When an Englishman played for India
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, shooter Manu Bhaker became the first female sportsperson from India to win two medals in the same edition of the Olympics. She’s also only the second athlete from India to achieve this honor. The first was Norman Pritchard.
Norman Gilbert Pritchard — a British-Indian born in Calcutta in 1875 — is recognized as the first representative from India to take part in the Olympic Games, having done so at the 2nd modern Olympic event held in Paris — in 1900. Pritchard was a member of the Bengal Presidency Athletics Club and was the 100 yards sprint champion of Bengal from 1894 to 1900. Also, a football enthusiast, he is the scorer of the first documented hat-trick in Indian football. Pritchard also served as Secretary of the Indian Football Association.
In 1900, while holidaying in Europe, Pritchard joined the London Athletics Club and participated in the AAA (Amateur Athletics Association of England) Championship where he competed with several Olympics-bound athletes. Pritchard’s impressive showing in the competition set the wheels in motion for his Olympics participation.
Pritchard continued to turn heads at the Olympics too. He participated in five events and reached the finals in three of them — winning the silver medals in 200 meter sprint and 200 meter hurdles. In fact, he could have had a hat-trick of medals as well.
Pritchard was also considered a strong medal contender for the 110 meter hurdles, the third event in which he made the finals. Unfortunately, according to some contemporary accounts, he tripped over one of the hurdles and fell, hence failing to complete the race.
Whose history/victory is it?
However, India then being under British rule, Pritchard could not participate under the Indian flag. According to the Olympics Programme of Paris 1900, his participation in some events was listed under ‘Great Britain’ and some under ‘British India’.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), however, credits Pritchard’s medals to India, making him the first ever Olympic medalist from not just India but also Asia. Pritchard later shifted to the USA where he had a successful acting career — first on Broadway and then in silent films in Hollywood — using the screen name Norman Trevor.
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