| Pakistan at the Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IOC code | PAK |
| NOC | Pakistan Olympic Association |
| Website | nocpakistan |
| Medals Ranked 78th |
|
| Summer appearances | |
| Winter appearances | |
ThePakistan Olympic Association was created in 1948, while thePakistan Sports Board was established in 1962.
Pakistan first participated in theOlympic Games in1948 in London, and has sent athletes to compete in everySummer Olympic Games since then, except for theAmerican-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in theSoviet Union. It has participated in everyWinter Olympic Games since theVancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, when alpine skierMohammad Abbas became the first Pakistani athlete to qualify for a Winter Olympics event.
Pakistani athletes have won a total of 11 medals, all in the Summer Olympics, including 4 gold medals.Pakistan's men's field hockey team won eight medals in the nine games it participated in between 1956 and 1992. This included a run of 5 consecutive finals between 1956 and 1972, where the Hockey team won 2 gold and 3 silver medals in quick succession.
Arshad Nadeem is the only Pakistani athlete to have won an individual Olympic gold medal and set anOlympic record.[1]
In the Olympic Games up until 1936, athletes from modern-day Pakistan participated as part of theteam from British India. Several gold medalists for India in field hockey were born in what became Pakistan, includingMuhammad Aslam (1932),Lal Shah Bokhari (1932),Sayed Jaffar (1932 and1936),Ali Dara (1936) andPeter Paul Fernandes (1936). Bokhari was also selected as India's flagbearer in the 1932 opening ceremony. All of these men opted to play for Pakistan post independence in 1947. Others made the switch after the 1948 Olympics, such asLatif-ur Rehman andAkhtar Hussain.[2][3]
Pakistan first participated in the1948 Summer Olympics and sent a contingent of 39 athletes that took part across seven different sports. The stand out performers were themen's hockey team who topped their group by beatingBelgium,Denmark,France andNetherlands but lost their semi-final match toGreat Britain 0–2. Pakistan then faced the Netherlands during the bronze medal match. Initially Pakistan drew with the Netherlands 1–1, but during the replay lost 1–4 and had to settle for a 4th placed finish.[4]
During the1952 Summer Olympics, there was much of the same result, with the hockey team reaching the semis where they lost to Netherlands 0–1 and then went on to lose the bronze medal match to Great Britain 1–2. Yet again finishing at the 4th place. Other highlights during the games included theMen's 4 x 100 metres relay team which also reached the semi-finals.[5]
Pakistan men's hockey team's 'Golden Era' began during 1956, when they cruised through to the finals by beatingGreat Britain 3–2 in the semi-final, to set up a clash with arch-rivalsIndia. Pakistan lost the final to India 0–1, but in doing so, secured their first ever Olympic medal, a silver medal. ElsewhereAbdul Khaliq reached the semi-finals of both theMen's 100 metres andMen's 200 metres. As didGhulam Raziq who reached the semi-final of theMen's 110 metres hurdles and Pakistan also reached the semi-finals of theMen's 4 x 100 metres relay.[6]
During the1960 Summer Olympics, the hockey team topped their group by comprehensively beatingAustralia 3–0,Poland 8–0 andJapan 10–0. They then beatGermany 2–1 in the quarter-finals andSpain 1–0 in the semi-final to set up another showdown with India. This time Pakistan came out as the successors and beat India 1–0 in the final to clinch their first ever Olympic gold medal and in the process halted India's run of 6 consecutive gold medals.[7]
In theMen's freestyle welterweight wrestling,Muhammad Bashir made history by reaching the last round and finished 3rd out of 23 wrestlers, to win Pakistan its first ever individual medal and first ever non-Hockey Olympic medal.[7]
At the1964 Summer Olympics the Hockey team continued their good form from the previous Olympics and marched into the semi-finals where they decisively beat Spain 3–0. However, the Hockey team then came undone against India in the final and couldn't replicate the success of four years ago, so they had to settle for a silver medal after losing to India 0–1.[8]
