Today’s Google holiday logo celebrates the 97th birthday of Indian wrestler Khashab Dadasaheb Jadhav. Khashaba became the first independent Indian athlete to win an Olympic medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki.
Khashaba Dadasheb Jadhav was born on this day in 1926 in the village of Goleshwar in Maharashtra, India. His father was one of the best wrestlers in the village and Jadhav inherited athletics from him. After excelling as a swimmer and runner, 10-year-old Jadhav began training with his father as a wrestler.
Although Jadhav only grew to 5’5, his skillful approach and light feet made him one of the best high school wrestlers. With further coaching from his father and professional wrestlers, Jadhav won several state and national titles. He was particularly good at the dhak, a wrestling move in which he held his opponent by the head before throwing him to the ground.
Jadhav’s continued success earned him the attention of the Maharaja of Kolhapur in the 1940s. After dominating Raja Ram’s college action, the Maharaja of Kolhapur decided to finance his participation in the 1948 London Olympics. Jadhav was not used to the international rules of wrestling and rarely wrestled on regulation mats. The Olympics pitted him against the best and most experienced flyweight wrestlers in the world. Despite this, he managed to place 6th, which was the highest ranking for an Indian wrestler at that time.
Dissatisfied with his performance, Jadhav spent the next four years training harder than ever before. He moved up a weight class to bantamweight, which featured even more international wrestlers. At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Jadhav defeated wrestlers from Germany, Mexico and Canada before losing to the eventual winner. He won a bronze medal and became the first medalist from independent India. Crowds awaited his return home and a procession of bullock carts took him through his native village.
Jadhav injured his knee before the next Olympics, ending his wrestling career. He later worked as a police officer. He was awarded the Chhatrapati Puraskar posthumously by the Government of Maharashtra in 1992-1993. The wrestling ground built for the 20210 Commonwealth Games in Delhi was named in his honour.
Happy Birthday Khashaba Dadasheb Jadhav (aka “Pocket Dynamo”)!
