1. Subedar Major Neeraj Chopra was born on 24 December 1997 and is an Indian track and field athlete.
44 Facts About Neeraj Chopra
1. 2.
Neeraj Chopra became the first Asian to win a gold in javelin at the World Championships after his win in 2023.
3.
Neeraj Chopra has a podium finish streak in 24 consecutive competitions, dating back to 2020.
4.
Neeraj Chopra is one of the five individual multiple medalists for India at the Olympics after his silver medal at the 2024 Olympics.
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Neeraj Chopra 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.
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Neeraj Chopra has won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and is a multiple Asian Games gold medalist.
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Neeraj Chopra won gold at the 2018 and 2022 Asian Games, while serving as the flag-bearer in the former edition.
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Neeraj Chopra was born on 24 December 1997 in a Haryanvi Ror agricultural family in Khandra village in Panipat district of Haryana.
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Neeraj Chopra has two sisters Savita Chopra and Sangeeta Chopra.
10.
Neeraj Chopra did his initial schooling from Bhartiya Vidya Niketan Public School, Panipat.
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Alongside his schooling, Neeraj Chopra won several national javelin championships in 2012 and 2014.
12.
In January 2025, Neeraj Chopra married former tennis player and coach Himani Mor.
13.
Neeraj Chopra learned the basics of the sport from Singh and practised with other athletes at Jalandhar.
14.
Neeraj Chopra finished third in the district championships, and persuaded his family to let him train at the SAI centre to hone his abilities.
15.
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 He won his first international medal in 2014, a silver at the Youth Olympics Qualification in Bangkok.
16.
Neeraj Chopra finished fifth at the 2015 National Games in Kerala.
17.
Neeraj Chopra participated at 2015 Asian Athletics Championships where he finished 9th with a best throw of 70.50 m 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.
18.
Neeraj Chopra was assigned 2010 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Kashinath Naik as his coach.
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Neeraj Chopra sustained a back injury in April 2016 during the Federation Cup in New Delhi, which affected his performance.
20.
Neeraj Chopra was offered a rank of Naib Subedar in the Rajputana Rifles.
21.
Neeraj Chopra subsequently received extended leave to continue his training.
22.
Neeraj Chopra attributed his injury to a heavy schedule and the lack of a proper diet and rest.
23.
Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian to win the javelin throw at the Commonwealth Games.
24.
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.
25.
Neeraj Chopra was awarded the Arjuna Award in September 2018.
26.
Hohn worked on refining Neeraj Chopra's throwing technique, which he labelled as "wild".
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Neeraj Chopra missed the 2019 World Championships in Doha due to injury.
28.
Neeraj Chopra moved to Turkey for training, but was forced to return to India in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
29.
Neeraj Chopra applied for travelling to Sweden for training, but faced difficulties due to the effects of the pandemic.
30.
Neeraj Chopra flew to Paris on 5 June 2021 for a mandatory quarantine period before travelling to Portugal for the Meeting Cidade de Lisboa.
31.
Neeraj Chopra 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.
32.
On 4 August 2021, Neeraj Chopra made his debut at the Olympics.
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Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal in athletics, and the first post-independence Indian Olympic medalist in athletics.
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Neeraj Chopra 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.
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Neeraj Chopra became the youngest-ever Indian Olympic gold medalist in an individual event and the only individual to have won gold on his Olympic debut.
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Neeraj Chopra's medal helped India register is best ever finish in the Olympic Games.
37.
Neeraj Chopra became the first Asian to win gold in the javelin throw event at the World Championships.
38.
Neeraj Chopra achieved the qualification quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics by achieving the Olympic Qualifying Standard at the Asian Games.
39.
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 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.
40.
Neeraj Chopra secured second place at the Lausanne Diamond League javelin throw competition on 22 August 2024, delivering a season-best throw of 89.49 meters.
41.
World Athletics announced a gold category javelin meet named Neeraj Chopra Classic, making it a key qualification event for the 2025 World Championships.
42.
Neeraj Chopra has trained under several coaches, one of the earliest being Jaiveer Singh who coached him from 2010 to 2011.
43.
Neeraj Chopra was coached by Uwe Hohn from 2018 to 2021.
44.
Neeraj Chopra's coaching under Klaus Bartonietz, from 2021 to 2024, resulted in several wins, titles, and gold medal victories.