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Neeraj Chopra (born 24 December 1997) is a track and field athlete from India. He is the reigning Olympic champion, Silver medalist in the World Championship, and the Diamond League champion in Javelin throw. He is the most decorated athlete of India and the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in Men's Javelin throw. A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Indian Army, Chopra is the first track and field athlete to win a gold medal for India at the Olympics.[6] He is also the first track and field athlete from India to win at the IAAF World U20 Championships, where in 2016 he achieved a world under-20 record throw of 86.48 m, becoming the first Indian athlete to set a world record.

Subedar

Neeraj Chopra

PVSM VSM

Chopra in December 2021
Personal information
Full name	Neeraj Chopra
Born	(1997-12-24) 24 December 1997 (age 24) Khandra, Haryana, India
Education	DAV College, Chandigarh
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Military career
Allegiance	India
Service/branch	Indian Army
Years of service	2016–present
Rank	Subedar
Service number	JC-471869A[2]
Unit	4 Rajputana Rifles[3]
Awards	Param Vishisht Seva Medal Vishisht Seva Medal
Sport
Sport	Track and field
Rank	2
Event(s)	Javelin throw
Coached by	Uwe Hohn (2018–2021) Klaus Bartonietz (2021–present)
Achievements and titles
World finals	(2022)
Regional finals	(2017)
Olympic finals	(2020)
Highest world ranking	2 (achieved on 11 August 2021)[4]
Personal best(s)	NR 89.94 m (2022)[5]
Medal record Men's athletics Representing  India Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 – – World Championships – 1 – Diamond League 1 - - Asian Games 1 – – Commonwealth Games 1 – – Asian Championships 1 – – South Asian Games 1 – – World Junior Championships 1 – – Asian Junior Championships – 1 – Total 7 2 0 Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo Javelin throw World Championships 2022 Eugene Javelin throw Diamond League 2022 Zürich Javelin Throw Asian Games 2018 Jakarta Javelin throw Commonwealth Games 2018 Gold Coast Javelin throw Asian Championships 2017 Bhubaneshwar Javelin throw South Asian Games 2016 Guwahati/Shillong Javelin throw World Junior Championships 2016 Bydgoszcz Javelin throw Asian Junior Championships 2016 Ho Chi Minh City Javelin throw
Updated on 9 September 2022.

Chopra participated in the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 Asian Games, serving as the flag-bearer in the latter and winning gold medals in both. In his debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Neeraj won the gold medal with a throw of 87.58 m in his second attempt. As of 2021^[update], he is one of only two Indians to have won an individual Olympic gold medal (the other being Abhinav Bindra), as well as the youngest-ever Indian Olympic gold medalist in an individual event, and the only one to have won gold in his Olympic debut.[7]

On 14 June 2022, at the Paavo Nurmi Games, he registered new national record of 89.30m in Turku, Finland, Chora eventually beat his own record by reaching 89.94m at Stockholm Diamond League in Sweden on 30 June 2022.

On 23 July 2022, Chopra won a Silver medal in 2022 World Athletics Championships with a throw of 88.13m, making him the second Indian to win a medal at World Athletics Championships after Anju Bobby George, who won Bronze medal in Women's Long Jump at 2003 World Athletics Championships[8]

Early life and education

Neeraj Chopra was born in a Ror family in Khandra Panipat, Haryana.[9] He has two sisters and his family is largely involved in agriculture.[10] He did his schooling from BVN Public School.[11] He graduated from Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College in Chandigarh,[12] and as of 2021^[update], is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts from Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar, Punjab.[13]

Impressed with Chopra's performance at the South Asian Games and his future potential, the Indian Army offered him a direct appointment as a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Rajputana Rifles with the rank of Naib Subedar.[14][lower-alpha 1] He accepted the offer and joined the army under sports quota.[15]

Athletics career

Early training

After local children teased him about his childhood obesity, Chopra's father enrolled him in a gymnasium at Madlauda; he was later enrolled in a gym in Panipat. While playing at Shivaji stadium in Panipat, he saw some javelin throwers and began participating himself.[16]

