Mumbai: Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the greatest Indian track and field athlete of all time?”. Till a few years ago, in response to this question, some people used to say Milkha Singh. Some more people might have taken the name of Shriram Singh, some might have taken the name of P.T. Usha must have been said and some people must have taken the name of Anju Bobby George.
All of them are legends of Indian track and field who have written golden chapters in the history of Indian sports. But in the last few years, there is one athlete who has gone ahead in the race. Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has led the survey after winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
And, after winning the gold medal at the World Championships in Budapest on August 27, Chopra has clearly established himself as the Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T.), as the 25-year-old Army man from Haryana He has achieved achievements which his peers had not achieved. They came close, but failed to make it. Chopra is the first Indian to win a gold medal in athletics and the second Indian to win an Olympic gold medal. Chopra won the men’s javelin gold medal with a throw of 87.58 meters and had sealed victory in Tokyo with his first two throws.
He is the first Indian javelin thrower to top the Diamond League competition and also the first Indian to win the Diamond League final. The 25-year-old Subedar, posted with 4 Rajputana Rifles, brought glory to the country at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary last week when he created history by becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal in the prestigious event.
Neeraj threw the javelin 88.17 meters in the final in his second attempt and thus established himself as a strong contender for the medal. Three days later, Chopra won a silver medal at the Zurich Diamond League despite battling a minor injury.
This was Chopra’s second medal at the World Championships after winning a silver medal in Eugene, USA last year. What made his achievement even bigger was the fact that Chopra had topped the field in Budapest in May, returning from a muscle strain that had caused him to miss a few matches. Earlier, he was suffering from a groin strain, which he suffered during his historic silver medal-winning performance at the World Championships in Eugene.
In 2019, he had to undergo surgery after he developed a spur in his right elbow, which caused him to miss the 2019 World Championships in Doha. Coached by Germany’s Uwe Hohn from 2018 to 2021 and then by German Klaus Bartonitz from 2021 till date, Chopra is the only Indian athlete to win gold medals at both the Olympics and the World Championships at the same time.
Born on 24 December 1997 in Khandra village of Haryana, Chopra shot into limelight when he won the gold medal at the 2016 World Junior Athletics Championships with a junior world record. He won a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, followed by a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta – the first gold by an Indian in javelin throw at the Asian Games. He set the Indian national record in javelin throw with a mammoth throw of 89.94 meters at the Stockholm Diamond League in 2022.
All these achievements will seem even more challenging because Chopra started javelin throwing a bit late, taking up the sport as an overweight 13-year-old boy who wanted to lose weight and gain confidence. He comes from a family of middle class farmers for whom sports is not the first choice. The hallmark of Chopra’s performances is his consistency and ability to work hard. He is humble and doesn’t get distracted easily from his goal despite earning huge money since winning the gold medal in Oregon. Chopra, who was awarded the Arjuna Award and Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in 2018, Padma Shri in 2022 and Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 2022, has won all the top titles and medals offered in the sport. Apart from his achievements in the field, Chopra also has a huge influence on fellow athletes as Murali Sreeshankar, Kishore Kumar Jena and many other Indian youngsters take inspiration from him and have started performing well on the international stage.
Jenna and D.P. Manu finished fifth and sixth respectively at the World Championships in Budapest. “Chao-Tsun Cheng of Chinese Taipei has been doing well for the past few years. We Indians are doing well. On the women’s side, there are some good throwers from Japan and China, and some Sri Lankans are also doing well. Last year After the World Championships victory, Chopra said, “Anderson Peters won the title, so it is becoming a global sport and many athletes are performing well.”
Chopra’s relationship with Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem has also made a great impression on many people in both countries. There is a friendly rivalry between them and not only Chopra, but also her mother has good things to say about the Pakistani athlete.
“There is no doubt that Arshad has achieved a lot for Pakistan – winning a medal in athletics for Pakistan at the World Championships is a huge achievement, considering how much they had to struggle due to lack of facilities and support. this
