Neeraj Chopra Wins Olympic Gold For India.
Neeraj Chopra blew away the Men’s Javelin field that had some of the biggest names. The 23-year-old won the Gold medal with a best throw of 87.58m on a day when his biggest rival Johannes Vetter blew cold and crashed out of the final even without qualifying among the top 8.
Neeraj Chopra did not even match his personal best of 88.06m but it was enough to script history.
28 years. India has waited that many years for an individual Olympic medalist in track and field. The wait finally ended on Saturday when Neeraj Chopra scripted history, winning the Gold medal in the Mens’ Javelin event at the Tokyo Olympics.
BUT WHO IS NEERAJ CHOPRA?
Born on December 24, 1997, Neeraj Chopra is an Indian track and field athlete and a javelin thrower, hailing from Panipat. He is the first Indian athlete to clinch gold at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World U-20 Athletics Championship in Poland in 2016, setting a world junior record. He is also the first Indian athlete to top the qualification in the men's javelin throw with his first attempt of 86.65 meters in Group A at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
A Junior Commissioned Officer of the Indian Army, Chopra completed his education at DAV College, Chandigarh. His official Twitter handle is @Neeraj_chopra1 and the name of his official Facebook page is Neeraj Chopra. He is also active on Instagram and the username of his official handle is neeraj____chopra.
He drew inspiration from Jan Zelezny, a retired Czech track, and field athlete, and gained public attention when he won the Commonwealth Games Javelin gold with the best throw of 86.47 meters. With a throw of 87.43 meters, he broke the national record at the Doha Diamond League in 2018.
He established a new Indian national record of 88.06 meters when he bagged a gold medal at 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and broke past his national record, setting the new one at 88.07 meters in 2021.
The star javelin thrower also clinched gold at the Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia, the Savo Games in Finland, and the Soteville Athletics Meet in France. He is currently being coached by Klaus Bartonietz, a German biomechanics expert. He was conferred with the prestigious Arjuna Award after he won gold in the Gold Coast Commonwealth in 2018.
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