Chopra is the first athletics gold medalist for India. As of 2024[update], 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 U-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.[12]
Chopra's silver medal at the 2022 edition made him the second Indian athlete to win a medal at the World Championships. He has also won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and is a multiple Asian Games gold medalist. He won gold at the 2018 and 2022 Asian Games, while also serving as the flag-bearer in the former edition.[13]
Since June 2021, he has shown consistent results, finishing as a winner or runner-up in 24 consecutive competitions, finishing first overall in qualifying rounds at two back-to-back Olympic Games, and first and second overall in qualifying rounds at two back-to-back World Championships.[14]
Early life
Family
Chopra was born on 24 December 1997 in a HaryanviRor agricultural family in Khandra village in Panipat district of Haryana.[15] His mother Saroj Devi and father Satish Chopra are both farmers.[16] He has two sisters Savita Chopra and Sangeeta Chopra.[17]
Education and early training
Chopra did his initial schooling from BVN Public School in Panipat. After some locals teased him about his obesity, he enrolled in a gym in Panipat. While training there, he saw javelin throwers practising at the nearby Shivaji stadium and took up the sport.[18] In 2010, he moved to Panchkula to train at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex, aged 13.[19] After moving to Panchkula, he joined the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College, Chandigarh, where he completed his schooling.[20][21]
Alongside his schooling, Chopra won several national javelin championships in 2012 and 2014.[19] Based on his performance at sports tournaments, Chopra was recruited into the Indian Army in 2016, where he was selected for the Mission Olympics Wing training at the Army Sports Institute in Pune.[21][19] In 2021, he enrolled at Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar, Punjab and then proceeded to complete his Bachelor of Arts degree.[22]
Coaching
Chopra has trained under several coaches, one of the earliest being Jaiveer Singh who coached him from 2010 to 2011.[23] Naseem Ahmed came next and remained his coach from 2011 to 2016.[24]Kashinath Naik was Chopra's briefest coach and trained him in 2016.[25] Gary Calvert took over the reins from 2016 to 2017.[26] He was coached by Uwe Hohn from 2018 to 2021.[27]
Chopra's coaching under Klaus Bartonietz, from 2021 to 2024, resulted in several wins, titles, and gold medal victories.[28] He joined Jan Železný's training group soon after.[29]
Career
Career beginnings (2010–2012)
In the winter of 2010, Chopra trialed himself at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Panipat.[30] On observing his ability to achieve a 40 m (130 ft) throw without any formal training, javelin thrower Jaiveer Singh started training him.[31][32] He learned the basics of the sport from Singh and practised with other athletes at Jalandhar.[33] He finished third in the district championships, and persuaded his family to let him train at the SAI centre to hone his abilities.[33] After training under Choudhary for a year, the 13-year-old Chopra moved to train at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula, one of the only two facilities in Haryana with a synthetic runway. As the facility lacked a specialised javelin coach, he trained under Naseem Ahmad, a running coach.[31]
At the time, he and fellow javelin thrower Parminder Singh watched videos of Jan Zelezny to try and emulate his style.[33] Initially, he achieved throws of around 55 m (180 ft), but slowly increased his range. At the National Junior Athletics Championships held at Lucknow in October 2012, he won the gold medal with a new junior national record throw of 68.40 m (224.4 ft).[34][35]
Introduction at International levels (2013–2016)
In 2013, Chopra competed in his first international competition, the World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine, where he finished 19th in the overall classification with a best throw of 66.75 m.[36][33] He won his first international medal in 2014, a silver at the Youth Olympics Qualification in Bangkok.[37] At the 2014 senior nationals, he achieved his first throw of over 70 m (230 ft).[38] In 2015, he broke the then world junior record at the 2015 All India Inter-University Athletics meet. He threw 81.04 m (265.9 ft), which was his first throw of over 80 m (260 ft).[35] Chopra finished fifth at the 2015 National Games in Kerala.[39] He also participated at 2015 Asian Athletics Championships where he finished 9th with a best throw of 70.50 m.[40] As a result of his performance, he was called to the national-level training camp at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports in Patiala in early 2016.[32][33][41] According to him, this was a turning point in his career, as he received better facilities, better food and an improved standard of training from what was available at Panchkula. Also, training with national level javelin throwers helped boost his morale.[39] He was assigned 2010 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Kashinath Naik as his coach.[31]
At the 2016 South Asian Games, Chopra achieved a new personal best when he won gold with a throw of 82.23 m (269.8 ft) in Guwahati on 9 February.[33] After the event, he began training under Australian coach Gary Calvert, who was appointed as the national javelin coach.[31] He also sustained a back injury in April 2016 during the Federation Cup in New Delhi, which affected his performance.[12] In July 2016, he won the gold medal at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland with a 86.48 m (283.7 ft) throw to set a new world junior record and became the first Indian to hold the national senior record and world junior record simultaneously.[12] Although his record throw was above the qualification standard for the 2016 Olympics, he failed to qualify as the cut-off date had already elapsed.[12] In September 2016, he left the Netaji Subhas Institute to train at the SAI centre in Bangalore. In December 2016, he was formally inducted as a Junior Commissioned Officer in the Indian Army. He was offered a rank of Naib Subedar in the Rajputana Rifles.[42][a][43] He subsequently received extended leave to continue his training.[41] He won gold in the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships at Bhubaneshwar with a throw of 85.23 m (279.6 ft).[44]
