File image of Neeraj Chopra.© AFP
Since August 7, 2021, India’s biggest pride in the world of athletics has been javelin star Neeraj Chopra. At the age of just 23, Neeraj became India’s only second-ever Olympics individual gold medallist. With a throw of 87.58m, Chopra bested Czech duo Jakub Vadlejch and Vitezslav Vesely to claim India’s first athletics medal in the Olympic Games after independence. Now, heading in to Paris 2024, Chopra is India’s brightest hope of another medal, if not another gold, from the Olympics.
Hailing from the village of Khandra in Haryana, Neeraj’s rise has been meteoric. Hopes and talks about his medal chances in the Olympics began increasing when Chopra won gold in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. As he followed that up with another gold at the 2018 Asian Games, it was enough to suggest that Neeraj would certainly be a medal contender in Tokyo.
Injury and subsequent surgery to the right elbow would not be enough to stop Chopra’s surge to the top. Despite a change of javelin and a change in style – where he aimed to throw higher – Chopra remained formidable.
And then on the big night in Tokyo, it all came to fruition. Chopra topped qualifying and then topped the final to secure the proudest athletics moment any Indian alive had seen. Chopra’s gold was among seven medals for India, the nation’s highest-ever total.
From that historic gold, Chopra has gone from strength-to-strength. His 11 best throws of his javelin career have all come after that coveted gold in Tokyo. His best has been a whopping 89.94m, at the Stockholm Diamond League in 2022.
Chopra’s gold in 2020 was unprecedented. But he will touch down in Paris as the favourite. Neeraj Chopra not winning a medal in Paris 2024 will be an almighty shock. Come August 8, 2024 – almost three years to the historic date – India could well be rejoicing again.
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