Chopra visited the Panipat Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre, where javelin thrower Jaiveer Choudhary recognised his early talent in the winter of 2010.[17] Observing Chopra's ability to achieve a 40-metre throw without training and impressed by his drive, Choudhary became his first coach.[18] Chopra learned the basics of the sport from Choudhary and a few more experienced athletes who had trained under a javelin coach in Jalandhar.[19] He soon won his first medal, a bronze in the district championships, and then persuaded his family to allow him to live in Panipat while developing his abilities.[19]

After training under Choudhary for a year, the 13-year-old Chopra was admitted to the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula. The sports complex was then one of only two facilities in the state of Haryana with a synthetic runway. There, he trained under coach Naseem Ahmad, a running coach who made him train in long-distance running along with the javelin throw. As Panchkula lacked a specialized javelin coach, he and fellow javelin thrower Parminder Singh downloaded videos of the Czech champion Jan Zelezny and attempted to copy his style.[19] While initially at Tau Devi, Chopra typically achieved throws of around 55 metres, but soon increased his range, and in the National Junior Athletics Championships in Lucknow on 27 October 2012, won gold with a new national record throw of 68.40 metres.[21][22]

International beginnings

In 2013, Neeraj Chopra entered his first international competition, the World Youth Championships in Ukraine.[19] He won his first international medal in 2014, a silver at the Youth Olympics Qualification in Bangkok.[23] He achieved his first throw of over 70 metres at the 2014 senior nationals.[24]

In 2015, Chopra broke the previous world record in the junior category, throwing 81.04 metres in the 2015 All India Inter-University Athletics meet; this was his first throw of over 80 metres.[22]

Chopra finished fifth at the 2015 National Games in Kerala,[25] and received a callback for the national-level training camp as a result,[18] leaving Panchkula in 2016 to train at Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Patiala.[19][26] According to Chopra, his inclusion in the national camp marked a turning point in his career, as he received better facilities, a better quality diet and an improved standard of training from that available at Panchkula. According to him, training with national level javelin throwers boosted his morale.[25] Chopra was also assigned his first dedicated javelin coach, 2010 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Kashinath Naik, but found Naik's training regimen too difficult and resumed training on his own after a month and a half.

2016 – 2018

At the 2016 South Asian Games, Chopra achieved a new personal best during the athletics finals in Guwahati on 9 February, winning gold with a throw of 82.23 meters, though falling short of the 83-meter Olympic qualifying mark. He also began training under Australian coach Gary Calvert that month.[19] Chopra won a gold medal in the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland and set a world junior record of 86.48 m, becoming the first Indian athlete to achieve a world record, at the same time setting a new national record.[27] Although his U20 record surpassed that of defending Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott, Chopra failed to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics as the cut-off date had been 11 July, the week before the U20 championships. His preparations for Rio had also been hampered by a back injury sustained in April 2016 during the Federation Cup in New Delhi, which had noticeably affected his performance in competition.[27]

In September 2016, he left the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports to train at the Sports Authority of India centre in Bangalore. He was formally inducted as a JCO in December 2016, and subsequently received extended leave to continue his training.[26]

Chopra won gold in the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships with a throw of 85.23 metres.[28] He then went to London in August for the World Championships, but was eliminated before reaching the finals.[29] On 24 August, Chopra suffered a significant groin injury in the finals of the Zurich Diamond League, sustaining the injury during his third attempted throw, in which he attained a distance of 83.39 meters; owing to the injury, he fouled his fourth attempt and skipped his last two allowed attempts.[29] His first and best throw of 83.80 meters gave him a seventh-place finish.[29] As a result, he withdrew from competition for the remainder of 2017.[30] After recovering from his injury, which he partly attributed to a heavy competition schedule and the lack of a proper diet and rest, Chopra spent a month at the Joint Services Wing sports institute in Vijayanagar.[30] He then left for Offenburg, Germany in November to train for three months with Werner Daniels, whom he had briefly worked with before the 2017 World Championships. His former coach Calvert had left India in May due to disputes over his contract. During his stay in Offenburg, Chopra focused on strength training and honed his technique with Daniels' guidance, adjusting his stance and improving his range by keeping his hand raised higher during throws.[30]

