Sushil Kumar (born 26 May 1983) is a former

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n wrestler and two-time Olympic medallist. His 2008 Olympic bronze medal was only the second for India in wrestling, and the first since Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav's bronze medal at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

. In July 2009, he received the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna – India's highest honour for sportspersons. On 3 October 2010, Kumar handed the

Queen's Baton The King's Baton Relay is a relay around the world held prior to the beginning of the Commonwealth Games. The baton carries a message from the Head of the Commonwealth, currently King Charles III. The relay traditionally begins at Buckingham P ...

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

in the

Queen's Baton Relay The King's Baton Relay is a relay around the world held prior to the beginning of the Commonwealth Games. The baton carries a message from the Head of the Commonwealth, currently King Charles III. The relay traditionally begins at Buckingham P ...

for the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

.CBC, 2010 Commonwealth Games, Opening Ceremonies, airdate 3 October 2010, 9:00am-12:30pm (Eastern), c. 2h20m mark, CBC Television main network"CWG Opening ceremony: Live Blog"
, Geetika Rustagi, ''3 October 2010'' (Retrieved 5 October 2010) He carried the Indian flag at the opening ceremony of 2012 London Olympics. Sushil won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

in the 74 kg division at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

. Sushil won the gold medal in the 74 kg division at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

. He is the first and only Indian to win a gold medal at

World Wrestling Championships The World Wrestling Championships for Greco-Roman wrestling (men, since 1904) and freestyle wrestling (men since 1951, women since 1987) are organized by United World Wrestling (UWW). Unofficial editions Several World Greco-Roman Championships h ...

. He was accused of involvement in a brawl that led to the death of Sagar Dhankhar at Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi in 2021 and is currently in Tihar jail facing charges related to the gruesome murder.

Career

Kumar started training in

pehlwani Pehlwani, also known as Kushti, is a form of wrestling contested in the Indian subcontinent. It was developed in the Mughal Empire by combining Persian Pahlevani and zoorkhaneh rituals, Koshti pahlevani with influences from native Indian Malla- ...

at the Chhatrasal Stadium's ''akhada'' at the age of 14. He was trained at the ''akhada'' by Yashvir and Ramphal, later by Arjuna awardee Satpal and then at the

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

camp by Gyan Singh and Rajkumar Baisla

Gurjar The Gurjar (or Gujjar, Gujar, Gurjara) are an agricultural ethnic community, residing mainly in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were traditionally involved in agriculture, pastoral and nomadic ...

. After switching to

freestyle wrestling Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. It is one of two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games, along with Greco-Roman wrestling, Greco-Roman. scholastic wrestling, High school wrestling and men's collegiate wrestling in the U ...

Kumar's first success came at the World Cadet Games in 1998 where he won the gold medal in his weight category, followed by a gold at the Asian Junior Wrestling Championship in 2000. Moving out of the junior competitions, in 2003 Kumar won the bronze medal at the

Asian Wrestling Championships Asian Wrestling Championships is the Wrestling Asian Championship organized by the Asian Associated Wrestling Committee (AAWC). The men's tournament began in 1979 and The women's tournament was first staged in 1996, and it has been held every year ...

and a gold at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships. Kumar placed fourth at the 2003 World Championships, but this went largely unnoticed by the Indian media as he fared badly in the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in Athens, placing 14th in the 60 kg weight class. He won gold medals at the Commonwealth wrestling Championships in 2005 and 2007. He placed seventh in the 2007 World Championships and won a bronze medal at the

2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

in Beijing. He won a silver medal at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, becoming the first person to win two Olympic medals for independent India. Kumar was awarded the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

in 2006 and a coveted

Padma Shree The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

by the Indian Government in 2011.

2008 Beijing Olympics

Kumar lost to

Andriy Stadnik Andriy Volodymyrovych Stadnik (Андрій Володимирович Стаднік, born 15 April 1982) is a male wrestling, wrestler from Ukraine. He won a silver medal in the Wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle 66 kg, M ...

in the first round of the 66 kg freestyle wrestling event, leaving his medal hopes hinging on the

repechage Repechage ( , ; , ) is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round. A well-known example is the wild card system. Types Different type ...

