Indias Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who made history on August 7, 2021 by winning India’s first-ever gold medal in athletics at the Tokyo Olympics, won the country’s only second medal at the National Athletics Championships, finishing with a historic silver in the men’s javelin final. Neeraj’s throw also ended India’s 29-year-long wait for a medal at the World’s after Anju Bobby George’s bronze medal finish in the women’s long jump way back in 2003.
Neeraj was born on December 24, 1997 to a family of farmers from Khandra village near Panipat in Haryana. He graduated from Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College in Chandigarh.His mother Saroj Devi is a housewife and his father Satish Kumar is a farmer.
Since he was overweight, Chopra was always persuaded by his family to take up sports. Later, he decided to try his luck at javelin throw and started training at the Shivaji Stadium in Panipat.
After training for a year, the 23-year-old was admitted to the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula where his coach Naseem Ahmad made him train in the long-distance running along with the javelin throw.
On August 7, 2021, Neeraj Chopra emerged as India’s first track-and-field Olympic gold-medallist.
He gave his best throw of 87.58m in his second attempt to clinch the gold medal for India at Tokyo Olympic Games. He is now the second Indian after Abhinav Bindra to win a gold medal in individual events.
