India at London OLYMPICS

India is scheduled to take part in the 2012 Summer Olympics to be held in London from 27 July to 12 August 2012. The Indian government plans to spend over 250 crores in preparing for the games, including around 20 crores on foreign coaches for various events. Ajit Pal Singh has been named the chef de mission of the Indian contingent by the IOA. India will send an 83-member athlete team to London; this will be India's largest contingent ever at the games.In India you can, the live telecast of all the 2012 London Olympic events in which Indian athletes are competing will be shown on Doordarshan (DD) and ESPN Star Sports.

The first authentic Indian team took part at the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games in athletics and wrestling. A National Olympic Committee was finally formed in 1927. India's greatest successes at the Olympics have come in men's hockey. They won every men's title from 1928 to 1956. In 1960 they reached the final but lost to Pakistan to end the sequence.

India first participated at the Olympic Games in 1900, with a lone athlete (Norman Pritchard) winning two medals in athletics. Famous Indian artist Chintamoni Kar also participated in london olympics 1948 in the event of Sculpture and he won silver medel by creating a statue named "The Stag". The nation first sent a team to the Summer Olympic Games in 1920, and has participated in every Summer Games since then. India has also competed at several Winter Olympic Games since 1964.. The 1920 team consisted of two wrestlers, two athletes and a manager. Out of the four sportsmen, only Mr. Phadeppa Dareppa Chaugule completed his event that is the Marathon. He ranked 19th with a timing of 2 Hours 50 Minutes 45.4 Seconds for a distance of 42 .750 KMs. He thus becomes India's first Olympic Marathon runner. It was indeed a great achievement for an Indian to participate and to complete the event amidst many serious adversities. Indian athletes have won a total of 20 medals, mostly in field hockey. For a period of time, India's men's field hockey team was dominant in Olympic competition, winning eleven medals in twelve Olympics between 1928 and 1980, including six successive gold medals from 1928–1956.

The National Olympic Committee for India is the Indian Olympic Association, and was created in 1927.
The 2008 Summer Olympics was the most successful Olympics ever for India with the nation winning three Olympic medals in three different sports and also winning first individual Olympic gold medal won by Abhinav Bindra.