Looking Back At 2004 Athens Olympics: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore India’s Lone Shining Star in Greek Capital

New Delhi: The 2004 Summer Olympic Games was the first time since the 1996 event that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance and it was the first time that Athens hosted the Games since 1896 that the Olympics returned to its birthplace. USA topped the medal tally with 101 medals in Athens which included 36 gold, 39 silver and 26 bronze followed by China who won 63 medals and Russia who had 90 but with only 28 gold as compared to 32 won by the Chinese.

India returned with only one medal from the Athens Olympics with shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore winning the silver in the men’s double trap event. The famed tennis doubles duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi came back empty-handed and so did weightlifter Kunjarani Devi. It was a disappointing return with 73 Indian athletes making the trip for a solitary medal.