39 Facts About Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra, PVSM, VSM was born on 24 December 1997 and is a track and field athlete from India.

Neeraj Chopra is the reigning Olympic champion, World Championships silver medallist and the Diamond League champion in the javelin throw.

Neeraj Chopra is the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in men's javelin throw.

Neeraj Chopra is the first track and field athlete from India to win at the World Under-20 Championships, where in 2016 he achieved a world U20 record throw of 86.48 m, becoming the first Indian athlete to set a world record.

Neeraj 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.

Neeraj Chopra is the Indian record holder for the javelin throw.

Neeraj Chopra was born in a Haryanvi Ror family in Khandra Panipat, Haryana.

Neeraj Chopra has two sisters and his family is largely involved in agriculture.

Neeraj Chopra graduated from Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College in Chandigarh, and as of 2021, was pursuing a Bachelor of Arts from Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar, Punjab.

Neeraj Chopra accepted the offer and joined the army under sports quota.

Neeraj Chopra visited the Panipat Sports Authority of India centre, where javelin thrower Jaiveer Choudhary recognised his early talent in the winter of 2010.

Neeraj Chopra learned the basics of the sport from Choudhary and a few more experienced athletes who had trained under a javelin coach in Jalandhar.

Neeraj Chopra 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.

In 2013, Neeraj Chopra entered his first international competition, the World Youth Championships in Ukraine.

Neeraj Chopra won his first international medal in 2014, a silver at the Youth Olympics Qualification in Bangkok.

Neeraj Chopra achieved his first throw of over 70 metres at the 2014 senior nationals.

In 2015, Neeraj 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.

Neeraj Chopra finished fifth at the 2015 National Games in Kerala, and received a callback for the national-level training camp as a result, leaving Panchkula in 2016 to train at Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Patiala.

Neeraj Chopra was 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.

At the 2016 South Asian Games, Neeraj 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.

Neeraj Chopra began training under Australian coach Gary Calvert that month.

Neeraj 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.

Neeraj Chopra was formally inducted as a JCO in December 2016, and subsequently received extended leave to continue his training.

Neeraj Chopra won gold in the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships with a throw of 85.23 metres.

Neeraj Chopra 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.

Neeraj Chopra was the only track and field athlete that year to be recommended by the Athletics Federation of India for the country's highest sports award, the Major Dhyanchand Khel Ratna, but was awarded the Arjuna Award in September 2018.

In preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, subsequently postponed to 2021, Neeraj Chopra trained with guidance from his German coach Uwe Hohn, biomechanics expert Klaus Bartonietz and physiotherapist Ishaan Marwaha.

Neeraj Chopra missed the 2019 World Championships in Doha due to bone spurs in his right elbow, undergoing surgery in Mumbai on 3 May 2019, the day after the qualifying competitions for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics had begun.

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 Neeraj Chopra attended from December 2020 through February 2021.

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

Neeraj Chopra flew to Paris on 5 June 2021 for a mandatory quarantine period before travelling to Portugal for the Meeting Cidade de Lisboa.

Neeraj Chopra opened his international season of 2021 there with a throw of 83.18 metres, which earned him a gold medal.

Neeraj Chopra 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 The 24-year-old won the gold medal with a throw of 86.69m his first and only legal throw.

Neeraj Chopra 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.

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

Neeraj 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.

Neeraj Chopra 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.

In June 2022 at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, Neeraj Chopra placed second with a new personal best of 89.30m and registered the new national record.

Neeraj Chopra broke his own national record with a throw of 89.94m for a second place at the Stockholm Diamond League.