Asian and Commonwealth champion (2017–2020)
General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Army Staff, congratulating Neeraj Chopra (second from right) for his performance in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
In the 2017 World Championships in August, Chopra finished 15th in the overall classification with a best throw of 82.26 m (269.9 ft). On 24 August, he suffered a groin injury during the Zürich Weltklasse. He sustained the injury during his third attempt of 83.39 m (273.6 ft) before he fouled his fourth attempt and skipped the last two. His first and best throw of 83.80 m (274.9 ft) gave him a seventh-place finish.[45] He attributed his injury to a heavy schedule and the lack of a proper diet and rest. As a result of his injury, he withdrew from competition for the remainder of 2017. During recovery, he spent a month at the Joint Services Wing sports institute at Vijayanagar.[46] In November 2017, he left for Offenburg in Germany to train with Werner Daniels, whom he had briefly worked with before the 2017 World Championships as his former coach Calvert had left India in May due to disputes over his contract.[47][48] During his stay there, he focused on strength training and honed his technique with adjustments to his stance to keep his hand raised higher during throws to improve his range.[46]
In the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Chopra registered a season-best effort of 86.47 m (283.7 ft) to win the gold medal. He became the first Indian to win the javelin throw at the Commonwealth Games.[49] In May 2018, he bettered his national record at the Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix with a throw of 87.43 m (286.8 ft).[50] In August 2018, he made his debut at the Asian Games, and was the flag-bearer for India during the 2018 Asian Games Parade of Nations.[51] On 27 August, he threw a distance of 88.06 m (288.9 ft) to win the gold medal in the Games and bettered his own Indian national record and it was India's first gold medal in the javelin throw at the Asian Games.[52]
Chopra was the only track and field athlete that year to be recommended by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for the country's highest sports award, the Major Dhyanchand Khel Ratna.[53] He was awarded the Arjuna Award in September 2018.[54] The army rewarded him with an out-of-turn promotion to subedar in November.[55] In preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he trained with German coach Uwe Hohn, biomechanics expert Klaus Bartonietz and physiotherapist Ishaan Marwaha.[56] Hohn worked on refining Chopra's throwing technique, which he labelled as "wild".[31]
Injury and comeback (2019–2020)
Chopra missed the 2019 World Championships in Doha due to injury. On 3 May 2019, He underwent a surgery to remove bone spurs in his right elbow in Mumbai.[57] After a period of recuperation and rehabilitative training in Patiala and in Vijayanagar, he travelled to South Africa in November 2019 to train under Bartonietz.[58][59] After a 16-month hiatus, he returned to international competition in January 2020. He registered a throw of 87.86 m (288.3 ft) in the Central North West Athletics League Meeting in Potchefstroom, South Africa. This helped him achieve the automatic qualification standard of 85 m (279 ft) and secure a place for the 2020 Olympics.[58] He moved to Turkey for training, but was forced to return to India in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[60]
Due to the pandemic and lockdown in India, Chopra spent the next year training at Patiala.[61] In late 2020, the Athletics Federation of India and the Government of Odisha arranged a training camp at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, which he attended from December 2020 to February 2021.[62] On 5 March 2021, he again bettered his own national record with a throw of 88.07 m (288.9 ft), which ranked him third-best internationally for the season.[63] He applied for travelling to Sweden for training, but faced difficulties due to the effects of the pandemic. After weeks of attempting to secure a visa, he was cleared to travel to Europe with his coach following the intervention of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Ministry of External Affairs.[61][64] He flew to Paris on 5 June 2021 for a mandatory quarantine period before travelling to Portugal for the Meeting Cidade de Lisboa.[60] He opened his international season of 2021 there with a throw of 83.18 m (272.9 ft), which earned him the gold medal.[65] He remained in Lisbon until 19 June before travelling to Uppsala in Sweden for training sanctioned by SAI at a cost of ₹3.49 million (US$42,000).[66]
In June 2021, Chopra went on to compete in the Athletics meet in Karlstad, Sweden, where he achieved a gold with a sub-par throw of 80.96 m (265.6 ft). He won a bronze in the subsequent Games in Karlstad, Finland with a throw of 86.79 m (284.7 ft).[67] He won the gold medal with a throw of 86.69 m (284.4 ft) in his first and only legal throw. He attributed his reduced performance to a tendency to throw the javelin higher than he wanted to, along with having to use a different javelin as his own was unavailable.[68][69] Following the Kuortane Games, he travelled to Lucerne to compete in the Spitzen Leichtathletik Luzern, but decided to withdraw due to fatigue.[67] Later, he attempted to secure a visa for the Diamond League meeting at Gateshead on 13 July, but faced difficulties due to the pandemic and instead continued training in Uppsala.[69]
Tokyo Olympics, World and Diamond League champion (2021–2024)