During the1968 Summer Olympics, Pakistan chose to reduce their contingent to only 20 players and focussed only on the sports of Men's Field Hockey and Men's wrestling, as those were the sports where Pakistan had previously achieved success. The Hockey team remained undefeated throughout the group stage to reach the semi-final where they beat Germany 1–0 after extra time, before beating Australia 2–1 in the final to win the gold medal for a second time.[9]
At the1972 Summer Olympics, Pakistan's hockey team played fairly well to reach the semis where they beat India 2–0 before facing West Germany in the finals. The final was marked with controversy with Pakistan being unhappy with the umpiring throughout the match. Pakistan protested against a goal being disallowed, along with a controversial decision to award West Germany a penalty corner through which they scored the only goal of the match and went on to win the gold medal. All eleven Pakistani players who played in the final were later suspended for disorderly and unsporting behaviour during the medal ceremony. ThePakistan Hockey Federation was suspended for 4 years, while the manager of the hockey team and the players involved in the incidents after the final were handed life-time bans. The bans and suspensions were only revoked in 1974, when the thenPrime Minister of Pakistan,Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, personally apologised for the incidents.[10]
For the first time since 1952, Pakistan's hockey team failed to reach the Olympic final at the1976 Summer Olympics. The team topped their group but lost toAustralia 1–2 in the semi-final and only won the bronze medal after defeating theNetherlands 3–2 in the bronze medal match. This was also the first time that field Hockey matches during the Olympics were played onAstroTurf surfaces.[11]
After boycotting the1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow as a protest against theSoviet invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan returned to the1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and picked up from where they had left off. The hockey team ranked 2nd in their group behind Great Britain and made it to the semi-finals where they beat Australia 1–0, before beating West Germany 2–1, to clinch their 3rd Olympic title.[12]
The hockey team had its worst performance yet at the1988 Summer Olympics as they failed to qualify for the semi-finals and finished fifth after beating India 2–1. However,Hussain Shah saved the country from embarrassment.[13]
Hussain Shah received a bye in the round of 64, before cruising through the rounds to reach the semi-final, guaranteeing himself a bronze medal. He lost the semi-final toEgerton Marcus, but ended up as joint 3rd place to win Pakistan its first ever individual medal in boxing and only the second ever individual medal after the bronze medal won by Muhammad Bashir in 1960.[14]
After the debacle in Seoul 1988, the hockey team went about business as usual and topped their group by remaining unbeaten in the1992 Summer Olympics. They did lose the semi-final toGermany 1–2, but came from behind in the bronze medal match to beat theNetherlands 4–3 and won the bronze medal.[15]
The decline in Olympics for Pakistan coincides with the decline in the fortunes of their hockey team.[16][17] The hockey team failed to win an Olympic medal during this time period. With the only highlight being when the hockey team reached the semi-finals during the2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, but lost toSouth Korea 0–1 and then lost the bronze medal match to Australia 3–6.[18] It all culminated with 2016 being the worst ever games for Pakistan, as the Hockey team failed to qualify,[19] and none of Pakistan's athletes managed to make it out of their preliminary rounds.[20]
