The 32nd edition of the Olympic 2020 Tokyo Olympics was started from July 23rd and completed on August 8th, 2021. Originally it was scheduled from July to August 2020, but got postponed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic spreading swiftly across many countries of the globe.
- Important – Tokyo has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1964 thereby becoming the first Asian city to host Summer Olympics twice.
Highlights of Tokyo Olympics 2020-21
- The name ‘Tokyo 2020’ is not changed to ‘Tokyo 2021’ because of marketing and branding reasons.
- It is the first such delay in the Olympic Games’ 124-year modern history.
- The motto of Tokyo Olympics 2020 was ‘United By Motion’. However, On 20th July, 2021, the Olympic motto was updated to “Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together”.
- The mascot of Tokyo Olympics 2020 is Miraitowa; created by Ryo Taniguchi. It is derived from the Japanese words Mirai (future) and Towa (eternity). The mascot embodies both the old and the new, echoing the concept of “innovation from harmony”.
- Over 11,000 athletes from 206 nations will compete in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics across a total of 46 sports, five of which will feature at the Olympics for the first time.
- 5 New games were introduced along with fifteen new events including Baseball/Softball, Karate, Skateboarding, Surfing and Sport Climbing.
- China became the first nation to bag gold in the Tokyo Olympics. Qian Yang won the medal in the women’s 10-meter air rifle competition, narrowly beating Russia’s Anastasiia Galashina.
The United States of America finished at the top of the medal tally as they bagged a total of 113 medals.
On the other hand, India came up with their best performance as they finished the Tokyo Olympics at 48th place with seven medals. Thus, India was able to go past their previous best performance of the London Olympics in 2012, in which they had won six medals.
Tokyo Olympics 2020: List of Winners from India
- Neeraj Chopra: Javelin Throw
- Mirabai Chanu: Weightlifting
- PV Sindhu: Badminton
- Lovlina Borgohain: Boxing
- Men’s Hockey Team
- Ravi Dahiya: Wrestling
- Bajrang Punia: Wrestling
Neeraj Chopra:
- Neeraj Chopra won the first ever Gold in athletics from India. He won at Tokyo Olympics 2020 in Javelin throw with the best winning throw of 87.58 metres in the final to win the gold.
- The second place holder was Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch and Vitezslav Vesely won the bronze medal. Neeraj won the first ever Gold medal at the Olympics since Abhinav Bindra’s win at the Beijing Olympics 2008.
Mirabai Chanu:
- Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu has won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics. This was India’s first medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. She lifted the total weight of 202 kilograms in the Women’s category of 49 kgs. Chanu lost to Hou Zhihui of China who won the Gold medal. She was way ahead of Indonesia’s Windy Aisah who won Bronze. She won the second medal in weightlifting for India ever. Previously the medal in this category has been won by Karnam Malleswari. She won the medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
PV Sindhu:
- PV Sindhu has won the second medal at the Olympics this year including the Bronze she has won at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. She won Silver medal at Rio Olympics 2016. She defeated China’s He Bing Jiao by 21-13, 21-15 for the Bronze medal.
Lovlina Borgohain
- Lovlina Borgohain has also become the second Indian female boxer, after MC Mary Kom, to win an Olympic bronze.
- Lovlina Borgohain has won India’s third medal at Tokyo Olympics 2020. She is now the third Indian boxer to win bronze at the Olympics after Vijender Singh won bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Mary Kom won bronze at the 2012 London Olympics.
- She won bronze medal after going down 0-5 against Busenaz Surmeneli from Turkey in 69kg welterweight semifinals on August 4, 2021.
Ravi Dahiya:
- Ravi Dahiya has won a Silver medal in Wrestling (Freestyle) at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. He won in the 57 kg weight category. He also has won a Bronze medal in 2019 World Wrestling Championships and is a two time Asian champion. This year he lost the final bout to ROC’s Zavur Uguev by 4-7. Uguev faced a great challenger in Dahiya who pushed him to his limits in the entire match.
Bajrang Punia:
- Punia is the only Indian wrestler to have won three medals in the World Wrestling Bajrang Championships. He plays inthe 65 kg weight category and has won the Bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 this year. He defeated Kazakhstan’s Daulet Niyazbekov by 8-0 in men’s category and lost to Azerbaijan’s Haji Aliyev in the semi finals of Tokyo Olympics 2020.
Indian Hockey Team (Men’s): Indian Men Hockey team has won a medal at the Olympics after 4 decades. This year has been a splendid performance by the men in blue. They defeated Germany in a 5-4 comeback match victory. This helped them clinch the bronze medal at the Olympics after 41 years to be precise. Last medal was won by India at Moscow Olympic s in 1980.
| Next Summer/Winter Olympics List | |
| Beijing – China | 2022 Winter Olympics |
| Paris – France | 2024 Summer Olympics |
| Milano Cortina – Italy | 2026 Winter Olympics |
| LOs Angeles – United States | 2028 Summer Olympics |
Q1. Who was the first Indian to win two individual Olympic Medals?
(a) PV Sindhu
(b) Abhinav Bindra
(c) Sushil Kumar
(d) Karnam Malleswari
Answer: C
Q2. What is the Mascot of Tokyo Olympics 2020?
(a) Miraitowa
(b) Vinicius
(c) Miga
(d) Pandi
Answer: A
Q3. Which Indian wrestler is going to represent India at Tokyo Olympics 2020 in Men’s 65 kg category?
(a). Bajrang Punia
(b).Ravi Dahiya
(c).Yogeshwar Dutt
(d). Amit Dahiya
Answer: A
Q4. Who of the following athletes has won the maximum number of individual gold medals at a single Olympics?
(a) Mark Sptiz
(b) Carl Lewis
(c) Michael Phelps
(d) Matt Biondi
Answer: C
Q5. The five rings of the Olympic symbol are in five different colours. Red, Green, Yellow, Blue and _____?
(a) Indigo
(b) Black
(c) Orange
(d) Violet
Answer: B