On 4 August 2021, Chopra made his debut at the Olympics.[70] At the qualifying stages held at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo, he topped his qualifying group with a throw of 86.65 m (284.3 ft) and achieved an automatic entry to the final.[71] On the final on 7 August, he won the gold medal with a throw of 87.58 m (287.3 ft) in his second attempt. He became the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal in athletics, and the first post-independence Indian Olympic medalist in athletics.[b][76] He also became the second Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal after Abhinav Bindra and the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in javelin throw.[77][78] He also became the youngest-ever Indian Olympic gold medalist in an individual event and the only individual to have won gold on his Olympic debut.[79] His medal helped India register is best ever finish in the Olympic Games.[80] He dedicated his win to sprinters Milkha Singh and P. T. Usha, both former Olympians from India.[81] As a result of his performance, he reached the world number two ranking in the men's javelin throw.[82] In June 2022 at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, he placed second with a new personal best of 89.30 m (293.0 ft) and registered another new national record.[83][84][85]
In the 2022 Diamond League, Chopra broke his own national record with a throw of 89.94 m (295.1 ft) during his second place effort at the BAUHAUS-galan in Stockholm.[86] In July 2022, he won the silver medal at the 2022 World Athletics Championships with a throw of 88.13 m (289.1 ft). This was India's second ever medal at the World Athletics Championships after long-jumper Anju Bobby George's bronze in 2003.[87][88] On 26 August, he registered another first place at the Athletissima at Lausanne with a throw of 89.09 m (292.3 ft) and qualified for the Diamond League final at Weltklasse Zürich.[89][90] On 8 September, he won the final with a throw of 88.44 m (290.2 ft) and became the first Indian to win the Diamond League finals and qualified for the 2023 World Championships.[91] In May 2023, he clinched top spot in the Doha Diamond League with a throw of 88.67 m (290.9 ft).[92] In the same month, he achieved the first position in the men's javelin throw rankings issued by World Athletics for the first time.[93] In August 2023, he won the gold medal in 2023 World Athletics Championships with a throw of 88.17 m (289.3 ft).[94]He became the first Asian to win gold in the javelin throw event at the World Championships.[77] In October 2023, he won his second Asian Games gold medal in the 2022 Asian Games with a season-best throw of 88.88 m (291.6 ft).[95]
Paris Olympics and Diamond League (2024–present)
Chopra achieved the qualification quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics by achieving the Olympic Qualifying Standard (OQS) at the Asian Games.[96] Chopra started the 2024 season at 2024 Doha Diamond League on 10 May where he finished second with a throw of 88.36 m which was just 2cm short of Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch who won the competition with a throw of 88.38m.[97] 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 82.27 m.[98] Ahead of the Paris Olympics, Chopra participated at Paavo Nurmi Games where he won gold with a throw of 85.97 m on 18 June.[99]
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).[100][101] 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 a silver medal behind Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, who secured the gold with a record throw of 92.97 m (305.0 ft).[102]
With his gold medal in the 2020 Olympics, he became the fifth individual multiple medallist for India and first to win a gold and silver combination.[103]
He secured second place at the Lausanne Diamond League javelin throw competition on 22 August 2024, delivering a season-best throw of 89.49 meters.[104]
In 2018, Chopra received the Arjuna Award for sporting excellence.[109] In 2021, he was awarded the Khel Ratna Award, the highest sporting honour in India.[110] In 2022, he was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour.[106]
In 2021, The Times of India named Chopra as the Sportsperson of the Year for 2021.[111] On 27 August 2021, the Army Sports Institute Stadium in Pune was renamed as the Neeraj Chopra Stadium by then defence ministerRajnath Singh.[112]Vogue India featured him as the Man of the Year in 2021, making him the first male athlete to star on the cover.[113] In Nov 2022, Switzerland Tourism officially appointed Chopra as its friendship ambassador for India.[114]
^Normally, the Indian Army does not appoint fresh recruits to this position, but Chopra was granted a special appointment because of his performance in sports.
^The International Olympic Committee and Indian Olympic Association officially recognise Norman Pritchard to have been the first Indian track and field Olympic medalist, having competed at the 1900 Paris Olympics, even though India was under British rule at that time.[72][73][74][75] Pritchard won the first Olympic track and field medal in the 1900 Paris Olympics, competing in the 200 meter sprint and the 200 meter hurdles events. As British India did not officially gain representation within the Olympic Movement until 1920, he technically competed for Britain. However, the International Olympic Committee and the Athletics Federation of India officially regard him as having competed for India and credit his medals accordingly. Olympics historian and journalist Gulu Ezekiel observes that though Pritchard was an Englishman of English parentage, he was born in Calcutta and developed his abilities as a sprinter and hurdler while representing the Bengal Presidency in events within India.
^ ab"Padma Awardees List 2022"(PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. 25 January 2022. Archived(PDF) from the original on 25 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
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