India is one of the most populated countries in the world. More population means more support and more pressure on the athletes. India is a sports-loving country and it is seen that the fans stand firmly behind the athletes during such huge events. 

India is not the best-performing country at the Olympics but slowly and surely, the performance is getting better. The involvement of the Indian teams in other sports like fencing and sailing is increasing. Do you know how many medals India has won at the Olympics? Can you remember the name of Indian medalists? In this article, we are going to discuss the list of Indian medal winners at the Summer Olympic Games.

Indian Medal Winners at Olympic Games

List of Indian Medal Winners at Olympic Games (1896-2020)

The first medal India won was back in the 1900 Paris Summer Olympics. Norman Pritchard won two medals (200m and 200m hurdles). With these medals, he became the first Asian athlete to win a medal at the Summer Olympic Games. Since then, Indian contingents have won 28 medals at Summer Olympics to date. Check out the list of Indian medal winners at the Olympic Games.

Source: Wikipedia

Indian Olympic Medals by Sport

So we saw the list of Indian medallists in the above table. But many readers want to know which sport has been dominated mostly by the Indians. So here is a simple table which discusses the Indian Olympic medals by sport. 

From the table below, it is clearly visible that field hockey is where Indians have dominated at the Olympics. It is followed by Shooting and Athletics.  

So did you hear of Independent Olympic athletes during the Tokyo Olympics? Well, many independent athletes have participated in the Olympics for various reasons. The reasons for this decision may be a political transition, international sanctions or suspension or ban of NOC. Since 1992, during each Olympic edition, these Independent Olympic athletes have participated in the Olympics. The group of independent Olympic athletes is recognized as the Refugee Olympic Team. 

List of Independent Olympic Athletes

Refugee Olympic Team at the 2021 Summer Olympics

Let’s start with the basic question – Will the Refugee Olympic Team participate at Tokyo Olympics 2021? The answer is YES! The Refugee team will participate in the Olympics 2021. The Refugee team of independent athletes was announced on 8th June. The refugee team IOC code was changed to EOR which is a French acronym for Équipe Olympique des Réfugiés.

List of Independent Olympic Athletes (Refugee Team) At Tokyo Olympics 2021

The Independent Olympic athletes have been successful in winning Olympic medals at the 1992 and 2016 Olympic games. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 29 athletes from 18 countries will participate as part of the refugee team. Check out the list of independent Olympic athletes at the Tokyo Summer Olympics 2021.

Source: Wikipedia

Why is Soccer in Olympics Under 23

Still, a couple of days to go for the Olympics to kick off and few sports events have already begun. Yes, few Olympic events have begun from 21st July 2021. Soccer is one of those events which have started before the Olympics Opening ceremony. As the soccer matches started, many people noticed that the teams participating in the Olympics are under 23 players. So many searches started trending –  Why is Soccer in Olympics Under 23? So in this article, we will discuss the exact reason why most players in soccer are under 23.

Why is Soccer in the Olympics Under 23?

Soccer is a very popular sport in the world. The question of FIFA World Cup vs Olympics – which is the biggest sporting event is often asked. There are well-established players like Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, Sanchez who have a crazy fan base. But still, why do these stars miss the Olympics?

Well, the reason is that the Olympics has set a few guidelines. According to the Olympics, event is under 23 so that Olympics soccer does not overshadow the FIFA World Cup. In the whole squad, Olympics allows 3 players who can be over the age of 23. 

This age limit factor is only for men’s soccer and the rule does not apply for women’s soccer. 

One more logical reason that can be stated is that the Olympics and important football events like Euro, Copa America and Gold Cup fall in the same year. Which makes it repetitive. 

Allowing the Under 23 players to participate in the Olympics often gives the youngsters a golden chance to perform at the highest level. Since the 2020 Olympics was postponed by a year, the age cut-off year has been extended by a year as well. So the covid-19 will not hit anyone’s chance at the Olympics.  

When did the Olympics become under-23 for soccer?

The decision of playing the under 23 squads for the Olympics was taken in 1992. The decision was taken to differentiate and avoid any comparison between Olympics soccer and FIFA World Cup. 

Does the Under-23 rule apply to the women’s soccer Olympic tournament?

No. The under 23 rule does not apply to women’s soccer. All the men’s and women’s teams need to seek prior permission from their respective clubs before participating in the Olympics.

Every Olympic games fan is excited about the games finally taking place after such a long waiting period. Many are searching for important information about the events, interesting titbits about the history of Olympic games and general trivia about the players, venue and the games in the Olympics. While searching about Olympic games, people are also debating which is the biggest event, the Olympics or FIFA World Cup.

The root of this debate can be found in the popularity of soccer all over the world. People have their opinions about each event and can argue that the one they are voting for is the biggest event but we are here, to get to the bottom of this, and find out which event is actually the biggest based on quantitative and qualitative parameters.

