[10][11] The first indigenous Indians to compete at the games were sprinter Purma Bannerjee, and distance runners Phadeppa Chaugule and Sadashir Datar at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics.

[16] The country was less successful at the 1954 Asian Games, though Parduman Singh Brar managed a shot put/javelin double and Christine Brown, Stephie D'Souza, Violet Peters, Mary D'Souza Sequeira gave India its first women athletics gold medal, taking the 4 × 100 metres relay title.

[17] Milkha Singh was India's first athlete to gain success at a global level, earning the nickname "The Flying Sikh".

Kamaljeet Sandhu became the first Indian female athlete to win an individual Asian Games gold medal, taking the 1970 title in the 400 metres.

Charles Borromeo (long jump), Chand Ram (racewalking), Bahadur Singh Chouhan, and M. D. Valsamma (hurdles) all won gold with games record performances.

Women's runner Shiny Wilson led the nation with two golds and a silver at the 1991 Asian Athletics Championships.

Men's distance runner Bahadur Prasad set national records and took a gold and a silver medal at the 1993 Asian Athletics Championships.

The 1994 Asian Games highlighted India's fall at regional level again: with zero golds, women's runners Usha, Wilson and Kutty Saramma were involved in the nation's minor medals.

[29] The 2002 Asian Games saw India return as a force at regional level, winning seven gold and 17 medals overall in athletics.

[17] Anju Bobby George made history when she won the bronze medal in Women's long jump at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics in Paris.

[32] This was part of an Indian sweep of the women's discus, with Harwant Kaur and Seema Punia taking the minor medals.

India won the second highest number of athletics gold medals there, with Akkunji and Joseph Abraham winning the 400 m hurdles titles, and women's distance runners Preeja Sreedharan and Sudha Singh also topping the podium.

[34] India performed well in the discus throw at the 2012 London Olympics, with Krishna Poonia and Vikas Gowda both making the finals.

Irfan Kolothum Thodi also placed tenth in the men's 20 km walk with a national record time.

The women's 4 × 400 metres relay team set an Asian Games record at that competition, with Priyanka Pawar, Tintu Lukka, Mandeep Kaur, and M. R. Poovamma clocking 3:28:68.

The nation's gold medals at the 2015 Asian Athletics Championships were divided between men's throws (Inderjeet Singh and Vikas Gowda) and women's distance track events (Lalita Babar and Tintu Luka).

[36] Lalita Babar was the best performing Indian athlete at the 2016 Summer Olympics, placing tenth in the women's steeplechase.

[11][42] In 2022, Awinash Sable and Priyanka Goswami created history by winning silver medals in 3000 m and 10,000 m steeplechase and racewalking at the Commonwealth Games, events in which India has historically been an underdog.

In 2001, Indian athlete and swimmer Pratima Gaonkar committed suicide after disclosure and public commentary on her failed sex verification test.

[48] Another gold medallist at that competition, Pinki Pramanik, underwent medical tests in November 2012 that indicated she was a "male pseudo-hermaphrodite".

In doing so the court immediately suspended the practice of hyperandrogenism regulation used by the IAAF and declared it void unless the organization could present better evidence by July 2017.