Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra (born December 24, 1997, Panipat, Haryana, India) is an Indian track-and-field athlete who shot to fame after earning a gold medal at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, and further secured his position as a leading athlete by winning the men’s javelin throw event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, held in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chopra became the first Indian track-and-field athlete to win Olympic gold and became the second Indian, after marksman Abhinav Bindra (2008), to win an individual Olympic gold medal. After becoming the world champion in the men’s javelin throw at the 2023 World Athletics Championship in Budapest, he is looking to defend his gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Early life

Born to Satish Kumar, a farmer, and Saroj Devi, a homemaker, in Khandra village in the district of Panipat in Haryana state, Neeraj Chopra is the eldest of three siblings. He grew up in an extended family of 19, which included three uncles. When he was a teenager, Chopra’s family worried that he was overweight and encouraged him to join a gymnasium in Panipat for regular exercise. After his training sessions, Chopra would spend time at the nearby Shivaji Stadium and watch other children his age throw the javelin. Chopra showed natural talent for the sport and befriended athletes on the track. When Chopra’s family learned about his interest in javelin, they encouraged him even though no one in their village was familiar with the sport. After training for a year at Shivaji Stadium, he moved to Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula, Haryana state, training with coach Naseem Ahmad.

Achievements

Chopra became the under-16 national champion in javelin by 2012, and in the following years he won more medals at the national level. His first international medal was a silver at the Youth Olympic Games qualification competition in Bangkok in 2014. In 2016 Chopra won gold medals at the South Asian Games in Guwahati, Assam state, India; the Grand Prix in Lokeren, Belgium; and the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland (the IAAF became known as World Athletics in 2019). His throw in the final in Bydgoszcz, 86.48 meters (283.73 feet), set an under-20 record. In 2017 Chopra placed first in the Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha state, India.

When he was 19, Chopra was offered a job with the Indian Army as a junior commission officer. “We are farmers, nobody in the family has a government job and my family has been supporting me with difficulty,” Chopra told the Press Trust of India. “But it is a sort of relief now that I am able to support my family financially besides continuing with my training.” In the army, Chopra was selected for its Mission Olympics Wing initiative and continued to train for competitions. The following table lists some of Chopra’s key achievements.

In 2018 Chopra won a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, and the Asian Games in Jakarta. In 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics, Chopra was considered a dark horse in a field of tough competitors. However, he had a strong throw of 86.65 meters in the qualifying round, and in the final he won the gold medal with a throw of 87.58 meters (287.34 feet), making him India’s first gold medalist in track and field and the nation’s second individual Olympic gold medalist. The first was Abhinav Bindra in the 10-meter air rifle event at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. “It feels unbelievable,” Chopra said after winning the Olympic gold medal. “This is our first Olympic medal for a very long time.…It’s a proud moment for me and my country.” His victory earned him praise from all quarters, including congratulatory posts on Twitter (now X) from the Indian president and the prime minister. Later that year, Chopra became the first male athlete to be featured on the cover of Vogue India. Speaking about his Olympic win, he said, “Now everyone in India knows what a javelin is. I’m most happy about that.” That’s no small feat in a nation where cricket is far and away the dominant sport. Chopra went on to sign endorsement deals with a host of companies, including Gillette India and Tata AIA Life Insurance, and has become an Instagram influencer with more than eight million followers. Today he is as popular as cricket stars and Bollywood actors in India.

Chopra holds the national record with an 89.94-meter (295.08-foot) throw, also his best attempt to date, achieved at the Stockholm Diamond League 2022 competition. Despite struggling with injury in 2023, he won two gold medals that year: one at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest and a second at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. Training at the Gloria Sports Arena in Antalya, Turkey, under coach and biomechanics expert Klaus Bartonietz, who was also his coach at the Tokyo Olympics, Chopra is expected to compete in the 2024 Diamond League season in May 2024 and is expected to defend his Olympic gold in the Paris Olympic Games later in the year.