In the men's javelin throw at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, he registered a season-best effort of 86.47 metres, becoming the first Indian to win the javelin throw at the Commonwealth Games.[31] In May 2018, he again broke the national record at the Doha Diamond League with a throw of 87.43 metres.[32]

In August 2018, Chopra made his debut at the Asian Games representing India, and was also the flag-bearer for the Indian contingent during the 2018 Asian Games Parade of Nations.[33] On 27 August, he threw a distance of 88.06 m to win gold in the Men's javelin throw at the 2018 Asian Games and bettered his own Indian national record.[34] It was also India's first gold medal in the javelin throw at the Asian Games. 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, but was awarded the Arjuna Award in September 2018.[35] He was further rewarded by the army with an out-of-turn promotion to subedar in November.[36]

In preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, subsequently postponed to 2021, Chopra trained with guidance from his German coach Uwe Hohn, biomechanics expert Klaus Bartonietz and physiotherapist Ishaan Marwaha.[37] During 2018 – 2019, Hohn improved Chopra's throwing technique, which earlier was "wild" according to Hohn.[38]

Injury and recovery

Chopra missed the 2019 World Championships in Doha due to bone spurs in his right elbow, undergoing surgery in Mumbai on 3 May 2019,[39] the day after the qualifying competitions for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics had begun. After a period of recuperation, involving meditation and rehabilitative training at Patiala and the Inspire Institute of Sport at Vijayanagar, Chopra travelled to South Africa in November 2019 for training under German biomechanics expert Klaus Bartoneitz.[40][41] Previously, he had been coached by Gary Calvert[42] and Werner Daniels.[43]

After a 16-month hiatus, Chopra returned to international competition in January 2020 with a winning throw of 87.86 metres in the Athletics Central North West League Meeting in Potchefstroom, South Africa, which as a distance of over 85 meters qualified him for the Tokyo Olympiad.[40]

After South Africa, Chopra travelled to Turkey for training, but was forced to return to India in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[44] Owing to the pandemic and lockdown in India,[44] Chopra spent the next year training at the NIS Patiala.[45] In late 2020, the Athletics Federation of India and the Odisha state government aided the national javelin team by arranging a training camp at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, which Chopra attended from December 2020 through February 2021.[46]

On 5 March 2021, Chopra again broke his own national record with a throw of 88.07 m, which ranked him third-best internationally.[47]

Owing to the pandemic, Chopra's visa application to travel to Sweden for training was rejected. After weeks of attempting to secure a visa, which Chopra described as frustrating, 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.[45][48] He flew to Paris on 5 June 2021 for a mandatory quarantine period before travelling to Portugal for the Meeting Cidade de Lisboa.[44] He opened his international season of 2021 there with a throw of 83.18 metres, which earned him a gold medal.[49] Chopra remained in Lisbon until 19 June before travelling to Uppsala, Sweden with his coach for further training, which was sanctioned by the Sports Authority of India at a cost of ₹34.85 lakh (US$44,000).[50]

He went on to compete in the Karlstad Meet in Sweden in June 2022, where he achieved a gold with a sub-par throw of 80.96 m. before winning a bronze in the Kuortane Games in Finland with a throw of 86.79 m.[51][52] The 24-year-old won the gold medal with a throw of 86.69m his first and only legal throw. He attributed his reduced performance in Finland to a tendency to throw higher than he wanted, along with having to use a different javelin as his own was unavailable.[53] Following the Kuortane Games, Chopra travelled to Lucerne to compete in the Spitzen Leichtathletik Luzern but decided to withdraw due to fatigue.[52] He attempted to secure a visa for the United Kingdom to enter the Diamond League at Gateshead on 13 July, but faced difficulties due to the pandemic and instead continued training and honing his technique in Uppsala.[53]