. He defeated Doug Schwab in the first repechage round and

Albert Batyrov Albert Batyrov (born November 2, 1981, in Vladikavkaz) is a male freestyle wrestler from Belarus. He participated in Wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle 66 kg, Men's freestyle 66 kg at 2008 Summer Olympics. In the 1/8 of final ...

in the second round. In the bronze medal match on 20 August 2008, Kumar beat Leonid Spiridonov 3:1. Kumar disclosed that he had no masseur during the three bouts he won within a span of 70 minutes to take the bronze. The team manager Kartar Singh who is a former Asian Games medallist acted as the masseur for him between the bouts.

2010 World Wrestling Championships, Moscow

At the

2010 World Wrestling Championships The 2010 World Wrestling Championships were held at the Olympic Stadium (Moscow), Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia. The event took place between September 6 to September 12, 2010. Medal table Team ranking Medal summary Men's freestyle Me ...

Kumar became the first Indian to win a world title in wrestling. He beat the local favourite Alan Gogaev of Russia 3–1 in the finals in the 66 kg category.

2010 Commonwealth Games, Delhi

Kumar won gold medal at the

held in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

on 10 October 2010. He beat

Heinrich Barnes Heinrich Barnes (born 12 December 1986, in Pretoria, South Africa) is a South African former Freestyle wrestling, freestyle and Collegiate wrestling, folkstyle Wrestling, wrestler. He participated in the Wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – ...

7–0 in the finals in the 66 kg freestyle wrestling category. The bout was stopped by the referee in the second round. Earlier, in the semifinals, Kumar defeated Famara Jarjou 3–0 within 9 seconds. In the quarterfinals, Kumar defeated Pakistani opponent Muhammad Salman 10–0 in 46 seconds.

2012 London Olympics

Kumar won a silver medal after losing the final to Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu. Earlier, he had entered the final amid some controversy by beating Kazakhastan's Akzhurek Tanatarov in the semifinal. The Kazakh athlete claimed Kumar had bitten his ear, which was denied by the latter. Kumar was the Olympic flag bearer for India at the opening ceremony. This win made him the first Indian to win 2 individual Olympic medals since India's independence.

2014 Commonwealth Games, Glasgow

Kumar defeated Qamar Abbas in the 74 kg final to win the gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. He won in 107 seconds by fall.

2018 Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast, Australia

Kumar won gold in 74 kg category on 12 April 2018, Thursday, beating South Africa’s Johannes Botha in the final that lasted 80 seconds thus achieving a feat of winning 3 gold medals in 3 consecutive Commonwealth Games.

International competition

Summer Olympics

World Championship

Personal life

Kumar was born in a Jat family in Baprola village, near

Najafgarh Najafgarh is a town in the South West Delhi, South West Delhi district of National Capital Territory of Delhi, India. It is one of the three subdivisions of the Southwest Delhi district. Najafgarh is located on outskirts of NCT Delhi in south we ...

South West Delhi South West Delhi (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Dakṣinṇa Paścima Dillī'') is one of the eleven administrative districts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India. Kapashera serves as the administrative headquarters of South West Delhi. Sout ...

. His father, Diwan Singh, was a driver in MTNL Delhi, while his mother, Kamla Devi, is a housewife. Kumar was inspired to take up wrestling by his father, himself a wrestler, and his cousin Sandeep Solanki. Sandeep later stopped competing as the family could only support one wrestler. Kumar trained in

wrestling at the '' akhada'' (wrestling school) in the Chhatrasal Stadium from the age of 14. With minimal funds and poor training facilities for wrestling in India, even for the 2008 Olympic team, his family made sure he obtained the necessary dietary supplements by sending him tinned milk,

ghee Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from South Asia. It is commonly used for cooking, as a Traditional medicine of India, traditional medicine, and for Hinduism, Hindu religious rituals. Description Ghee is typically prepared by ...

and fresh vegetables. He is a devoted Hindu and a strict vegetarian. He completed his Graduation (B.P.E.) and Post-Graduation (M.P.E.) from the Noida College of Physical Education, Dadri. Kumar is presently employed with the

as an assistant commercial manager. Currently, He is in Tihar Jail, Delhi facing trial for the murder of, rival wrestler Sagar Dhankar, rioting and using a deadly weapon.

