Neeraj Chopra

Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra is a track and field athlete from India. He won gold in the javelin event at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. With Chopra’s medal, India finished with a total of seven medals from the competition, breaking its previous record of six medals at the 2012 London Olympics.

In 2022, Chopra earned the silver medal and set a new national record on June 14 at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, with a new personal best of 89.30m. In the Stockholm Diamond League, he broke his own personal best with a throw of 89.94 metres, finishing second in the event. Chopra won a silver medal with a throw of 88.13 metres on his fourth attempt in the men’s javelin throw final at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon. India has only won two medals total in the competition, the other being a bronze in the long jump in 2003 won by Anju Bobby George.

Due to an injury, Chopra chose to withdraw from the 2022 Commonwealth Games. He placed first at the Lausanne Diamond League competition on August 26, 2022, with a throw of 89.09 metres, earning him a spot in the Zurich Final and the 2023 World Athletics Championships, Budapest, Hungary. Chopra won the 2022 Diamond League final in Zürich on September 8, 2022, with a best throw of 88.44 metres, becoming the first Indian to acheive this feat.