10 athletes represented Pakistan at the2020 Summer Olympics.[21] Resurgence from Pakistan began on the back of performances fromArshad Nadeem andTalha Talib. Arshad Nadeem made history by becoming the first Pakistani athlete to qualify for the Olympics directly and then qualifying for the final with a throw of 85.16m where he topped his group and was 3rd amongst the qualifiers. But he failed to replicate that performance in the final and mentioned the nerves of the occasion getting to him. He ended up on 5th place with a throw of 84.62m in the Final.[22][23] Talha Talib during his Men's 67kg weightlifting event, lifted 150kg during the snatch round, which placed him in 2nd place. But lifted 170kg during the clean and jerk round, which placed him 7th in the round, and 5th overall. He missed out on a bronze medal by just 2kgs.[24][25]
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Pakistan sent a contingent of 7 athletes to participate at the2024 Summer Olympics.[26] Arshad Nadeem made history for Pakistan by becoming the first ever Pakistani to win an individual Olympic gold medal with an Olympic record throw of 92.97m. Arshad also threw another 90m+ throw, with his last throw being 91.79m, which was also longer than the Olympic record of 90.57m set in Beijing 2008. Arshad's gold medal was the first gold medal won by Pakistan since 1984, the first Olympic medal won since 1992, and his throw of 92.97m was also the 6th longest throw in history, when considering only the best throw from each athlete.[27][28][29][1]
| Games | Athletes | Athletes by sport | Medals | Total | Rank | Ref. | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  | _pictogram.svg) |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |||||
| 1900–1936 | as part of India | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1948 London | 39 | 5 | - | 3 | 2 | 19 | - | - | - | 4 | - | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | 0 | – | [4] |
| 1952 Helsinki | 44 | 16 | - | 4 | 2 | 18 | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | 0 | – | [5] |
| 1956 Melbourne | 62 | 19 | - | 6 | 4 | 18 | - | - | 2 | 3 | - | 3 | 6 | - | 1 | - | 1 | 31 | [6] |
| 1960 Rome | 49 | 12 | - | 4 | 2 | 18 | - | - | 4 | - | - | 2 | 7 | 1 | - | 1 | 2 | 20 | [7] |
| 1964 Tokyo | 41 | 6 | - | 4 | 4 | 18 | - | - | 5 | - | - | 1 | 6 | - | 1 | - | 1 | 30 | [8] |
| 1968 Mexico City | 20 | - | - | - | - | 18 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | 1 | - | - | 1 | 29 | [9] |
| 1972 Munich | 25 | 5 | - | 2 | - | 18 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | 1 | - | 1 | 33 | [10] |
| 1976 Montreal | 24 | 2 | - | 2 | - | 16 | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 | - | - | 1 | 1 | 37 | [11] |
| 1980 Moscow | did not participate | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1984 Los Angeles | 29 | 3 | - | 4 | - | 16 | - | 6 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 1 | - | - | 1 | 25 | [12] |
| 1988 Seoul | 31 | 7 | - | 2 | - | 16 | - | 2 | - | - | 1 | - | 3 | - | - | 1 | 1 | 46 | [14] |
| 1992 Barcelona | 27 | 4 | - | 4 | - | 16 | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | 1 | 54 | [15] |
| 1996 Atlanta | 24 | 2 | - | 4 | - | 16 | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | 0 | – | [16] |
| 2000 Sydney | 27 | 2 | - | 4 | - | 16 | - | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | – | [18] |
| 2004 Athens | 26 | 2 | - | 5 | - | 16 | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | – | [17] |
| 2008 Beijing | 21 | 2 | - | - | - | 16 | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | – | |
| 2012 London | 21 | 2 | - | - | - | 16 | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | – | |
| 2016 Rio de Janeiro | 7 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | – | [19][20] |
| 2020 Tokyo | 10 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 3 | 2 | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | – | [21] |
| 2024 Paris | 7 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | 62 | [26] |
| 2028 Los Angeles | future event | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2032 Brisbane | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 78 | ||||||||||||||
| Games | Athletes | Athletes by sport | Medals | Total | Rank | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  | | | | |||||
| 1924–2006 | did not participate | ||||||||
