K. D. Jadhav

After Norman Pritchard who won two silver medals in athletics in 1900 under colonial India, Khashaba was the first individual athlete from independent India to win a medal at the Olympics.

In the years before Khashaba, India would only win gold medals in field hockey, a team sport.

He is the only Indian Olympic medalist who never received a Padma Award.

Khashaba was extremely nimble on his feet, which made him different from other wrestlers of his time.

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav, (15 January 1926 – 14 August 1984) was an Indian freestyle wrestler.

He did his schooling in Tilak High School in Karad taluka of Satara district between 1940 and 1947.

He grew up in a household that lived and breathed wrestling.

He participated in the Quit India Movement providing shelter and a hiding place to the revolutionaries, circulating letters against the British were some of his contributions to the movement.

He resolved to unfurl the tricolor flag in Olympic on Independence Day 15 August 1947.

His father Dadasaheb was a wrestling coach and he initiated Khashaba into wrestling at the age of five.

His wrestling mentors in college were Baburao Balawde and Belapuri Guruji.

His success in wrestling did not avoid him from getting good grades.

He participated in quit India movement.He resolved to unfurl the tri-color flag in Olympics on Independence Day 15 August 1947.

English coach Rees Gardner saw this trait in him and trained him prior to the 1948 Olympic games.

He belonged to Goleshwar village near Karad.

Starting his wrestling career in 1948, he first came into lime-light at the 1948 London Olympics when he finished 6th in the flyweight category.

He was the first Indian to achieve such a high a position in the individual category until 1948.

Despite being new to wrestling on a mat as well as the international rules of wrestling, Jadhav's 6th-place finish was no mean feat at that time.

For the next four years, Jadhav trained even harder for the Helsinki Olympics where he moved up one weight category and participated in the bantamweight category (57 kg) which saw wrestlers from twenty-four different countries.

He went on to defeat wrestlers from countries like Mexico, Germany and Canada, before losing his semi-final bout, but he came back stronger to win the bronze medal which made him the first ever individual Olympic medalist of independent India.

Jadhav's first feel of the big stage was at the 1948 London Olympics; his journey was funded by the Maharaja of Kolhapur.

During his stay in London, he was trained by Rees Gardner, a former lightweight World champion from the United States.

It was Gardner's guidance that saw Jadhav finish sixth in the flyweight section, despite being unfamiliar with wrestling on the mat.

He stunned the audience by defeating the Australian wrestler Bert Harris in the first few minutes of the bout.

He went on to defeat Billy Jernigan of the US, but lost to Mansour Raeisi of Iran, to be eliminated from the Games.

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For the next four years, Jadhav trained even harder for the Helsinki Olympics where he moved up in weight and participated in the 125 lb bantamweight category which saw wrestlers from twenty-four countries, he increased the tempo of his preparation for the next Olympics in Helsinki.

After the marathon bout, he was asked to fight Soviet Union's Rashid Mammadbeyov.

As per the rules a rest of at least 30 minutes were required between bouts, but no Indian official was available to press his case, a tired Jadhav, failed to inspire and Mammadbeyov cashed in on the chance to reach the final.

Best known for winning bronze medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki.

He was the first athlete from independent India to win an individual medal in the Olympics.

Defeating the wrestlers from Canada, Mexico and Germany, he won bronze medal on 23 July 1952 thereby creating history by becoming Independent India's first individual medal winner.

Khashaba's colleague, Krishnarao Mangave a wrestler, also participated in the same Olympics in another category but missed the bronze medal by just one point.

He was posthumously awarded Arjuna Award in 2000 for his contribution to wrestling.

Born in a village called Goleshwar in Karad taluka of District Satara in Maharashtra State, KD Jadhav was the youngest of five sons of a renowned wrestler Dadasaheb Jadhav.