Neeraj Chopra

Subedar
Neeraj Chopra
VSM

Personal information
Nationality	Indian
Born	(1997-12-24) 24 December 1997 Panipat, Haryana, India
Education	DAV College, Chandigarh
Military career
Allegiance	India
Service/branch	Indian Army
Years of service	2016–present
Rank	Subedar
Awards	Vishisht Seva Medal
Sport
Country	India
Sport	Track and field
Event(s)	Javelin throw
Coached by	Uwe Hohn
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	88.07 (2021) NR
Medal record Men's Javelin throw Representing India Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 – – World Championships – – – Asian Games 1 – – Commonwealth Games 1 – – Asian Championships 1 – – South Asian Games 1 – – World Junior Championships 1 – – Asian Junior Championships – 1 – Total 6 1 0 Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo Javelin throw Asian Games 2018 Jakarta Javelin throw Commonwealth Games 2018 Gold Coast Javelin throw Asian Championships 2017 Bhubaneshwar Javelin throw South Asian Games 2016 Guwahati/Shillong Javelin throw World Junior Championships 2016 Bydgoszcz Javelin throw Asian Junior Championships 2016 Ho Chi Minh City Javelin throw
Updated on 7 August 2021.

Subedar Neeraj Chopra VSM (born 24 December 1997) is an Indian javelin thrower. He is the first track and field athlete to win an Olympic Gold medal for India. He is the reigning Olympic champion with 87.58m winning throw on 7th August, 2021. Chopra hurled the javelin at 88.07m to break his own national record. His previous best was the 88.06m gold-medal winning throw at the 2018 Asian Games and 2018 Commonwealth Games. 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. In his earlier career, he was the 2016 World U20 champion and set the world under-20 record of 86.48 m. He is the first Indian athlete to ever win a World title in Track and Field at U-20.

He won his first medal in Olympics in Sport Athletes, event - Men's Javelin throw. His throw of 87.86m at his first competition after an elbow injury guaranteed a ticket to Tokyo. He then qualified in the qualification round with a throw of 86.65m and marched to the finals. He brought home the first Gold Medal in the 2020 Summer Olympics at Tokyo. Neeraj threw his first javelin round on a distance of 87.03 meter and again threw the best of finals that's was 87.6 metres. He is the second person after Abhinav Bindra to win a gold medal in any individual games at the Olympics for India.

Early and personal life

Neeraj Chopra is from Khandra village, Panipat district, Haryana.He belongs from a ROR community. He was educated at DAV College, Chandigarh. In 2016, he was appointed a Junior Commissioned Officer in the Indian Army with the rank of Naib Subedar. On 31 March 2020, he donated Rs. 2 Lakh to the PM Cares Fund for COVID-19 pandemic.

File:Neeraj chopra performing javelin throw.jpg

Chopra performing javelin throw at the finals of 2020 Summer Olympics.

Career

Neeraj Chopra won a gold medal in 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 2008 Summer Olympics.

Neeraj won a gold medal at the 2016 South Asian Games with a throw of 82.23 m, where he equalled the Indian national record.

He won a gold medal in 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. He also 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.

Neeraj won another gold medal in Asian Athletic championships 2017 with a throw of 85.23 meters.

Neeraj Chopra registered a season best effort of 86.47 meters in men's javelin throw at 2018 Commonwealth Games (CWG). With that, Chopra not only joined an elite list of Indian athletes to win a gold medal on their Commonwealth Games debut, but also became the first Indian to triumph in Javelin Throw at CWG.

In May 2018, he again broke the national record at the Doha Diamond League with a throw of 87.43 meters.

The 22-year-old Chopra is the only track and field athlete to be recommended by the AFI for the country's highest sports award in the year 2018. Neeraj Chopra has already been conferred with the Arjuna Award in 2018 after winning a gold in the Gold Coast Commonwealth.

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. He won the gold medal in Tokyo 2021 Olympics. On 5 March 2021, Neeraj Chopra again broke his past National Record setting the new 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 javelin gold medal at an event in Lisbon, Portugal.

2020 Tokyo Olympic

On 4 August 2021 he qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics' Final in Mens javelin throw. He won the gold medal for Men's Javelin throw on 7th August 2021 with a throw of 87.58m. He is the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal in athletics after independence.

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		Javelin throw	82.23 m
	Asian Junior Championships	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam		Javelin throw	77.60 m
	World U20 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	WJR	Javelin throw	86.48 m
2017	Asian Grand Prix Series	Jinhua, China		Javelin throw	82.11 m
		Jiaxing, China			83.32 m
		Taipei, Taiwan			79.90 m
	Asian Championships	Bhubaneswar, India		Javelin throw	85.23 m
	IAAF Diamond League	Paris, France	7th (10 pts)	Javelin throw	84.67 m
		Fontvieille, Monaco			78.92 m
		Zurich, Switzerland			83.80 m
	World Championships	London, United Kingdom	15th (q)	Javelin throw	82.26 m
2018	Offenburg Speerwurf Meeting	Offenburg, Germany		Javelin throw	82.80 m
	Commonwealth Games	Gold Coast, Australia		Javelin throw	86.47 m
	IAAF Diamond League	Doha, Qatar	4th (17 pts)	Javelin throw	87.43 m
		Eugene, Oregon, USA			80.81 m
		Rabat, Morocco			83.32 m
		Zurich, Switzerland			85.73 m
	Sotteville Athletics Meet	Sotteville-lès-Rouen, France		Javelin throw	85.17 m
	Savo Games	Lapinlahti, Finland		Javelin throw	85.69 m
	Asian Games	Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia	NR	Javelin throw	88.06 m
2020	Kourtane Games	Finland	Olympics quota	Javelin throw	86.79
2021	Tokyo Olympics 2020	Tokyo		Javelin Throw	87.58

NR−National Records

WJR−World U20 Junior Records

q−Qualification round

Awards and recognition

For winning the gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics

• ₹75 lakh (US$110,000) from the Government of India.
• ₹6 crore (US$840,000) from the Government of Haryana.

External links

• Neeraj Chopra at World Athletics