2020 Tokyo Olympics

On 4 August 2021, Chopra made his debut at the Olympics, representing India in the Japan National Stadium[54] He topped his qualifying group for entry to the final with a throw of 86.65 metres.[55]

Chopra won the gold medal in the final on 7 August with a throw of 87.58 m in his second attempt, becoming the first Indian Olympian to win a gold medal in athletics, and the first post-independence Indian Olympic medalist in athletics.[56]

Chopra's medal gave India a final total of seven medals at the game, surpassing the country's previous best performance of six medals earned at the 2012 London Olympics.[57] As a result of his performance in Tokyo, Chopra became the second-ranked athlete internationally in the men's javelin throw.[4]

Chopra also became the second Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal after Abhinav Bindra, who won the gold medal in men's 10 m air rifle in the 2008 Summer Olympics.[58] He dedicated his win to sprinters Milkha Singh and P. T. Usha, both former Olympians from India.[59]

According to some historians, Chopra is the first Olympic medalist in track and field for India, but this status is disputed. Both 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.[60][61][62][63][64][65][66][n 1]

2022

At the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland on June 14, Chopra won the silver medal with a new personal best of 89.30m and registered the new national record.[67][68][69]

He broke his own national record with a throw of 89.94 m in the Stockholm Diamond League; though he finished to achieve silver medal in the competition.[70]

In year 2022, Chopra With his throw of 88.13m on his fourth attempt in the men's javelin throw final in Oregon, Neeraj Chopra ensured himself a historic silver medal. This is India's only second medal at the World Athletics Championships after long-jumper Anju Bobby George's bronze in 2003.[71]

He opted out from 2022 commonwealth games due to an injury.

On August 26, 2022, he won first place[72] at the Lausanne Diamond League meet with a throw of 89.09m, and qualified for the Zurich Final and 2023 World Athletics Championships, Budapest in Hungry[73]

On September 8, 2022, Neeraj Chopra won the 2022 Diamond League final in Zürich, with a best throw of 88.44m. He became the first Indian to do so.[74]

International competitions

• NR−National Record
• WJR−World U20 Junior Record
• q−Qualification Round

Representing  India

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
2013	World Youth Championships	Donetsk, Ukraine	19th (q)	Javelin throw (700 g)	66.75 m[75]
2015	Asian Athletics Championships	Wuhan, China	9th	Javelin throw	70.50 m[76]
2016	South Asian Games	Guwahati, India		Javelin throw	82.23 m[77][78]
	Asian Junior Athletics Championships	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam		Javelin throw	77.60 m[79]
	World Athletics U20 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	WJR	Javelin throw	86.48 m[80]
2017	Asian Grand Prix Series	Jinhua, China		Javelin throw	82.11 m[81]
		Jiaxing, China			83.32 m[82]
		Taipei, Taiwan			79.90 m[83]
	Asian Athletics Championships	Bhubaneswar, India		Javelin throw	85.23 m[84]
	Diamond League	Paris, France	7th (10 pts)	Javelin throw	84.67 m[85]
		Fontvieille, Monaco			78.92 m[86]
		Zurich, Switzerland			83.80 m[87]
	World Athletics Championships	London, United Kingdom	15th (q)	Javelin throw	82.26 m[88]
2018	Offenburg Speerwurf Meeting	Offenburg, Germany		Javelin throw	82.80 m[89]
	Commonwealth Games	Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia		Javelin throw	86.47 m[90][91]
	Diamond League	Doha, Qatar	4th (17 pts)	Javelin throw	87.43 m[92]
		Eugene, Oregon, USA			80.81 m[93]
		Rabat, Morocco			83.32 m[94]
		Zurich, Switzerland			85.73 m[95]
	Sotteville Athletics Meet	Sotteville-lès-Rouen, France		Javelin throw	85.17 m[96]
	Savo Games	Lapinlahti, Finland		Javelin throw	85.69 m[97]
	Asian Games	Indonesia	NR	Javelin throw	88.06 m[98]
2020	Athletics Central North West League Meeting (qualifying event for Summer Olympics)	Potchefstroom, South Africa	(q)	Javelin throw	87.86 m[40]
2021	Meeting Cidade de Lisboa	Lisbon, Portugal		Javelin throw	83.18 m[99]
	Folksam Grand Prix	Sweden		Javelin throw	80.96 m[99]
	Kuortane Games	Kuortane, Finland		Javelin throw	86.79 m[99][100]
	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan		Javelin throw	87.58 m[101]
2022	Paavo Nurmi Games	Turku, Finland	NR	Javelin throw	89.30 m[102]
	Kuortane Games	Kuortane, Finland		Javelin throw	86.69 m[103][104]
	Diamond League	Stockholm, Sweden	NR	Javelin throw	89.94 m[105]
	World Athletics Championships	Eugene, United States		Javelin throw	88.13 m[106]
	Diamond League	Lausanne, Switzerland		Javelin throw	89.08 m[107]
	Wanda Diamond League Final	Zürich, Switzerland		Javelin Throw	88.44 m[108]

