Subedar Neeraj Chopra
Neeraj Chopra is an Indian javelin thrower and Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Indian Army. As of 7 August 2021, he has collected six gold medals in major tournaments across the world. His Personal best is 88.07m & which is also a national record. He is the reigning Olympic Champion, and the first track and field athlete to win a gold medal for India at the Olympics.
Chopra won the gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics with a throw of 87.58m. He is one of the only two Indians to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics.
Early Life
Neeraj Chopra is from Chandra village, Panipat district, Haryana. Chopra is the son of farmer Satish Kumar and Saroj Devi, a housewife, and has two sisters. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts from Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar, Punjab.
As an early teen, Neeraj's weight was increasing, and his father persuaded him to go out and start running. His uncle took him to the nearby Shivaji Stadium at Panchkula and Neeraj tried various sports and liked javelin throw very much and Neeraj started throwing the javelin.
Neeraj Chopra won a gold medal in the 2020 Summer Olympics on 7th August 2021 with the 87.58 m throw, which is the first Olympic medal in athletics won by an Indian. Neeraj Chopra is only the second Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal. On 11 August 2008, Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the men's 10 m air rifle in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Neeraj won a gold medal at the 2016 South Asian Games with a throw of 84.23 m, where he equalled the Indian national record.
He won a gold medal in the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. On 21st July He also set a world junior record(86.48m JWR). Despite these performances, he failed to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics as the cut off date was 11 July. In 2016, he was appointed a Junior Commissioned Officer in the Indian Army with the rank of Naib Subedar.
Neeraj won another gold medal in the Asian Athletic championships 2017 with a throw of 85.23 meters. In May 2018, he again broke the national record at the Doha Diamond League with a throw of 87.43 meters.
He is currently being coached by German bio-mechanics expert Klaus Bartonietz. Previously, he has been coached by Gary Calvert, Werner Daniels and Uwe Hohn.
On 27 August 2018, Neeraj threw a distance of 88.06 m to win gold in the Men's javelin throw at the 2018 Asian Games and set a new Indian national record, bettering his own previous record. On 5 March 2021, Neeraj Chopra again broke his past National Record setting the new one at 88.07m, with a World Leading position in 2021.
Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra opened his international season of 2021 with a throw of 83.18 metres that earned him a javelin gold medal at an event in Lisbon, Portugal.
2020 Tokyo Olympics
He made his debut appearance at the Olympics representing India at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
On 4 August 2021, he qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics' Final in Men's javelin throw. He won the gold medal for Men's Javelin throw on 7 August 2021 with a throw of 87.58m. He also went on to become the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal in athletics after independence. His Olympic medal in athletics was also significantly India's first-ever Olympic medal in athletics.
Major achievements:-
#2020 -Gold Medal in Tokyo Olympics
2018 -Asian Games Gold Medal
2018 -Commonwealth Games Gold
2016 -World Junior Champion
Junior World Record Holder (86.48m)
Indian National Record (88.07m)
Arjun Award (2018)
Vishisht Seva Medal(VSM)- 2020 Republic Day honours
