The 2024 Paris Paralympics have been a history-making and the most successful campaign by an Indian contingent at Paralympics. The Indian team won a total of 29 Medals which included 7 Gold Medals. India finished 18th out of 170 countries. It was the first Top 20 finish for India. There are a number of Paralympics athletes who have won multiple medals across different editions of the Paralympics.
Let’s look at the Top 5 Greatest Paralympic Athletes of all time
1) Devendra Jhajharia – Javelin Throw
Devendra Jhajharia is one of only 4 Paralympics Athletes who have won 3 Medals at different Paralympics editions. He is the one who is the greatest of all time because out of the 3 Medals he has won for India, 2 out of them are Gold Medals and the third is a Silver Medal. He has won these medals at the 2004, 2016 and 2020 Paralympics. He played the sport of Javelin Throw and looking at him., India has become a dominant force in Javelin Throw. Sumit Antil, Navdeep Singh are the ones who have followed in his footsteps and won the Gold Medal. He is the current President of the Paralympic Committee of India. His father while dropping him at the airport before the 2004 Paralympic Games told him that if he wins the Gold Medal then he will bring in change for Paralympics in India and that is what Devendra Jhajharia did.
2) Avani Lekhara – Shooting
Avani Lekhara has already become one of the greatest Paralympic Athletes for India after only participating in 2 editions of the Games. She has won 2 Gold Medals In the 10M Air Rifle individual event at the 2020 and 2024 Paralympics with a Paralympic record. She has also won a Bronze Medal in the 50M Rifle 3 Positions Event in 2020 in Tokyo. Avani Lekhara has at least 3 more Paralympic Games in her and she can be the greatest of all time with more than 5 Medals combined. She is also the only shooting star for India to have won 2 Gold Medals in different Olympics or Paralympics Games. Her inspiration was Abhinav Bindra and she has gone one better than him. She has Mona Agarwal, Ruhina Francis as fellow female shooters in the Paralympics. Manish Narwal has also won 2 Medals for India at Paralympics in shooting.
3) Mariyappan Thangavelu – High Jump
The high jumper from India is at number 3 in this list. Mariyappan Thangavelu was the face of Indian Para Athletics along with Devendra Jhajharia. He won his first Medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics where he won the Gold Medal. In 2020 at Tokyo he won the Silver Medal and at Paris Paralympics 2024 he won the Bronze Medal. He is the only Athlete in the history of Indian Paralympics to have a Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal. He has been the inspiration for young high jumpers such as Nishad Kumar, Sharad Kumar, Praveen Kumar. He will look to make it 4 Medals at the Los Angeles Paralympics in 2028.
4) Harvinder Singh – Archery
Archery has been a sport where India has not done well at the Olympics or Paralympics. However, one man was looking forward to changing that. Harvinder Singh has to be in this list of the Greatest Indian Paralympics Athletes of all time. At Tokyo 2020 he became the first Archer to win a Medal at the Paralympics. Harvinder Singh arrived at Paris and he wanted to change the color of his medal. On the day of the event, he was in remarkable form as he won 5 Matches in one day to win the Gold Medal for India. This was one of the greatest achievements for India at this level and hopefully this gives an inspiration to even the Olympic Archers of India. The way he was shooting in the deciding shots of each match was a testament to his hardwork and practice. Sheetal Devi is a superstar and she will also join him in winning Gold Medals for India.
5) Sumit Antil – Javelin Throw
The only Indian Athlete In the Paralympics with a perfect record as he has won 2 Gold Medals in his events at Tokyo and Paris. Sumit Antil has become a face for Javelin Throw in India along with Neeraj Chopra. Sumit Antil won the first Gold Medal at Tokyo where he broke the Paralympic Record 3 times in 6 Throws. There was simply no competition to him. He was the favorite to win the Gold Medal again. He crossed the 70M mark in Paris to once again break the Paralympic Record twice in the 6 Throws. Sumit Antil still has 2 more Paralympic Games at the top level and he can become the first Indian Athlete to win 3 Consecutive Gold Medals in 3 Paralympic Games. His dream is to compete with the able bodied athletes in the Javelin Throw at the Olympics.
