India At Winter Olympic Games: Recap Of Nation's Medal-Less 58-Year Journey

India stand on unsure footing, days ahead of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics. Having earned two quotas for the upcoming edition, the status of the athlete competing for one of them is still under dispute amid a selection controversy.

The first quota was earned by alpine skier Arif Khan, who qualified for the Games on the basis of his world ranking. It's the second one that is in contention: Stanzin Lundup has been picked for cross country skiing, with another skier Manjeet moving the Delhi High Court to challenge the decision made by the ad hoc committee appointed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

In his petition, Manjeet contended that he had been overlooked despite being placed number one in the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) rankings. The Delhi High Court later came down hard on the IOA, ruling that the exclusion of Manjeet from the two-member Indian team was "manifestly arbitrary and unfair".

The 2026 edition of the Winter Olympics will be held across the Italian cities of Milano and Cortina d’Ampezzo from February 6 to 22. This will be the fourth time Italy will be hosting the multi-sport meet.

This edition will feature 116 medal events across 16 disciplines, an increase of seven events and one discipline over Beijing 2022. Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra has been selected as a torchbearer for the quadrennial showpiece.

India's History At Winter Olympics

Milano-Cortina 2026 will mark India's 12th appearance at the Winter Olympics. Though the Games began all the way back in 1924, it took the nation 40 years to send its first athlete there. His name was Jeremy Bujakowski.

Born in Lithuania to Polish parents before moving to India, Bujakowski competed in the men's downhill alpine skiing event at the 1964 Games in Austria. He couldn’t complete his race then but returned to compete in three events - men’s downhill, slalom and giant slalom – at the 1968 edition.

Post that, there was a 20-year lull. India made a comeback to the Winter Olympics at the Calgary 1988 Games in Canada. After skipping the succeeding 1992 Games, Indians have taken part in all editions of the Games since then.

Shailaja Kumar became the first Indian woman to compete at the Winter Olympics in 1988 with an invitational slot in slalom, while Neha Ahuja featured in women’s slalom and giant slalom, 18 years later in Turin, by meeting the qualifying standards. Till date, Kumar and Ahuja remain the only two women Winter Olympians from the country.

Like Bujakowski in 1964 and 1968, India have sent a sole entry three other times (Shiva Keshavan in 1998 and 2002, and Arif Mohammed Khan in 2022). Three athletes were sent in 1988, 2010 and 2014, and two athletes in 1992 and 2018. There have been 16 Winter Olympians in all, over 11 editions.

The most number of athletes (four) was in 2006 when Hira Lal, Bahadur Gupta and Keshavan accompanied Ahuja. Luge veteran Keshavan is the only athlete to have competed in six editions, and he retired after the 2018 Games. India have not bagged any medal in the marquee event's history yet.