In Athens 2004, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore walked into the Olympic final ranked fifth after a disappointing qualification round. Fifth. In a six-man final. By every rational calculation, he was not supposed to win a medal.
He won silver. India’s first individual Olympic silver since independence. And the story of how he got there — not just to Athens, but to the podium from fifth place — is the most honest explanation of what he means when he tells Rajasthan’s youth: “असफलता आपको ग्रो करती है इसलिए इससे निराश ना हों।” Failure grows you. Do not be discouraged by it.
The Journey Nobody Talks About
Most people know the Athens silver. Fewer know what came before it. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore only took up shooting seriously in 1998, at age 28, when the Indian Army decided to form a shooting team. He had no early start. No junior championship history. One year after picking up the sport professionally, the Kargil War broke out. His rifle went back in its case. His regiment went to the border.
- 1998 Starts shooting seriously at age 28 — late by any competitive standard
- 1999 Kargil War — leaves shooting, serves on the front. Regiment earns Army Chief’s Citation.
- 2002 Commonwealth Games gold in Manchester — new record of 192/200, still standing
- 2003 World Championship bronze — India’s first shooting medal in 40 years
- 2004 Athens Olympics — enters final ranked 5th, wins silver. India’s first individual Olympic silver.
- 2006 Commonwealth gold again. World Championship gold again. Asian Games bronze.
- 2026 Cabinet Minister — 5 portfolios — telling 556 graduates at Vishwakarma Skill University: “Keep your targets big.”
The Three Failures That Shaped Him
Before he was an Olympian and before he was a Cabinet Minister, there were three significant failures that Col. Rathore has spoken about openly. First, he was selected for the Madhya Pradesh Ranji Trophy cricket team at 15, but couldn’t pursue it. Second: his Athens qualification round was poor enough that no one expected a medal. Third: in 2019, after two terms as MP and a stint as Union Minister for Sports, he was not included in the new council of ministers. He responded by becoming a Jhotwara MLA and then a multi-portfolio Cabinet Minister in Rajasthan.
What Abhinav Bindra said about him: “Rathore changed me. His Olympic silver ensured that gold medal became my possibility.” India’s first Olympic individual gold medallist credited Col. Rathore’s silver as the mental door-opener. That is the ripple effect of one person refusing to treat fifth place in an Olympic final as the end of the story.
What This Means for You — The Practical Lesson
At the Vishwakarma Skill University convocation on April 22, 2026, Col. Rathore told 556 graduates: “अपने टारगेट बड़े रखें और उस तक पहुंचने की कोशिश करते रहें।” Keep your targets big and keep working toward them. This is not motivational filler from someone who had an easy ride. It is advice from a man who fought in Kargil, restarted a shooting career at 28, entered an Olympic final ranked last, and built a political career from scratch after retirement.
Rajasthan Sports Ministry under Col. Rathore has expanded the Maharana Pratap Award prize money, recruited 840 coaches for Rajasthan, and introduced a dedicated Sports University bill — all because he believes that the infrastructure of resilience needs to be built, not just preached. Read more of his thoughts on failure and leadership here.
