Manu Bhaker Wins Olympic Bronze | 30 Jul 2024

Why in News?

Recently, Manu Bhaker who hails from Jhajjar, Haryana won a bronze medal in the women’s 10m air pistol event  and bronze at 10m mixed team pistol event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

  • She is the first Indian female shooter to win an Olympic medal.

Key Points

  • Medal in 10m air pistol event is the first medal for India at the Paris 2024 Olympics and the first Olympic medal in shooting for India since the London 2012 Games.
    • She also won bronze at 10m mixed team pistol event along with Sarabjot Singh.
  • She is the fifth Indian shooter to win an Olympic medal, following Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (2004 Athens), Abhinav Bindra (2008 Beijing), Vijay Kumar (2012 London), and Gagan Narang (2012 London).
  • Manu has also won medals at Asian Games (2022), World Championship, Baku (2023), Asian Shooting Championship, Changwon (2023), World Cup, Bhopal (2023), World Championship, Cairo (2022), World University Games, Chengdu (2021) sports events.

Olympics

  • About:
    • The Olympics are an international sporting event that takes place every four years.
      • The goals of the Olympics are to cultivate human beings through sport and contribute to world peace.
    • The Olympics include: Summer Games, Winter Games, Youth Olympics Games.
  • History and Origin:
    • Olympics trace their roots back around 3,000 years to Ancient Greece's Peloponnese region.
    • While the precise starting date remains uncertain, 776 BC is a commonly mentioned year in historical records.
      • The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece in 1896 based on the plan of Pierre de Coubertin.
  • Olympic Rings:
    • The Olympic symbol consists of five interlocking rings of different colors (blue, yellow, black, green, and red) on a white background.
    • These rings represent the five continents of the world and symbolize the unity and diversity of nations through sports.