Neeraj chopra
Subedar Major Neeraj Chopra (born 24 December 1997) is an Indian track and field athlete who
competes in the javelin throw. He won the gold medal at the 2020 Olympics, becoming the first Asian
athlete to do so at an Olympic event.
Chopra is the first athletics gold medalist for India. As of 2024, he is one of only two Indians to have
won an individual Olympic gold medal, the youngest-ever Indian Olympic gold medalist in an
individual event and the only individual to have won gold on his Olympic debut. He is one of the five
individual multiple medalists for India at the Olympics after his silver medal at the 2024 Olympics. He
was the first Indian to win at the World Under-20 Championships, where he achieved a world U20
record throw of 86.48 m in 2016, becoming the first Indian athlete to set a world record in athletics.
Chopra's silver medal at the 2022 World Championships made him the second Indian to win a medal
at a World Athletics Championships. He has also won gold in the 2018 Commonwealth Games and is
a multiple Asian Games gold medalist. He won gold at the 2018 and 2022 Asian Games.
Chopra achieved the qualification quota for the Paris Olympics 2024 by achieving the Olympic
Qualifying Standard (OQS) at Asian Games. Chopra started the 2024 season at 2024 Doha Diamond
League on 10 May where he finished second with a throw of 88.36m which was just 2cm short of
Czechia’s Jakub Vadlejch who won the competition with a throw of 88.38m.
On 15 May, Chopra participated in his first competition in India since becoming the Olympic
champion and won gold at the Federation Cup 2024 with best throw of 82.27m. Ahead of Paris
Olympics, Chopra participated at Paavo Nurmi Games where he won gold with a throw of 85.97m on
18 June.
In the qualification for the men's javelin throw event at Paris, he recorded a season's best of 89.34 m
(293.1 ft) in his first throw to top the table and secured a direct entry to the finals as the mark was
well above the direct qualification standard set at 84 m (276 ft).In the final, he recorded his only
legitimate throw of 89.45 m (293.5 ft) in the second attempt. The mark was enough to secure only a
silver medal behind Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, who secured the gold with an Olympic record throw
of 92.97 m (305.0 ft).[85] With his gold medal in the 2020 Olympics, he became the fifth individual
multiple medalist for India and first to win a gold and silver combination.
In 2018, Chopra received the Arjuna Award for sporting excellence.[91] In 2021, he was awarded the
Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, the highest sporting honour in India.[92] In 2022, he was
awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour.[87]
In 2021, The Times of India named Chopra as the Sportsperson of the Year for 2021. On 27 August
2021, the Army Sports Institute stadium in Pune was renamed as "Neeraj Chopra Stadium" by then
Defence minister Rajnath Singh.In November 2022, Switzerland Tourism appointed Neeraj Chopra as
its friendship ambassador for India.
