Keshav Datt, who won two consecutive Olympic golds in 1948 and 1952, recollects the experience
It is the proudest moment of my life – standing on the winners podium at the Wembley Stadium in London with the Indian anthem being played there for the first time. What made the victory even special was the fact that we were the first team of Independent India to win gold medal at the Olympics. Going into the 1948 London Games, it was a difficult time for entire Indian contingent, with partition still fresh in everyones mind.
The real competition for us, in the Games, was when we entered the semi-finals stage. We scraped pass Holland on a sluggish pitch at Wembley setting up a title clash against the hosts.
It was difficult for us to adapt to the conditions as on the same pitch football matches were played in the morning and hockey in the afternoon. Also the wet weather did not favour us. On the day of finals, the entire Royal Family of England had come to watch the match, expecting England to win after they upset Pakistan in the semi finals. But to their disappointment, we won 4-0. The 1952 Olympics in Helsinki was significant since we were then expected to defend the title successfully. By then, the conditions in Europe as well as India had changed considerably. We did that successfully, beating the Dutchmen 6-1. Today, whenever I wish to relive those moments, I often go through a scrap book I have maintained and look back at our golden past, hoping to see yet another Indian team winning the gold. —As told to Mihir S. Vasavda