Commercial endorsements and media

Kumar endorses brands such as

Mountain Dew Mountain Dew, stylized as Mtn Dew in some countries and colloquially known as Dew in some areas, is a soft drink brand owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in 1940 by Tennessee beverage Bottler (company), bottlers Barney and A ...

, Eicher tractors, and the National Egg Coordination Committee which earns him annually. He refused the offer of to appear in a surrogate ad for a leading liquor brand. He appeared in the Indian

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

'' Carve Your Destiny'' by Anubhav Srivastava. Kumar also served as a judge on

MTV India MTV is an Indian pay television channel specialising in music, reality and youth culture programming. It was launched in 1996 as the Indian version of the original American network and is owned by JioStar, under a license agreement with Par ...

's reality television series '' MTV Roadies''. Other media appearances include in ''

The Kapil Sharma Show ''The Kapil Sharma Show'', also known as TKSS, is an Indian Hindi language stand-up comedy and talk show broadcast by Sony Entertainment Television. Hosted by Kapil Sharma, the first season of the show premiered on 23 April 2016. The series ...

'' and '' Comedy Nights with Kapil''.

Awards, rewards and recognition

, 2005 * Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award (joint), India's highest sporting honour. *

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

, 2011 ; For the bronze medal at 2008 Beijing Olympics * cash award and promotion to Assistant Commercial Manager from chief ticketing inspector by Railway Ministry (his employer) * cash award from the Delhi Government. * award by the

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

Government. * cash award by the Steel Ministry of India. * cash award by R K Global * DSP Rank in the

Haryana Police The Haryana Police Department is the law enforcement agency for the state of Haryana, India. Present DGP of Haryana Police is Shatrujeet Singh Kapoor since August 16, 2023. He is an IPS officer of 1990 batch. History The Haryana Police were ...

. * cash award by the Maharashtra State Government. * cash award from

MTNL Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (abbreviated as MTNL) () is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited. Headquartered in New Delhi, India. MTNL provides services in the metro cities of Mumbai and New Delhi in India and in the i ...

. ; For the gold medal at 2010 World Wrestling Championships * cash award from Indian Railways (his employer) & out-of-turn promotion from his current position of Asst. Commercial Manager. * cash award from

Sports Authority of India The Sports Authority of India, SAI, was set up in 1984 to carry forward the legacy of the 1982 Asian Games held in New Delhi under the Department of Sports. SAl has been entrusted with promoting sport in India and achieving sporting excellen ...

(

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

). * cash award from the Delhi Government. ; For the silver medal at 2012 London Olympics * cash reward from the Delhi Government. * cash reward from the Haryana Government. * cash reward from the Indian Railways. * Land in

Sonipat Sonipat is a planned industrial city and administrative headquarter in Sonipat district of Haryana state of India. It comes under the National Capital Region and is around from New Delhi. It lies 214 km (128 miles) southwest of Chandigar ...

for a Wrestling academy by the Haryana Government. * cash award from ONGC.

Criminal case and Controversies

The Delhi Police arrested Sushil Kumar in connection with the murder of former junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankhar during a brawl in the Chhatrasal Stadium on 4 May 2021. After arresting Kumar,

Delhi Police The Delhi Police (DP) is the law enforcement agency for the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Delhi Police falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. In 2024, the sanctioned strength of Delhi Police w ...

presented him at the Rohini District Court where he was placed in a six-day remand. In October 2021, a judge ordered Kumar continue to be held without bail. The decision was reached after arguments from both sides, and a review of evidence from the prosecution, including a video taken by an alleged accomplice of a man purported to be Kumar engaged in the attack.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Sushil 1983 births Indian male sport wrestlers 21st-century Indian sportsmen Living people Olympic wrestlers for India People from South West Delhi district Sport wrestlers from Delhi Sport wrestlers from Haryana Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Wrestlers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Wrestlers at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Asian Games medalists in wrestling Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Commonwealth Games gold medallists in wrestling Indian Hindus Olympic medalists in wrestling Olympic bronze medalists for India Olympic silver medalists for India Recipients of the Khel Ratna Award Recipients of the Arjuna Award Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports World Wrestling Championships medalists Asian Games bronze medalists for India Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Wrestlers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Wrestling Championships medalists Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games