India won its 12th medal in men's hockey by defeating Germany 5-4 in the bronze medal match in Tokyo. It is their first medal in 41 years, and perhaps the celebration may have looked a little different for the bronze earned by a nation with eight gold medals.
But why is this such a big deal? To assess this you have to turn the clock back to 1980, and what has come since.
July 1980: India won the gold medal by defeating Spain 4–3 in the 1980 final in Moscow.
January 1982: India is hosting the World Cup in Bombay for the first time. The 1975 champions still have the core of the Moscow side together, and are hoping to catch up with arch-rivals Pakistan on two World Cup victories. However, they lost to Australia in the group stages and failed to make the knockouts.
December 1982: There is a stir in New Delhi as India and Pakistan face off in the final of the Asian Games. Chance for India to win Asian gold for the first time in 16 years. India lost 7–1, with goalkeeper Mir Ranjan Negi being criticized for his performance.
August 1996: India failed to make an Olympic knockout for the fourth consecutive Olympics, and then dropped to eighth in the classification. This is his worst ending ever. Later that year, Madras hosts the Champions Trophy, where India has not won a medal since 1982. They lost 5–0 to Germany in the match for third place.
December 1998: India won its first Asian Games gold in 32 years in Bangkok, defeating South Korea 4–2 on penalties after the match ended 1–1 after extra time. Goalkeeper Ashish Ballal saved two penalty strokes. Mysteriously, when India next play, six players from the winning team are 'rested', including Ballal.
September 2000: India is on the verge of reaching the semi-finals of the Olympics for the first time in 28 years. They put Poland 1–0 ahead but Tomasz Schiele scored in the last minute and the match ended in a draw. Korea, who defeated India 2–0, leads instead of India, even though both have similar figures, in favor and against the target.
October 2001: India won the Junior World Cup in Hobart by defeating Argentina 6–1 in the final. A new generation of stars – Devesh Chauhan, Viren Rasquinha, Jugraj Singh, Deepak Thakur, Gagan Ajit Singh, Prabhjot Singh – attracted attention and soon became India's regulars.
2004: The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) launched the Premier Hockey League (PHL).
December 2006: India fails to finish on the podium of the Asian Games for the first time. Pairing with Korea, China, Bangladesh and Oman, they failed to win more than two matches. the worst is yet to come...
March 2008: India plays an Olympic qualifier event in Santiago, Chile. He scored 39 goals and conceded just eight in the group stages, losing a 3–2 thriller to Great Britain. Both teams finish on top and then meet in the final, and this time India lost 0–2. India will not be a part of the Olympics for the first time.
October 2010: Commonwealth Games final in Delhi and India, losing only to Australia in the group stages. India stops for 18 minutes and then it all goes horribly wrong. Australia won 8-0.
July 2011: The IHF, which was dissolved in 2008, and the newly formed Hockey India (HI) decide to put the lawsuit aside and work together for hockey. However, a year later the old faction introduced the World Series of Hockey (WSH). A new rift has cropped up between the two, as HI launched the Hockey India League (HIL) in 2013.
August 2012: London offers lowest points on the Olympic playing field. India are eliminated - they have lost all their pool games including New Zealand and Korea. They then lost their match to South Africa for 11th place.
October 2014: India clinch Asian Games gold after 16 years through a shootout with PR Sreejesh Starr. They defeated defending champions Pakistan, and booked their place in the Olympics.
December 2015: India earned bronze in the second edition of the World League Final, effectively their first medal at an FIH event since the 1982 Champions Trophy bronze. They defeated Netherlands via a shootout in Raipur.
June 2016: India reach the final of the Champions Trophy for the first time, but lose to Australia in a shootout.
August 2016: India reached the knockout rounds of the Olympics for the first time since 1980, but lost to Belgium. Argentina, whom India had defeated in the group stages, won the gold medal.
December 2016: India beat Belgium to win their second Junior World Cup title. It is a home victory, with coach Harendra Singh's batch providing a substantial portion of the Tokyo team.
2018: India failed to make the podium at the Commonwealth Games after winning two consecutive silver medals, losing to New Zealand in the semi-finals. They did a little better at the Asian Games, beating Pakistan 2-1 to win the bronze medal. In between they make another Champions Trophy final in Breda, and again lose to Australia on a shootout.
December 2018: India lose to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Bhubaneswar. Harendra Singh, who himself was brought on board after working with the women's team at the expense of former (and current) women's coach Sjoerd Marin, is let go.
November 2019: Under new coach Graham Reid, India make it to the Olympics with an easy two-leg win against Russia in Bhubaneswar.
March 2020: The COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdown strikes at the worst possible time as India, playing in the Pro League for the first time, register home victories against Netherlands, Belgium and Australia to start their campaign. Their only other matches are away from defending Olympic champions Argentina, whom they beat on penalties and 3–0 on consecutive days in April 2021.
August 2021: After the start of their Olympic campaign, India registered four consecutive victories, including the quarter-finals, against Great Britain. They lost 5–2 to Belgium in the semi-finals, but two days later they won their first Olympic medal in 41 years.