bring home the medal.

The Nod spotlights a few of these remarkable athletes.

Kishore Jena

One of Jena’s biggest challenges in the world of sport remains the long shadow cast by Neeraj Chopra. Only the second Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal, Chopra dominates men’s javelin and remains the single biggest star of India’s track and field.

But Jena, a 28-year-old late bloomer, has become a worthy challenger and honourable competitor who wants to share that limelight with Chopra. Last year, he got a respectable fifth place in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, which he followed up, a few weeks later, with a silver in the Hangzhou Asian Games, behind Chopra’s gold. “Jab bhi main field pe jaata hoon, toh main sochta hoon ki jo mera pichhle saal ka best tha, mein usse behtar karoon,” he says. (“Every time I hit the ground, the thought in my head is that I want to do better than my best from last year.”)

Jena’s progression in the last two years has been remarkable, from a personal best of 78.05 metres in 2022 to 87.54 metres in China last October—not far behind Chopra’s 88.88-metre throw there. Jena even credited Chopra for encouraging him to aim for Paris at a time when, last year, the former considered quitting the sport.

“Sabka sapna hai Olympics; main jeet gaya toh mere liye bahut badi baat hai,” says Jena. (“It's everyone's dream to go to the Olympics. Winning is the biggest thing for me.”) With Chopra getting all the attention—and the pressure as the defending champion—Jena is well poised to sneak in and make sure the tip of his spear finds the farthest mark.

Jyothi Yarraji

For three weeks prior to the Paris Olympics, Jyothi Yarraji and coach James Hillier camped out in Poland, away from the distractions of India, media, and familiarity. Their aim, in these weeks, and for the last few years, has been to target milliseconds, to slice them away from her sprints, decimal by decimal.

Yarraji is the first Indian woman to compete in the 100-metre hurdles event in the Olympics, an achievement of magnitude even before the race begins. For the 24 year old, who won a silver medal in last year’s Asian Games, it’s already been an eventful journey. For Yarraji, “it’s not so much about the timing,” but about getting the “best version” of herself to Paris. “If we do that, then we will be locked in one place. It’s about processes, what we have been following.” In fact, she says, “When I go to the field, I remind myself of whatever I did in the training, and just apply the same pattern in the competition.”

The Vizag girl speaks with complete confidence, about learning and getting inspired by other athletes (she counts Neeraj Chopra and MR Poovamma as her on-field heroes) and her ambitions. Hillier believes she is stronger and faster than ever before, “a different animal on the track than she was in the Asian Games”.

Her Instagram is filled with her training videos, interspersed with ads for a hair oil or a sports brand. At above 1.70m, Yarraji is tall for her category, which requires her to adjust her running style so that she is able to “run so fast that she should feel like running out of control,” as Hillier explains over a Zoom call.

In between the intense training, the duo also tries to keep it light, to enjoy the journey and the races. A sense of humour, Hillier elaborates, goes a long way in maintaining a positive attitude. But the Brit adds a disclaimer: “She only gets half of my jokes.”

“He doesn’t understand my jokes either,” she claps back, grinning.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty

The duo did not begin their doubles careers as partners, but were brought together quite by chance, as an experiment. Eight years later, they have not only been at the top of the men’s doubles table (currently they’re ranked third in the world), but are also among India’s best chances for a medal in Paris.

They complement each other in many ways, on court with 23-year-old Rankireddy’s ferocious smashes and 27-year-old Shetty’s court craft, and off court with their mutual love of dance and music. On court, they are explosive, expressive; off court, the younger one can be deceptively shy, the boy from Amalapuram in Andhra finding an able ally in the older Mumbai lad. Unapologetically brash and fearless, they symbolise the modern Indian sportsperson who is unaffected by the occasion.

“We keep it simple,” says Rankireddy. “Chirag always supports me when I’m having an off day. I am there to support him when it is an off day for him. So, I think the off-court bond helps on court.”

In March, Rankireddy and Shetty won their second French Open title without dropping a game. The victory assumes significance because the Paris Olympics will be played at the same venue. If India has won medals in badminton at the Olympics before—through Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu—Sat-Chi, as fans have increasingly started calling them, have broken barriers of their own. Never before has an Indian pair gone this far ahead in world badminton.

What’s changed since they got knocked out in the early rounds of Tokyo is what Rankireddy calls a “killer attitude”, some guidance, and changes in technique, which have come in with doubles coach Mathias Boe.

“The pressure’s always been there,” says Shetty about getting to the top rank. “When we were at 2 or 3, it didn’t really matter. When we became No 1 for the first time, there was slight, slight pressure. But I think now we have sort of got used to it.”

And if they were to play singles against each other, who would have a better chance of winning? “Me,” says Shetty, reacting a tad faster. “Yeah, it’s me. Chirag said it’s me,” laughs Rankireddy.

Editorial direction by Megha Mahindru and Ridhima Sapre. Creative and visuals direction by Jay Modi. Art direction by Harry Iyer. Production by Imran Khatri Productions.

Assisted by Pramod Kadam (photography)