New Delhi: Golden boy of India Neeraj Chopra will be eyeing another milestone at the Paris Olympics 2024 as he thrives for glory with a second Olympic gold. He scripted history in the men’s javelin throw event at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 where his first effort of 87.58m throw was enough to etch his name in the elite history book. He became the first track and field athlete for India to clinch the yellow metal.
There’s no looking back for the 26-year-old since the Tokyo glory as he continued to give his best at every event he participated in thereafter. He has won the World Athletics Championships, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Championships, and the Diamond League as well, which makes him a force to be reckoned with.
The Haryanvi boy will be one of the favourites to bring a second Olympic gold for the nation in men’s javelin throw out of the 29-member athletics squad of India. He will be accompanied by compatriot Kishore Jena who will compete in the same category. The javelin duo and the complete athletics squad are a part of the 117-member delegation finalised by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to take part at the grand event in the French capital starting from July 26.
All you need to know about Neeraj Chopra
Neeraj was born on December 24, 1997, in a family of farmers hailing from Khandra village near Panipat in Haryana. He battled obesity during childhood and was asked to take up sports by his family to tackle the overweight. He eventually chose javelin throw and started practicing at the Shivaji Stadium in Panipat. After training for a year, he joined the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula at the tender age of 13 where he got trained for long-distance running by his coach Naseem Ahmad.
His exploits at the National Junior Athletics Championships in Lucknow, in 2012 (gold) and at the Youth Olympics Qualification in Bangkok, in 2014 (silver) graced the start of his illustrious career. He claimed his first medal in a national senior championship at the inter-state event in Chennai, in 2015 and got a significant breakthrough as he achieved a gold medal at the South Asian Games in Guwahati, in 2016.
Impressed by his performance, the Indian Army offered him the reputable rank of Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and Naib Subedar in 2017 under one of the oldest rifle regiments and his parent unit, 4 Rajputana Rifles. He graduated from Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College in Chandigarh.
He didn’t stop his juggernaut and clinched gold at the Commonwealth Games 2018 with a season-best throw of 86.47 metres. He registered his personal best in the same year with a throw of 87.43 meters at the Diamond League in Doha. The year ended on a high for him as he secured another gold at the Asian Games with a throw of 88.06 meters in Jakarta.
His award cabinet brims with the honorary Arjuna Award in 2018, Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in 2021 followed by the elite Padma Shri in 2022.
Recent times have seen Neeraj coping with injuries and has limited his competition schedule but holds firm the belief of shining at the top with his personal target breaching of the 90m mark sooner rather than later.
To prepare him well for the Paris Games and for the competitions in Europe, the USA, and South Africa, the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) spent Rs 5.72 crore on Neeraj for hiring the services of current foreign coach Dr. Klaus Bartonietz.
Paris qualification and recent performances
Neeraj received a qualification for the 2024 Paris Games at the World Athletics Championships 2023 with a gold medal. After the Tokyo feat, Neeraj took a break from the sport and returned to the field in June 2022 at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland. There he threw a personal best of 89.30 metres to register a new national record and finished second. In the follow-up, at the Stockholm Diamond League, he broke his own national record, making a throw of 89.94 metres for a second-place finish.
In July 2022, Neeraj created history by earning a silver medal at the World Athletics Championships held in Oregon, United States with a throw of 88.13 metres. He went on to win the Lausanne Diamond League with a throw of 89.09 metres in the following month and also got qualified for the Zurich final, which he bagged in September with a throw of 88.44 metres. He was the first to qualify for the World Championships.
He carried this form in the Doha Diamond League with a throw of 88.67 metres in May 2023, moving to the top of the world ranking later in the month. His recent major highlight arrived in August 2023 as he clinched the gold medal at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest with a throw of 88.17 metres. In the next month, he claimed gold at the 2022 Asian Games.
He finished second at the Doha Diamond League 2024 and notably won the gold medal at the Paavo Nurmi Games 2024 in the tune-up to the grand Paris event.
Neeraj Chopra spearheads the Indian contingent at the Paris Olympics 2024 and will be carrying the burden of a barrage of hopes to clinch another gold and repeat his three-year-old historic feat. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
