Indian Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra tops the final at Tokyo Olympics bringing the first gold medal to the county in the major tournament. The 23-year-old has scripted history as he earned India's first-ever Olympic athletics medal.
Neeraj Chopra threw 87.58 metres in his second try at the javelin throw final. After Abhinav Bindra, Neeraj Chopra became the second Indian to win gold.
On August 4, he made history by being the first Indian javelin thrower to qualify for the Olympic Games final. He was India's best chance of winning an Olympic medal.
Only three of his rivals have thrown the javelin farther than he has in 2021. In the qualifying round, two of them were eliminated.
Belonging to a farming background, his mother is a housewife, and he has 2 sisters. Born on December 24, 1997, he hails from Khandra village, Panipat district, Haryana. He completed his education at DAV College, Chandigarh. He is a Junior Commissioned Officer of the Indian Army; he ranked as a Naib Subedar in 2016. He made a huge donation of INR 2 Lakh during the COVID-19 pandemic in the PM Cares Fund.
He has set a new national record of 88.06 m, and was also appointed as the flag bearer at the opening ceremony. This gold medallist has broken his own record by making a throw of 88.07 m in 2021 at the Indian Grand Prix. He became the first Indian to win a gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games in Javelin.
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He was inspired by Jai Choudhary (Jaiveer) at the age of 11, the young mind used to see his mentor practicing in the Panipat Stadium. Jaiveer is a javelin athlete who represented Haryana. When he was 11, his weight was 80kg, he was a chubby teen, and his interest in this game led him to burn some calories. His first javelin was of Rs 7000 which he purchased in 2014, and at an international his javelin was worth INR 1 lakh.
He was nominated by the AFI for the country’s highest sports award in 2018, and has won Arjuna Award in 2018 after winning gold in Gold coast Commonwealth.
The nation record-setter is having his finals on 7th August i.e. Saturday at 4.30 PM. All the hopes and prayers of the Indians are with him and hopefully, he brings laurels to the nation.