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Neeraj Chopra

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Neeraj Chopra
Chopra in 2017
Personal information
Full nameNeeraj Chopra
NicknameGolden Boy[1][2][3][4]
NationalityIndian
Born (1997-12-24) 24 December 1997 (age 26)[5]
Panipat, Haryana, India
EducationDAV College, Chandigarh
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[6]
Weight86 kg (190 lb)[7]
Military career
Allegiance India
Service/branch Indian Army
Years of service2016–present
Rank Subedar
Service numberJC-471869A[8]
Unit4 Rajputana Rifles[9]
Awards Vishisht Seva Medal
Sport
CountryIndia
SportTrack and field
EventJavelin throw
Coached byUwe Hohn
Achievements and titles
Personal bestNR 88.07m (2021)
Updated on 7 August 2021

Subedar Neeraj Chopra VSM (born 24 December 1997)[5] is an Indian javelin thrower who is the first track and field athlete to win an Olympic gold medal for India. This feat was accomplished in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with a throw of 87.58m in his second attempt, on 7th August 2021. He is the first Indian athlete to win the U-20 World Championships in track and field. He is also a Junior commissioned officer (JCO) in the Indian Army.

In the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships, Chopra set the world under-20 record of 86.48 m.[10] Chopra was also selected as the flag-bearer at the opening ceremony for India at the 2018 Asian Games, which marked his first Asian Games appearance.[11][12] He scored a gold-medal winning throw (88.06m) at the 2018 Asian Games[13] and 2018 Commonwealth Games. Chopra won the gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics with a throw of 87.58m. He is one of only two Indians to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics (alongside Abhinav Bindra),[14][15] as well as the youngest-ever Indian gold medalist in an individual event and the only one to have won gold in his Olympic debut.[16]

Early life

Chopra was born in Ror family in Khandra village, Panipat district, Haryana.[17][18][19] At the age of 12, Chopra was obese, weighing 90 kilos, causing local lads to tease him about his appearance, saying he resembled the popular image of a sarpanch (village leader).[20] Concerned about his weight, Chopra's father enrolled him in a basic gymnasium at Madlauda, which Chopra had to cycle to and from 24 kilometers a day.[20] After informing his parents of his dislike for the Madlauda gym where he was its youngest member, he was enrolled in a gym at Panipat.[20] While there, Chopra would also frequent the nearby Panipat Sports Authority of India center, where a javelin thrower named Jaiveer Singh recognized his early talent at the javelin throw.[20] Observing his ability to achieve a 40-metre throw without training and further impressed by Chopra's drive, Jaiveer began coaching him.[20][21][22][23]

Career

Military

General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Army Staff, congratulating Chopra, gold medallist in javelin throw, and Gaurav Solanki, gold medallist in boxing, for their performance in the 2018 Commonwealth Games

In 2016, he was appointed a Junior Commissioned Officer in the Indian Army with the rank of Naib Subedar.[24][25]

Sports

Chopra receiving the Arjuna Award from Ram Nath Kovind, President of India, in 2018.

After training under his first coach Jaiveer for a year, Chopra was admitted to the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula, four hours from his home, which was then one of only two facilities in the state of Haryana with a synthetic runway.[23] At Panchkula, he began training under coach Naseem Ahmad, who made him train in long-distance running along with the javelin throw. Ahmad described Chopra as an attentive student who often asked more experienced athletes for tips and recording them in a notebook.[23] Chopra first threw at a maximum of 55 metres.[23] He soon increased his range, and won the 2012 junior nationals in Lucknow by achieving a new national record throw of 68.40 metres.[23] The next year, he entered his first international competition, the World Youth Championships in Ukraine.[21] He won his first international medal in 2014, a silver at the Youth Olympics Qualification in Bangkok.[21] He achieved his first throw of over 70 metres at the 2014 senior nationals, following this up with a world record throw in the junior category of 81.04 metres in the 2015 All India Inter-University Athletics Meet; this was his first throw of over 80 metres.[23] Chopra received a callback for the national-level training camp in 2015,[20] leaving Panchkula in early 2016.[23]

Chopra 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 and set a world junior record. Despite these performances, he failed to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics as the cut-off date was 11 July.[26]

Chopra won a gold medal in the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha

He won another gold medal in the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships with a throw of 85.23 metres.[27] In the men's javelin throw at 2018 Commonwealth Games, he registered a season-best effort of 86.47 metres, becoming one of the few Indian athletes to win a gold medal on their Commonwealth Games debut, and also becoming the first Indian to win the javelin throw at the Games.[28] In May 2018, he again broke the national record at the Doha Diamond League with a throw of 87.43 metres.[29]

