Let's take a look at famous Olympian, Abhinav Apjit Bindra's most disturbing phase, when he went into depression despite winning India's first individual gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Abhinav Apjit Bindra, better known as Abhinav Bindra has engraved his status as one of the greatest athletes in India's history. Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, India had eight gold medals but all of them came in Men's Hockey. However, during the Beijing Olympics, Abhinav Bindra won a gold medal in the Men's 10m air rifle shooting and brought the first individual gold to India. With a shooting total of 700.5, he registered his name in Olympic history.
It was a huge moment for the nation, as it was the first-ever gold medal an individual won for India. Apart from a gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Abhinav Bindra won a gold medal in the 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships, and four gold medals in Commonwealth Games (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014). Talking about Abhinav Bindra's medal tally at the Asian Games, he had won a silver medal at 2010 Guangzhou and two bronze medals at 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
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In a career spanning 22 years, Abhinav Bindra has won 150 medals. For his incredible contribution to sports, he was bestowed with several prestigious awards, including Padma Bhushan, Arjuna Award, Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, and many more. Upon winning the gold medal for India at the Beijing Olympics, Abhinav Bindra received lakhs and crores in cash prizes from the government of India and different state governments.
After bidding farewell to shooting, Abhinav Bindra is running his company, Abhinav Futuristics Private Limited and non-profit organisation, Abhinav Bindra Foundation. Not only this, he also takes care of Abhinav Bindra Sports Medicine and Research Institute, which is in Bhubaneswar. Apart from his personal endeavours, he was also elected as the second Vice Chair of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Athletes' Commission in 2024.
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Abhinav Bindra's life turned upside down when he won the gold medal for India. However, there's a lesser-known part to it. For the unversed, after winning the gold medal, Abhinav received a lot of love and recognition from across the world. While in India, he was treated as a superstar and received a lot of awards. He had trained for 16 years in order to fulfil his dream of winning a gold medal at the Olympics, but once he achieved it, he had no aim or ambition left in his life.
It was a strange moment for Abhinav Bindra, and over the decades, we have seen many sportspeople going through the same sense of loneliness after achieving what they've dreamt of since childhood. Opening up about the same in an interview with a news portal, Abhinav Bindra admitted that he went so deep in depression that there came a point when he wanted to quit shooting. He was simply clueless in his life and labelled it as the 'most difficult moment' of his life. He said:
"It is strange that the biggest mental crisis of my life actually came when I achieved success. Before I recorded my biggest victory in Beijing, I trained for 16 years with only one goal and passion in life that I want to win a gold medal in the Olympics. This goal came true but there was a huge void in my life. I think it was quite challenging. I was depressed. I did not know what to do with my life and what to do next. This was probably the most difficult moment of my life."
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Another surprising thing about Abhinav Bindra is that he is reportedly unmarried at the age of 41. The former shooter spent most of his youthful years training to get a gold medal in the Olympics and couldn't think about his personal life. However, as per multiple reports, Abhinav's parents wanted him to get married, but he always dodged the topic of marriage. Hence, as of now, in his early 40s, he is unmarried, and it will be interesting to see him getting married in the future. However, as per multiple reports, he isn't quite interested in the concept of marriage.
What are your thoughts on Abhinav Bindra's battle with depression after winning the Olympic gold medal for India? Let us know.
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