Indian Olympic Association

India first participated in the Olympics in 1900 in Paris. However, the seeds for creation of an organisation for coordinating the Olympic movement in India started in 1920 and 1924 Olympics, when Sir Dorabji Tata suggested the need for a Sports body at National level for promoting Olympic Sport in united India. After the 1920 Games, the Committee sending the team to these Games met, and, on the advice of Sir Dorabji Tata, invited Dr. A.G. Noehren (Physical Education Director of YMCA India) to also join them. 

Subsequently, in 1923-24, a provisional All India Olympic Committee was set-up, which organised the All India Olympic Games (that later became the National Games of India) in February 1924. Eight athletes from these Games were selected to represent India at the 1924 Paris Summer Olympics, accompanied by manager Harry Crowe Buck. This gave impetus to the development and institutionalization of sports in India, and, in 1927, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was formed, with Sir Dorabji Tata as its founding President and Dr. A.G. Noehren as Secretary.  In the following months Harry Buck and Dr. Noehren travelled across India and helped many States establish their Olympic Associations, as member units of the IOA.

It was in 1927, that the Indian Olympic Association was officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee.

Committees/Commissions of IOA

 

• Ice Hockey
• Ice Skating
• Luge
• Skiing

The genesis of the National Games is in the Olympic movement, which gathered momentum in the country in the 1920s. The first three editions were all held in the city of Lahore. After the eighth edition in 1938 in Calcutta, the event was christened as the National Games. The city of Lucknow hosted the National Games in its first post-independence avatar while the first National Games on the lines of the Olympics were held in 1985 in New Delhi.

The duration and the regulations of the National Games are entirely within the jurisdiction of the Indian Olympic Association. Notwithstanding the frequent periods of stresses and strains, the Olympic Movement has not lost its sheen or vigour. On the contrary, it is strengthening thanks to the involvement of the state governments across the country in creating sophisticated state-of-the-art infrastructure in centres like Guwahati, Ranchi, Kerala and now Goa.

Olympic Bhawan

B-29, Qutub Institutional Area

New Delhi - 110 016, India

Phone: 91-11-2685 2481, 83

Email: ioa@olympic.ind.in