India Below Pakistan in Paris Olympics Medal Table and Desis are Delirious

India, even after winning five medals at Paris Olympics, trails Pakistan in the overall medal standings, and people are finding it hard to wrap their heads around it. Pakistan with just one medal at the Games this year is ranked 53rd, while India sits at 63rd. This surprising outcome has ignited widespread discussion and confusion on social media, with many declaring it as the “black day in Indian sports history”. Some even called it “India’s worst Olympics performance” so far. However, what they are missing is the Olympic ranking system, which prioritises gold medals over silver and bronze. Pakistan’s solitary gold medal, compared to India’s five medals, has propelled it ten spots higher in the rankings.

Read| Pakistan Relives 1992 World Cup Glory After Arshad Nadeem’s Historic 92 m Javelin Throw at Paris Olympics

Here’s how X users reacted to Pakistan outshining India in Olympic rankings despite medal haul:

“Out of context Pakistan,” is what an X user wrote while sharing a screenshot of the Paris 2024 Olympic Medal Table.

Another wrote, “Me watching India finish below Pakistan in Olympics medal table,” as he shared a picture of Ranbir Kapoor in tears from 2023 action film Animal.

“India potentially finishing below Pakistan in the Olympics should be an eye opener of our level in sports if it wasnt already. Progress hasnt been fast enough and not enough is being done. We are decades away from Top 20,” shared yet another Internet user.

Another expressed, “This is as bad as Champions Trophy final of 2017. With crores and crores of investment if India is finishing below Pakistan in medal’s tally then that’s disappointing.”

This X user shared that Paris Olympics is a “mental torture for Indians”.

“Despite India’s 117-athlete contingent, they might rank below Pakistan’s 7-athlete team, thanks to Arshad Nadeem’s historic javelin gold,” shared a person on the microblogging platform.

An Internet user even said that this is India’s “worst Olympics Performance after so many good Olympics”, adding that it will be the first time that India will be below Pakistan in Olympics medal tally, while another declared it as the “black day in Indian sports history”.

Olympics ranking system

The Olympic medal tally is determined primarily by the number of gold medals a country wins. A gold medal carries more weight than a silver or bronze. If two nations have the same gold medal count, the country with more silver medals ranks higher. If there’s a tie in both gold and silver, the bronze medal tally is the deciding factor. So, in this case, even though India has more medals than Pakistan, it doesn’t have a gold medal. This means that Pakistan’s recent gold medal, all thanks to javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem, helped it rank higher than India.