Olympics vs FIFA World Cup

Olympics vs FIFA World Cup: Which is the biggest sporting event?

Undoubtedly, both, the Olympics and FIFA World Cup are can be listed as the biggest sporting events. But to see which one is the biggest compared to the other, we are going to look at some parameters. Here are the parameters and comparisons of Olympics vs FIFA World Cup to decide which event is the biggest one.

Viewership

• Olympics: According to the data available about Olympic games played in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the Olympics had 3.6 billion spectators around the world.
• FIFA World Cup: According to FIFA, the average game of the 2018 world cup, out of 64 games, was watched by 191 million people. The 2018 world cup final in Russia had a live viewership of 1.12 billion people.

Clearly, in regards to viewership, Olympic games have the lead.

Ticket Prices

• Olympics: According to seatgeek.com, the average ticket price for London Olympics in 2012 was $2,550. The range of the prices was starting from $31.57 to more than $3,000.
• FIFA World Cup: According to CBSNews.com, the tickets to the final match in the 2014 world cup, which was played between the USA and Germany, had an average cost of $894. The ticket price for finals was around $5,000.

In the aspect of ticket prices, when average prices are compared, the Olympics gets a point but when individual ticket prices for specific events are compared, FIFA gets a point.

Number of Participating Nations

• Olympics: The total number of countries which participated in the London Olympics of 2012 was 204.
• FIFA World Cup: The total number of countries which participated in the FIFA World Cup of 2014 in Brazil was 31.

There is no debate about the Olympics winning this round as more countries participate in the Olympic games than FIFA World Cup.

Winning Prize Money

• Olympics: The revenue of the Olympic games is estimated to be around $5.2 billion. This may seem like a huge amount of revenue but by the time the cost of organizing the Olympic events is subtracted, much smaller amounts of rewards can be given to the players.
• FIFA World Cup: With all the broadcasting rights and sponsorships, the FIFA world cup in Russia in 2018 gathered a revenue of around $6 billion. According to statistics, the prize for the world cup was $791 million.

Even though the gap between revenues gathered from both the events is not huge, the prize money for FIFA winners is definitely more than that of Olympic game-winners.

Trophy

• Olympics: In Olympic games, winners get crowned with gold, silver and bronze medals. These medals hold great significance as the players win it for their countries and get to take those medals home as a token of appreciation for their amazing talent.
• FIFA World Cup: FIFA World Cup has one trophy for the winning team. This trophy has tremendous historical significance as there are only two trophies that have ever been used and are made of 18K gold. The trophy that is currently being used is being used since 1974. The winning team gets to keep it till the next world cup.

Yes. Everyone that gets the Olympic medals gets to keep it but it also means that there are many medals for many people which makes the trophy of FIFA World Cup much more prestigious. When it comes to prestige, the FIFA world cup clearly has a lead.

Final Conclusion: Which is the biggest sporting event?

Olympics is clearly winning in the aspects of participating countries with a huge gap in the numbers when compared to countries participating in FIFA World Cup. Olympics also has a huge amount of fanbase all over the world which contributes to more viewership when compared to that of the FIFA World Cup. But FIFA has great leads at ticket prices as the highest ticket prices and the average ticket prices are greater than that of the Olympics.

When compared to the prize money, FIFA World Cup has more of it than the Olympics. And last but not least, the trophy of the FIFA World Cup is much more prestigious than the Olympic medals.

According to these parameters, the Olympics can be declared to be the biggest sporting event when compared to the FIFA World Cup. But the rising issues of the Olympics and continuous drop in TV ratings and viewership, FIFA World Cup can become the biggest sporting event in the upcoming few years.

List of people who have lit the Olympic Cauldron

What a fantastic Olympic Opening ceremony 2021 it was! It was different from other ceremonies as these games are conducted under strict rules due to pandemic situations across the world. XYZ was honored to light the Olympic Cauldron for Olympics 2021. After watching the Olympic cauldron lighting, many people were looking for a complete list of people who lit the Olympic cauldron from 1836 to date.

The tradition of carrying the Olympic flame was started in 1936. The Olympic flame is carried from the birthplace Olympia, Greece to the host country. The lighting of the Olympic cauldron is the final stage of the opening Olympics games. The Olympic flame enters the stadium and a cauldron is lit which symbolizes the Olympic games have opened. The famous athletes active or retired with significant sporting achievements in their career or any individual with symbolic significance are selected as the final runners who take the torch to lit the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony. 

List of people who have lit the Olympic Cauldron (1936-2020)

As we said earlier, famous sports personalities are selected to light the Olympic cauldron. Paavo Nurmi, nine-time Olympic champion was the first recognized athlete to be honored with this duty. Since then, many have done so. Check the list of people who have lit the Olympic cauldron. All the data listed below has been sourced from Wikipedia. Do contact us if you find any errors with the data.