Olympics crests: From Dhyan Chand's wizardry to PT Usha's wafer-thin miss

Hosting an Olympics changes a country's history because the quadrennial sporting extravaganza is seen as the most important benchmark not just in the evolution of sports but also of global confidence in the host country’s economic power.

The awarding of the Olympics is a gold medal for the country for emerging into the golden club of economically powerful nations also known as the First World.

Every country claims their Olympics was the best, in terms of shattered records and as benchmarks in history. By such standards, Rome 1960 can arguably be said to be the Olympics that changed sports itself. “In the history of modern games, other times and places have drawn more notice, but none offers a deeper palate of character, drama, and meaning. The contests in Rome shimmered with performances that remain the most golden in athletic history, from Wilma Rudolph in the sprints to Abebe Bikila in the marathon; from Cassius Clay in the boxing ring to Rafer Johnson in the decathlon. But beyond that the forces of change were everywhere. In sports, culture and politics — interwoven in many ways — one could see an older order dying and a new one being born. With all its promise and trouble, the world as we see today was coming into view,” writes Davifd Maraniss in Rome 1960.

Showing way to future

1960 saw the world breaking away from the medieval and foreseeing a new world. Rome was at that intersect: firmly placed in the past but showing the way to the future. Its ancient monuments reminded us of a past that still bewilders us. The wonders of ancient Rome were used to full advantage in 1960. No wonder the gymnastic events were held outdoor at the Termi di Caracalla and wrestling at the Basilica di Massenzio.

Olympics, of course, is the venue of many political statements, both open and subtle. It held a mirror to the past atrocities and achievements. It gave the downtrodden people the venue to show the world its hidden powers. Such was the marathon race run by Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia, a country with no hope, no future, and submerged in sub-Saharan poverty. Bikila ran barefoot much to the amusement of other runners who were seen mocking him at the start. Very symbolically, much of the course went through landmarks of ancient Roman history.

The past was highlighted, the glory of Roman contribution like stark monoliths. The race began at twilight and was run in the dark, the course was torch lit by sentinels as if to show the way to a Roman invading army. Bikila became the first black athlete from sub-Saharan Africa to win a gold medal. His record timing was 2.12:11. It was black assertion as never before. Bikila, Wilma Rudolf and then Clay was to carry black athleticism to the top of the world. After 1960, there was no looking back for black athleticism. The poor world had showcased their talents. Bikila went on to win the marathon in Tokyo in 1964, the first repeat gold medal in marathon.

Platform for dissent

Eight years after Rome, in Mexico, the Olympic establishment, growing in power, was delivered a rude shock when two American medal winners in the 200m, showed the blackfisted salute as the US anthem was being played. Black power which had asserted itself on the tracks, was now asserting its political voice and asking for justice for all the colonial crimes against the race. Tommie Smith, who won in 19.83 secs (WR 19.19. Michael Johnson), and John Carlos raised black-gloved fists while the silver winner, Peter Norman, wore a badge in support. The two athletes were hounded by the white majority Olympic establishment for many years. Much pressure was exerted on Peter Norman to betray his co-medal winners but he stood strong and defiant.

Carlos had his tracksuit top unzipped to show solidarity with US labour in the US and wore a necklace of beads which he described "were for those individuals that were lynched, or killed and that no-one said a prayer for, that were hung and tarred. It was for those thrown off the side of the boats in the Middle Passage,” he wrote many years later.

After this silent and historic protest, Olympics again became the venue for a major political statement when at Munich in 1972, Palestinian Black September terrorist group took 9 Israeli hostages. It led to a bloody end as German police stormed the building and all hostages and some of the terrorists were killed. The Olympics would never be the same again.

‘Dhyan Chand Olympics’

This was the second Olympics Germany hosted after the so-called Hitler Olympics of 1936. Germany tried to use the Olympics to whitewash its Nazi past and by all accounts it was a fully ‘open’ Olympics and security was non-existent. But the Olympics as a political venue took a terrible new meaning.

The 1936 Berlin “Hitler” Olympics was a golden one for Indian hockey. It was also the Dhyan Chand Olympics. The Indian team won its third hockey gold medal, thrashing Germany which was built up by the western media as the great emerging hockey power, 8-1. “Goal after goal was scored to the bewilderment of the German side and though they played with their greatest pluck and gameness and managed to score one they were a well-beaten team, the Statesman reported. Dhyan Chand scored six goals, emerging as perhaps the greatest Indian sportsman ever. One report in the Morning Post, a German paper said: “Nature seems to have endowed Indians with the special aptitude for hockey.” Dhayan Chand was eulogised by the Western press and a statue was erected in Vienna. The National Stadium in Delhi also has a Dhyan Chand statue, the only non-cricketing Indian sportsman to be given that honour.

India’s hits and misses

India has been a rather backward participant in the Olympics settling just for hockey medals till other European nations and Australia started overpowering India in hockey as well. The two near misses (Milkha Singh and PT Usha) and the hockey medals were the only Indian Olympic story, till Leander Paes won the bronze in tennis in Atlanta in 1996 and Indian wrestlers and shooters emerged into the top rung and started getting Olympic medals. Leander also established himself as perhaps the greatest Indian sportsman, going to seven consecutive Olympic games. In the last Tokyo Olympics 2021, Indian won ten medals showing that it is emerging as a sporting nation after all these years, with incredible talent in wrestling and shooting. In wrestling India over the years build on the early start which KD Jadhav won the wrestling bronze in 1952 in Helsinki. An indoor stadium inside the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in Delhi is named after him.

Tokyo gave India the first gold medal in track and field when Neeraj Chopra much to the astonishment of a whole nation won the javelin gold with a throw of 87.58 m. The win gave the country a morale boost similar to the 1983 cricket World Cup win. One man from Panipat in Haryana struggled all by himself with a self-confidence that was astonishing and a very rare quality in the country to win that gold. Neeraj Chopra is likely to win a medal in Paris too this year, if not a gold itself. Today, Chopra stands up there with Dhyan Chand, like twin twinkling stars showing their way to millions of Indian youth.