| 2010 Vancouver | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | – | |
| 2014 Sochi | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | – | |
| 2018 Pyeongchang | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | 0 | – | [30] |
| 2022 Beijing | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | – | |
| 2026 Milano Cortina | future event | ||||||||
| 2030 French Alps | future event | ||||||||
| 2034 Salt Lake City | future event | ||||||||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | ||||
| Medals by sport | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sport |  Gold |  Silver |  Bronze | Total | Rank | |
 Field hockey | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 6 | |
 Athletics | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 74 | |
 Boxing | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 74 | |
 Wrestling | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 65 | |
| Totals (4 entries) | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 78 | |
Here is the complete list of Pakistani medalists at the Olympics over the years.[31]
| Medal | Medalist | Games | Sport | Event | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silver |  1956 Melbourne | Field hockey | Men's tournament | 6 December 1956 | |
| Gold |  1960 Rome | Field hockey | Men's tournament | 9 September 1960 | |
| Bronze | Muhammad Bashir | Wrestling | Men's freestyle welterweight | 6 September 1960 | |
| Silver |  1964 Tokyo | Field hockey | Men's tournament | 23 October 1964 | |
| Gold |  1968 Mexico City | Field hockey | Men's tournament | 26 October 1968 | |
| Silver |  1972 Munich | Field hockey | Men's tournament | 10 September 1972 | |
| Bronze |  1976 Montreal | Field hockey | Men's tournament | 30 July 1976 | |
| Gold |  1984 Los Angeles | Field hockey | Men's tournament | 11 August 1984 | |
| Bronze | Hussain Shah |  1988 Seoul | Boxing | Men's middleweight | 27 September 1988 |
| Bronze |  1992 Barcelona | Field hockey | Men's tournament | 8 August 1992 | |
| Gold | Arshad Nadeem |  2024 Paris | Athletics | Men's javelin throw | 8 August 2024 |
| Team |  1948 |  1952 | 1956 | 1960 |  1964 | 1968 | 1972 | 1976 |  1980 | 1984 |  1988 | 1992 | 1996 | 2000 |  2004 |  2008 | 2012 |  2016 | 2020 | 2024 | 2028 | 2032 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Pakistan | 4th | 4th | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | DNP | 1st | 5th | 3rd | 6th | 4th | 5th | 8th | 7th | DNQ | TBD | 16 | |||
TBD(to be determined),DNQ(did not qualify),DNP(did not participate)
,National field hockey team,National field hockey team,Muhammad Bashir,Wrestling,Arshad Nadeem,Javelin throw| Athlete(s) | Event | Games | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muhammad Iqbal | Men's hammer throw | 1956 Melbourne | 11th place (56.97m) |
| Muhammad Iqbal | Men's hammer throw | 1960 Rome | 12th place (61.79m) |
| Muhammad Bashir | Wrestling – Men's freestyle welterweight | 1960 Rome | 3rd place |
| Hussain Shah | Boxing – Men's Middleweight | 1988 Seoul | 3rd place |
| Talha Talib | Weightlifting – Men's 67 kg | 2020 Tokyo | 5th place (320 kg) |
| Arshad Nadeem | Men's javelin throw | 2020 Tokyo | 5th place (84.62m) |
| Arshad Nadeem | Men's javelin throw | 2024 Paris | 1st place (92.97m)OR |
| Athlete(s) | Event | Games | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muhammad Aslam, Abdul Aziz, Muhammad Shariff Butt, Muhammad Fazil | Men's 4 x 100 metres relay | 1952 Helsinki | Semi-Final |
| Abdul Khaliq | Men's 100 metres | 1956 Melbourne | 4th in Semi-Final heat |
| Abdul Khaliq | Men's 200 metres | 1956 Melbourne | 4th in Semi-Final heat – Stands in top seven athletes |
| Ghulam Raziq | Men's 110 metres hurdles | 1956 Melbourne | Semi-Final |
| Abdul Aziz, Muhammad Sharif Butt, Abdul Khaliq, Ghulam Raziq | Men's 4 x 100 metres relay | 1956 Melbourne | Semi-Final |
| Ghulam Raziq | Men's 110 metres hurdles | 1960 Rome | 4th in Semi-Final heat |
| Abdul Malik, Muhammad Ramzan Ali, Ghulam Raziq, Abdul Khaliq | Men's 4 x 100 metres relay | 1960 Rome | Semi-Final |
| Bashir Ahmed,Mohammad Sadaqat,Mohammad Afzal,Muhammad Fayyaz | Men's 4 × 400 metres relay | 1988 Seoul | Semi-Final |
| |
