For Students, Teachers, Researchers & Press
Research & Education
Free, citable material on Khashaba Jadhav — assembled so that his story can be taught, reported and researched accurately.
Quick Reference
Fact Sheet
| Full name | Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav |
|---|---|
| Also known as | K. D. Jadhav; “The Pocket Dynamo”; Kusteeveer |
| Born | 15 January 1926, Goleshwar, Karad taluka, Satara district, Bombay Presidency, British India |
| Died | 14 August 1984, near Karad, Maharashtra, India (motorcycle accident) |
| Father | Dadasaheb Jadhav, wrestler; Khashaba was the youngest of five sons |
| Education | Tilak High School, Karad; Rajaram College, Kolhapur |
| Sport | Freestyle wrestling |
| Physical | Approx. 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in); approx. 54 kg |
| Signature technique | The dhak — headlock and throw |
| 1948 Olympics | London; flyweight freestyle; 6th place |
| 1952 Olympics | Helsinki; bantamweight freestyle (52–57 kg); bronze medal, 23 July 1952 — independent India's first individual Olympic medal |
| 1952 venue | Messuhalli (Töölö Sports Hall), Helsinki; 20–23 July; 20 wrestlers from 20 nations |
| Career | Maharashtra Police, 1955–1982; retired as Assistant Police Commissioner |
| Honours | Chhatrapati Puraskar (1992–93, posthumous); Arjuna Award (2000, posthumous); K. D. Jadhav Indoor Hall, New Delhi (2010); Google Doodle (2023) |
| Not awarded | Widely noted as the only Indian Olympic medallist never to receive a Padma award |
For the Classroom
Teaching Khashaba Jadhav
His life is unusually well suited to teaching, because it sits at the intersection of sport, the end of the princely states, and the first decade of independent India.
Discussion themes
Talent versus opportunity; how a newly independent state chose to support (or not support) its athletes; the transition from princely patronage to public administration; how nations decide whom to remember.
Cross-subject links
History (Independence, integration of the princely states, the early Cold War); Physical Education (traditional kusti versus Olympic freestyle); Civics (public honours, state support for sport).
Starter questions
Why did India wait 44 years for its next individual medal? What does it say that his journey was funded by a mortgaged house? What is the right way for a country to honour an athlete?
Free to Download
The Classroom Pack
A one-page biography, a timeline poster and a twelve-question quiz with answer key — each available in English, Hindi and Marathi. Print, photocopy and use freely; please keep the credit line.
One-Page Fact Sheet
Quick-reference facts and his story in six steps, on a single printable page.
Timeline Poster
An eleven-point illustrated timeline from birth to centenary, sized for a classroom wall.
For Journalists
Press Kit
Journalists and documentary makers are welcome to use the material on this site. Please credit khashaba.in and, where relevant, the original photograph sources named beside each image.
Suggested standfirst
Points reporters most often get wrong
- Birth year. 1926, not 1925 — making 2026 his birth centenary.
- Weight class. Bantamweight in 1952; he had competed at flyweight in 1948.
- “India's first Olympic medal.” India had won team gold in field hockey well before 1952. Khashaba's was the first individual medal of independent India.
- Norman Pritchard. Pritchard's 1900 silvers predate him, but were won under the British Raj and remain historically contested; Khashaba's is the first for a free India.
- Bout order. Sources conflict on the sequence of his final two bouts — see the note on the Helsinki page.
For interviews with the family or the Foundation, please contact the Foundation and mark your message “Archive/Media”.
Sources
Where This Archive's Facts Come From
This site aims to be accurate rather than merely stirring. Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than smoothed over. Principal sources:
- Olympics.com — athlete profile and feature
- Wikipedia — K. D. Jadhav
- Wrestling at the 1952 Summer Olympics — men's freestyle bantamweight (round-by-round record)
- ESPN — Khashaba Jadhav wins bronze at Helsinki
- The Bridge — the “what could have been” story
- ThePrint — on the missing Padma award
- Olympedia — athlete profile
- Rediff.com — “Khashaba Jhadhav, the hero we owe an apology to” (2000)
Corrections are welcome and will be acted on. If you can document an error, please tell the Foundation.