Neeraj Chopra, hailing from Haryana’s Khandra village, began his athletic journey after a chance encounter with javelin throw. Despite financial challenges, his dedication and talent made him the first Asian to win Olympic gold in athletics.
The Olympic Stadium in Paris will be the centre of India’s attention today as Neeraj Chopra begins his quest to defend his javelin throw gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Neeraj is one of India’s top medal prospects.
In today’s qualification round for the men’s javelin throw, he will compete against 32 athletes from around the world. If he advances, Neeraj will participate in the finals on 8 August, 2024.
The excitement surrounding his performance is palpable. Last week, Mohak Nahta, CEO of Atlys, a visa application platform, made a buzzworthy offer on LinkedIn. He boldly pledged to personally arrange a free visa to any country for everyone who applies for one full day if Neeraj Chopra wins gold at the Olympics!
Let’s take a look at the journey Neeraj had to traverse to become the celebrated champion he is today.
‘Sarpanch’, weight loss and javelin
Born in Khandra village in Haryana’s Panipat district, Neeraj comes from a farming family. Khandra has around 2,000 residents who are mostly farmers. His father Satish Kumar is a farmer, and his mother Saroj Devi is a housewife. He has two sisters.
He earned the nickname ‘Sarpanch’ (village head) after wearing a new kurta, gifted by his father, to college. His friends started calling him by this nickname that day, and it has stuck with him ever since!
His journey into sports began in 2009 with a personal goal: to lose some excess weight. A 12-year-old Neeraj weighed 90 kg and had little interest in exercising. Encouraged by his family to take fitness seriously, he began his athletic journey.
A serendipitous encounter with javelin thrower Jai Choudhary during a morning run made Neeraj see his own potential in the sport. Though pursuing athletics required his family to invest considerable savings, his unwavering dedication and ability to overcome injuries and setbacks turned him into one of the most distinguished athletes in the sport.
From youth prodigy to Olympic and World Champion
In 2014, a 16-year-old Neeraj earned a silver medal in the Youth Olympics quarterfinals in Bangkok. During the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, he secured the gold medal with a throw of 86.48m, setting a new under-20 world record, drawing global attention to his talent.
However, his breakthrough came in 2017 when he claimed gold at the Asian Athletics Championship. Later, he also won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, becoming the first Indian to win the javelin throw at the event, as well as at the Jakarta 2018 Asian Games.
In his journey to becoming a sports star, Neeraj has trained under Australian coach Garry Calvert at the Olympic Training Centre. Despite overcoming numerous obstacles to achieve top-tier status, Neeraj credits his success to this comprehensive support system. He said, “Garry sir has been a huge source of knowledge and help… and my parents have always backed me to push myself to be the best in whatever it is that I do.”
At 26, Neeraj is a leading javelin thrower. As the current Olympic, World, and Asian Games javelin champion, he made history as the first Asian to win an Olympic gold in javelin at 2020 Tokyo Olympics — joining Abhinav Bindra as one of just two Indians to achieve individual Olympic gold.
Since then, Neeraj has added gold medals from the 2022 Diamond League, the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and the 2023 World Championships in Budapest to his collection. The victory at Budapest made him India’s first world champion in any athletics discipline. He also made history as the first Indian to win at the World Under-20 Championships, establishing himself as one of the all-time great javelin throwers.
His accolades continued with the Arjuna Award in 2018, the Vishist Seva Medal (VSM) in 2020, the Major 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 consistent wins on the grandest stages have established him as a top-tier javelin thrower. His drive to improve his throwing distances has garnered him a massive social media following, exceeding nine million Instagram followers.
Emphasising self-belief, the javelin star said in an interview, “Sometimes, I have felt that my throw has not been up to the mark, until the last throw. But I still believe in myself that I have to do it till the end. And in many competitions, my last throw has been the best one.”
Edited by Pranita Bhat; Image courtesy: Neeraj Chopra (@neeraj____chopra)
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