Neeraj Chopra, hailing from Haryana’s Khandra village, started his athletic journey after an opportunity encounter with javelin throw. Regardless of monetary challenges, his dedication and expertise made him the primary Asian to win Olympic gold in athletics.
Neeraj Chopra, hailing from Haryana’s Khandra village, started his athletic journey after an opportunity encounter with javelin throw. Regardless of monetary challenges, his dedication and expertise made him the primary Asian to win Olympic gold in athletics.
The Olympic Stadium in Paris would be the centre of India’s consideration right now as Neeraj Chopra begins his quest to defend his javelin throw gold medal on the 2024 Paris Olympics. Neeraj is one among India’s prime medal prospects.
In right now’s qualification spherical for the lads’s javelin throw, he’ll compete in opposition to 32 athletes from around the globe. If he advances, Neeraj will take part within the finals on 8 August, 2024.
The thrill surrounding his efficiency is palpable. Final week, Mohak Nahta, CEO of Atlys, a visa software platform, made a buzzworthy supply on LinkedIn. He boldly pledged to personally organize a free visa to any nation for everybody who applies for one full day if Neeraj Chopra wins gold on the Olympics!
Let’s check out the journey Neeraj needed to traverse to grow to be the celebrated champion he’s right now.
‘Sarpanch’, weight reduction and javelin
Born in Khandra village in Haryana’s Panipat district, Neeraj comes from a farming household. Khandra has round 2,000 residents who’re principally farmers. His father Satish Kumar is a farmer, and his mom Saroj Devi is a housewife. He has two sisters.
He earned the nickname ‘Sarpanch’ (village head) after sporting a brand new kurta, gifted by his father, to varsity. His pals began calling him by this nickname that day, and it has caught with him ever since!
His journey into sports activities started in 2009 with a private aim: to lose some extra weight. A 12-year-old Neeraj weighed 90 kg and had little curiosity in exercising. Inspired by his household to take health significantly, he started his athletic journey.
A serendipitous encounter with javelin thrower Jai Choudhary throughout a morning run made Neeraj see his personal potential within the sport. Although pursuing athletics required his household to speculate appreciable financial savings, his unwavering dedication and talent to beat accidents and setbacks turned him into one of the crucial distinguished athletes within the sport.
From youth prodigy to Olympic and World Champion
In 2014, a 16-year-old Neeraj earned a silver medal within the Youth Olympics quarterfinals in Bangkok. Through the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, he secured the gold medal with a throw of 86.48m, setting a brand new under-20 world document, drawing international consideration to his expertise.
Nevertheless, his breakthrough got here in 2017 when he claimed gold on the Asian Athletics Championship. Later, he additionally gained gold on the 2018 Commonwealth Video games, changing into the primary Indian to win the javelin throw on the occasion, in addition to on the Jakarta 2018 Asian Video games.
In his journey to changing into a sports activities star, Neeraj has educated below Australian coach Garry Calvert on the Olympic Coaching Centre. Regardless of overcoming quite a few obstacles to realize top-tier standing, Neeraj credit his success to this complete assist system. He stated, “Garry sir has been an enormous supply of information and assist… and my dad and mom have at all times backed me to push myself to be one of the best in no matter it’s that I do.”
At 26, Neeraj is a number one javelin thrower. As the present Olympic, World, and Asian Video games javelin champion, he made historical past as the primary Asian to win an Olympic gold in javelin at 2020 Tokyo Olympics — becoming a member of Abhinav Bindra as one among simply two Indians to realize particular person Olympic gold.
Since then, Neeraj has added gold medals from the 2022 Diamond League, the 2022 Commonwealth Video games, and the 2023 World Championships in Budapest to his assortment. The victory at Budapest made him India’s first world champion in any athletics self-discipline. He additionally made historical past as the primary Indian to win on the World Below-20 Championships, establishing himself as one of many all-time nice javelin throwers.
His accolades continued with the Arjuna Award in 2018, the Vishist Seva Medal (VSM) in 2020, the Main Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award (India’s highest sporting honour) in 2021, the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) in 2022, and the Padma Shri (India’s fourth highest civilian honour) in 2022.
Neeraj’s constant wins on the grandest phases have established him as a top-tier javelin thrower. His drive to enhance his throwing distances has garnered him an enormous social media following, exceeding 9 million Instagram followers.
Emphasising self-belief, the javelin star stated in an interview, “Generally, I’ve felt that my throw has not been up to speed, till the final throw. However I nonetheless imagine in myself that I’ve to do it until the tip. And in lots of competitions, my final throw has been one of the best one.”
Edited by Pranita Bhat; Picture courtesy: Neeraj Chopra (@neeraj____chopra)
Sources:
‘Neeraj Chopra: Do you know the Olympic champion is named ‘sarpanch’?’: by Aarish Ansari for GQ, Revealed on 19 July, 2024.
‘Olympics 2024: When will Neeraj Chopra be in motion? Date, time, streaming By Aditya Kaushik’: by Enterprise Customary, Revealed on 5 August, 2024.
‘Neeraj Chopra says setbacks helped him grow to be an Olympic javelin champion’: by Olympics.com, Revealed on 4 November, 2023.
‘Neeraj Chopra – Profession, achievements and extra as Indian javelin star goes for gold once more at 2024 Paris Olympics’: by Saino Zachariah for Sporting Information, Revealed on 19 July, 2024.
