Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra

Indian track and field athlete

Neeraj Chopra is an Indian track and field athlete who is the reigning Olympic champion in javelin throw. He is the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in men's javelin throw. 

Born: 24 December 1997 (age 24 years), Khandra

Height: 1.82 m

Medals: Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's javelin throw, MORE

Parents: Saroj Devi, Satish Kumar

Awards: Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Vishisht Seva Medal, Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award

Who is the world champion in javelin throw?

champion Neeraj Chopra

Eugene, USA: Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra on Sunday made history again bagging the silver medal in the men's javelin final at the World Athletics Championships. Though two of his attempts were marked foul, a throw of 88.13m in his fourth attempt was enough for the 24-year-old to bag silver in his first-ever finals

Neeraj Chopra creates history, becomes first Indian ever to win silver at World Athletics Championships

Neeraj Chopra broke into a smile after his fourth round throw of 88.13m. The tension was somewhat eased after he moved into the provisional podium place in second position following his best throw of the men’s javelin throw final in Eugene, US.

While a nation was asleep, the reigning Olympic champion created history after becoming the first ever Indian athlete to win a silver at the World athletics championships with his best effort of 88.13m on early Sunday morning (India time) to etch his name in the record books. He, however, failed in his endeavour to become the first javelin thrower after Norwegian track and field great Andreas Thorkildsen to hold both the Olympics and World Championships titles at the same time. Thorkildsen had achieved the feat at the Berlin edition of the Worlds meet.

However, it was Grenadian Anderson Peters who took away the honours after effortlessly throwing the spear to a 90m mark thrice to clinch the gold. Anderson, the reigning World champion, saved the best for his last, launching the spear to a distance of 90.54m in his sixth and final attempt. Before coming to the Worlds, he had a personal best of 93.07m at the Doha Diamond League. In the final, Anderson had a series of 90.21m, 90.46m, 87.21m, 88.11m, 85.83m, 90.54m.

Neeraj had fouled his first attempt after stepping over the scratch line and had them come up with a below-par effort of 82.39m in his second. He improved it further to 86.37m in his next attempt but was still out of the medal contention at the fourth place in the 12-man final. The reigning CWG and Asian Games champion calmed down his frayed nerves and threw the spear to a distance of 88.13m to move into second position behind Anderson.

Tokyo Olympics silver medallist, Jakub Vadlejch from Czech Republic who was in the race for a silver-finish before Neeraj’s 88.13m effort dislodged him to the third, came up with an 83.48m in his fourth attempt to drop down the pack. His best throw till then was an 88.09m. Neeraj tried to catch up with Anderson in his final two attempts, but fouled them after failing to achieve the desired distance. Vadlejch settled for bronze to complete the podium line-up. Another Indian, Rohit Yadav, finished 10th among 12 finalists with his best throw of 78.72m.