Seasonal bests by year

Year	Date	Performance	Place
2013	26 July	69.66 metres	Patiala, India
2014	17 August	70.19 meters
2015	31 December	81.04 meters
2016	23 July	86.48 metres WJR	Bydgoszcz, Poland
2017	2 June	85.63 metres	Patiala, India
2018	27 August	88.06 metres	Jakarta, Indonesia
2020	28 January	87.86 meters	South Africa
2021	5 March	88.07 metres	Patiala, India
2022	30 June	89.94 metres	Stockholm, Sweden

Awards and recognition

Ribbon bar

Param Vishisht Seva Medal		Padma Shri		Vishisht Seva Medal		75th Independence Anniversary Medal

National awards

• Arjuna Award – 2018[109]
• Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) – 2020 Republic Day honours[2][110]
• Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award – 2021 (highest sporting honour of India)[111]
• Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) - 2022 Republic Day honours[112]
• Padma Shri (fourth highest civilian honour) - 2022 Republic Day honours[113]

Other

• Army Sports Institute (ASI) stadium of Pune cantonment renamed "Neeraj Chopra Stadium" by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on 27 August 2021.[114]
• Switzerland Tourism appointed Neeraj Chopra as its Friendship Ambassador.[115]

Notes

See also

• Athletics in India
• Javelin throw at the Olympics
• Sport in India - overview of Sports tradition in India
• India at the Olympics
• Athletics Federation of India, highest governing body of Athletics in India
• India at the 2020 Summer Olympics

References

External links

• Neeraj Chopra at Olympedia
• Neeraj Chopra at Olympics.com
• Neeraj Chopra at World Athletics
• Neeraj Chopra at Diamond League
• Neeraj Chopra on Twitter

На других языках

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[de] Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra (Hindi .mw-parser-output .Deva{font-size:120%}@media all and (min-width:800px){.mw-parser-output .Deva{font-size:calc(120% - ((100vw - 800px)/80))}}@media all and (min-width:1000px){.mw-parser-output .Deva{font-size:100%}}नीरज चोपड़ा Nīraj Copṛā [niːrəʤ ˈtʃoːpɽaː]; * 24. Dezember 1997 in Khandra, Haryana) ist ein indischer Leichtathlet, der sich auf den Speerwurf spezialisiert hat. Bei den Olympischen Sommerspielen 2020 gewann er die Goldmedaille in dieser Disziplin.

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- [en] Neeraj Chopra

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[fr] Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra (né le 24 décembre 1997 au village de Khandra, district de Panipat) est un athlète indien, spécialiste du lancer de javelot, champion olympique en 2021 à Tokyo.

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[it] Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra (in hindi: नीरज चोपड़ा; Panipat, 24 dicembre 1997) è un giavellottista indiano, campione olimpico a Tokyo 2020.

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[ru] Чопра, Нирадж

Нирадж Чопра (хинди नीरज चोपड़ा; род. 24 декабря 1997[1][2], Панипат, Харьяна) — индийский метатель копья, олимпийский чемпион.

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