In August 2018, Chopra made his debut appearance at the Asian Games representing India at the 2018 Asian Games, and was also the flag-bearer for the Indian contingent during the 2018 Asian Games Parade of Nations.[30] 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.[31][32] It was also India's first gold medal in javelin throw at the Asian Games. Chopra was the only track and field athlete that year to be recommended by the AFI for the country's highest sports award, the Khel Ratna, but was awarded the Arjuna Award in September 2018.[33]

Having suffered an elbow injury, Chopra underwent surgery in Mumbai on 2 May 2019, the day after the qualifying competitions for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics had begun. After 16 months of recuperation, including practicing meditation and rehabilitative training at Patiala and the IIS Vijayanagar, Chopra travelled to South Africa in November 2019 for training under German biomechanics expert Klaus Bartoneitz.[34][35] Previously, he had been coached by Gary Calvert,[36] Werner Daniels[37] and Uwe Hohn.[38] In South Africa, he returned to international competition with a winning throw of 87.86 metres in the ACNW League Meeting in Potchefstroom, which qualified him for Tokyo.[34]

On 5 March 2021, Chopra again broke his own national record with a new throw of 88.07m, establishing him in a world leading position.[39] He opened his international season of 2021 with a throw of 83.18 metres that earned him a gold medal at an event in Lisbon, Portugal.[40]

2020 Tokyo Olympics

Chopra made his debut appearance at the Olympics representing India at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[41] On 4 August 2021, he qualified for the final in the men's javelin throw with a throw of 86.65 metres. He won the gold medal in the event on 7th August 2021 with a throw of 87.58m,[42] becoming the first Indian Olympian to win a gold medal in athletics, and the first post-independence Indian Olympic medalist in athletics.[43][44][45][46][47] He also became only the second Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal after Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the men's 10 m air rifle in the 2008 Summer Olympics on 11 August 2008.[10][14] Chopra dedicated his win to sprinter Milkha Singh.[48]

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  India
2013 World Youth Championships Donetsk, Ukraine 19th (q) Javelin throw (700 g) 66.75 m
2015 Asian Championships Wuhan, China 9th Javelin throw 70.50 m
2016 2016 South Asian Games Guwahati, India 1st place, gold medalist(s) Javelin throw 82.23 m
Asian Junior Championships Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Javelin throw 77.60 m
World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 1st place, gold medalist(s) WJR Javelin throw 86.48 m
2017 Asian Grand Prix Series Jinhua, China 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Javelin throw 82.11 m[49]
Jiaxing, China 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 83.32 m[50]
Taipei, Taiwan 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 79.90 m[51]
Asian Championships Bhubaneswar, India 1st place, gold medalist(s) Javelin throw 85.23 m
IAAF Diamond League Paris, France 7th
(10 pts)
Javelin throw 84.67 m[52]
Fontvieille, Monaco 78.92 m[53]
Zurich, Switzerland 83.80 m[54]
World Championships London, United Kingdom 15th (q) Javelin throw 82.26 m
2018 Offenburg Speerwurf Meeting Offenburg, Germany 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Javelin throw 82.80 m[55]
Commonwealth Games Gold Coast, Australia 1st place, gold medalist(s) Javelin throw 86.47 m
IAAF Diamond League Doha, Qatar 4th
(17 pts)
Javelin throw 87.43 m[56]
Eugene, Oregon, USA 80.81 m[57]
Rabat, Morocco 83.32 m[58]
Zurich, Switzerland 85.73 m[59]
Sotteville Athletics Meet Sotteville-lès-Rouen, France 1st place, gold medalist(s) Javelin throw 85.17 m[60]
Savo Games Lapinlahti, Finland 1st place, gold medalist(s) Javelin throw 85.69 m[61]
Asian Games Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia 1st place, gold medalist(s) NR Javelin throw 88.06 m[62]
2020 Kourtane Games Finland Olympics quota Javelin throw 86.79[63]
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 1st place, gold medalist(s) Javelin Throw 87.58 m[64]
NR−National Records
WJR−World U20 Junior Records
q−Qualification round

Seasonal bests by year

Year Performance[65] Place Date
2013 69.66 metres Patiala, India 26 Jul
2014 70.19 metres Patiala, India 17 Aug
2015 81.04 metres Patiala, India 31 Dec
2016 86.48 metres Bydgoszcz, Poland 23 Jul
2017 85.63 metres Patiala, India 2 Jun
2018 88.06 metres Jakarta, Indonesia 27 Aug
2020 87.86 metres South Africa 28 Jan
2021 88.07 metres Patiala, India 5 Mar

Personal life

Chopra is the son of Satish Kumar, a farmer, and Saroj Devi, a housewife. He has two sisters.[66][19] Neeraj belongs to Ror Maratha caste.[67]He graduated from Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College in Chandigarh [68] and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts from Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar, Punjab.[69]

Awards and recognition

  • Rewards -

For winning the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics -

National awards and decorations

References

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External links