New Delhi, Aug. 6 -- India's tale at the Paris 2024 Olympics has been a series of 'what-ifs' for athletes Lakshya Sen, Arjun Babuta, Dhiraj Bommadevara, Ankita Bhakat, and Manu Bhaker. After battling their hearts out and coming so close to winning a bronze medal in their events, the players missed a podium finish. Then again; this is what the Olympics is all about, where one point, or one-five hundredth of a second can make a difference. The five fourth-place finishes witnessed by the Indian contingent in Paris the most in a single edition of the Games.Indian shooter Arjun Babuta came close to a podium finish in the men's 10m air rifle final at the Paris 2024 Olympics, securing fourth place with a score of 208.4. Croatia's Miran Maricic edged him out for the bronze with a score of 209.8, leaving Babuta just 1.4 points shy of a medal.India's Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat achieved a historic fourth-place finish in the mixed-team archery event at the Paris 2024 Olympics. They faced the USA's Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold in the bronze medal match but lost 6-2. This marked India's best result in Olympic archery. Bommadevara and Bhakat made history by becoming the first Indian archers to reach the semi-finals in the Olympics.Manu Bhaker fell short of securing a third consecutive Olympic medal in Paris 2024 in the women's 25m air pistol shooting final. Despite being among the top three for much of the competition, a series of poor shots near the end caused her to drop to fourth place after a shoot-off against Hungary's Veronika Major. In the decisive shoot-off, Bhaker missed two targets, while Major missed only one.India's badminton wonderkid Lakshya Sen looked on course to becoming the first male shuttler from the country to win the medal at the Olympics, but his run came to a screeching halt, following a loss to Denmark's Victor Axelsen in the semi-final and then at the hands of Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia. Against Axelsen, Lakshya squandered three game points in the first game and gave away a 7-0 lead in the second. In the bronze-medal match, Lakshya took the opening game 2-1 before conceding nine points in a row, an assault from which he never recovered, crushing his dreams of winning an Olympic medal.Adding to the shooting misses, India's Maheshwari Chauhan and Anant Jeet Singh Naruka narrowly missed a historic bronze medal in the skeet mixed team event at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The duo qualified for the bronze medal match after a strong performance in the qualification round, scoring 146 out of 150. However, they ultimately fell short 43-44, losing to China by a single point, finishing in fourth place overall.Despite coming so agonisingly close, they players join a list of other decorated Indian athletes who finished fourth in the previous Olympics but are champions nonetheless. Let's look at the remaining 17 Indian athletes who came fourth in their respective events at the Olympics.Randhir Shinde, competing in the men's 54kg freestyle wrestling at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, missed a medal.

He displayed impressive skill but lost in the bronze medal playoff after earlier victories against competitors from Great Britain and the USA. His efforts set a precedent for future Indian wrestlers.Freestyle wrestler Keshav Mangave advanced to Round 5 of his event but was eventually defeated in a decisive match against Josiah Henson of the USA.The Indian football team reached the semifinals at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, becoming the first Asian team to do so. Coached by Syed Abdul Rahim, they defeated Australia in the quarter-finals, which saw Neville D'Souza become the first Asian to record a hat-trick at the Olympics. They then lost to Yugoslavia 4-1 in the semis and Bulgaria in the bronze medal match, finishing fourth.Milkha Singh, also known as 'The Flying Sikh,' finished fourth in the men's 400m at the 1960 Rome Olympics. In a dramatic photo finish, he missed the bronze by just 0.1 seconds. Singh's performance remains one of India's most memorable moments in Olympic athletics.Prem Nath trained under the legendary Indian coach Guru Hanuman. He competed in the 1972 Munich Olympics, finishing fourth in the 57kg freestyle wrestling category. He battled fiercely up to the seventh round, collecting nine penalty points and narrowly missing out on a medal. According to Olympics.com, wrestling scores were determined by assigning penalties for losses in the past. After completing all preliminary rounds, the three wrestlers with the fewest penalty points were awarded medals. His performance at the Olympics earned him the prestigious Arjuna Award in India.Sudesh Kumar competed in the men's 52kg freestyle wrestling at the Munich 1972 Olympics, achieving a fourth-place finish for India; he collected seven penalty points.One of India's most celebrated athletes, PT Usha, missed a medal by finishing fourth in the women's 400m hurdles at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics. She was famously called the Payyoli Express and missed the bronze medal by one-hundredth of a second.Rajinder Singh finished fourth in the men's 74kg freestyle wrestling at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics, adding another chapter to the story of Indian wrestlers who came very close to a medal. He lost to Saban Sejdi in the final round of his bronze medal match.

The iconic tennis duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati finished fourth in the men's doubles event at the Athens 2004 Olympics, missing out on a medal in a closely contested match. They lost 7(7)-6(5), 4-6, 16-14 to Croatia's Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic.Kunjarani Devi nearly secured a medal at the Athens 2004 Olympics in the women's 48kg weightlifting category. According to Olympics.com, she lifted 82.5kg in the snatch and 107.5kg in the clean and jerk, totaling 190kg. Despite her impressive performance, she finished just shy of the medal positions, with the bronze medalist lifting 200kg.Joydeep Karmakar performed strongly in the men's 50m rifle-prone shooting at the London 2012 Olympics, finishing fourth. His final score was 699.1, whereas third-placed Rajmond Debevec scored 701.0.Many expected Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra to recreate his 2008 Beijing Olympics magic. Still, he narrowly missed another medal to finish fourth in the men's 10m air rifle event at the Rio 2016 Olympics. He shot 10 in the shoot-off against Ukraine's Serhiy Kulish, who shot 10.5.Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna, a mixed doubles tennis pair, reached the semifinals of the 2016 Olympics, ultimately finishing fourth. They lost to Radek Stepanek and Lucie Hradecka 6-1, 7-5.Dipa Karmakar was the first Indian gymnast to reach the finals, finishing fourth in the women's vault at the Rio 2016 Olympics. She missed the bronze medal by a mere 0.150 points. In the event, she landed the highly challenging Produnova Vault.Aditi Ashok delivered an impressive performance in women's golf at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, finishing fourth place just outside the medal position. In her second Olympic appearance, Ashok excelled from the outset and maintained a position in the top three through the first three rounds but ultimately slipped to fourth in the final round.The Indian women's hockey team achieved a historic fourth-place finish at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, their best-ever performance in Olympic history. Led by Rani Rampal, they lost 4-3 to Great Britain.Wrestler Deepak Punia missed out on a bronze medal, finishing fourth in the men's 86kg category at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.Disclaimer: All information updated till August 5, 2024.

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