Winning a medal at the Olympics is every athlete's dream. If that's a gold medal, you can cherish that moment for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, at each Olympic Games, only 3 (and in some cases 4), athletes win medals. Those who miss the medal are left to die in agony. Those who take it as motivation compete in the next Olympics.

As such, many Indian athletes have experienced that feeling, coming very close to winning and missing out on a medal. India has won a total of 35 medals in Olympic history including 10 gold medals. Indian men's hockey team won 8 gold medals out of it. The remaining two were won by Abhinav Bindra (2010) and Neeraj Chopra (2020).

However, many more Indian athletes have gone on to win medals at the Olympics. But unfortunately finished with fourth place. In this case, here are the top 5 Indian athletes who came so close to winning and missed out on a medal.

1. Milkha Singh (1960 Rome Olympics)

Legendary Indian sprinter Milkha Singh was one of India's earliest sporting superstars. Milkha Singh became the first Indian to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games. But the Rome Olympics ended in agony for him.

Milkha Singh, fondly called the 'Flying Sikh', competed in the 400m race at the 1960 Rome Olympics. But he ran mysteriously slow with 250 meters to go. So, he was preceded by Otis Davis and Carl Kaufman.

Milkha Singh and Malcolm Spence had neck-to-neck finishes. In the end, Milkha Singh missed the cut by 0.1 seconds.

It is noteworthy that Milkha Singh's biography has been filmed under the name 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag'.

2. PT Usha (1984 Los Angeles Olympics)

Another global athletic figure is PT Usha, the current Indian Olympic Association president. Adults who see girls running fast in rural areas would sarcastically say, 'She runs like PT Usha'. PD Usha is known for his tremendous speed. Entering the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, he held the Asian record.

In the 400m hurdles, PT Usha was trailing Morocco's Nawal El Moudawagal and USA's Judy Brown. That meant she battled Romania's Christiana Cojocaru for bronze. Both then finished within seconds of each other. PT Usha missed out on the bronze medal by 0.01 seconds.

3. Deepa Karmakar – 2016 Rio Olympics

Deepa Karmakar, who became the first Indian gymnast to win a medal for the country at the Commonwealth Games, qualified for the finals in the vault event at the 2016 Rio Olympics with a score of 14.833. He was heavily tipped to win a medal, but despite an inspiring performance in the final, Karmakar missed out on the bronze medal by 0.15 points.

4. Abhinav Bindra – 2016 Rio Olympics

Abhinav Bindra became the first individual athlete to win a gold medal for India at the 2020 Olympics. He came close to winning his second Olympic medal in Rio. In the preliminary round, Bindra secured his place by finishing seventh. However, he lost dramatically in the final round and eventually finished fourth.

5. Aditi Ashok – 2020 Tokyo Olympics

The professional golf circuit Despite being ranked 200th, Aditi Ashok became the first Indian golfer to reach the finals. She was consistently among the medal places in the women's individual stroke play event. However, things took a turn for the worse after Round 4.

New Zealand's Lydia Ko and Japan's Inami Monin overtook Aditi after a late wobble. As a result, he finished fourth.

It is also noteworthy that Sania Mirza – Rohan Bopanna in 2016, Leander Paes – Mahesh Bhupathi in 2004 Athens Olympics, Deepak Punia in 2020 Tokyo Olympics lost the bronze medal and finished fourth.

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