The overwhelming favorite to win another gold in the men’s javelin throw final at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris would be Neeraj Chopra, the first field athlete from India to win an Olympic gold medal. Neeraj had already created history on August 7, 2021, when he became the first Indian to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics. The 26-year-old, who was up in a rural family in Khandra, Haryana, accomplished this accomplishment with a winning throw of 87.58 meters.
Neeraj, a Chandigarh native and a graduate of Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College, struggled with childhood obesity, which inspired his family to get him involved in athletics. He eventually decided on the javelin throw and started training at Panipat’s Shivaji Stadium. He trained for a year before turning 13 and enrolling at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula, where Naseem Ahmad, his coach, helped him with long-distance running and javelin throwing.
Neeraj’s throws were about 55 meters at first, but they rapidly got better. On October 27, 2012, he won the gold medal in the National Junior Athletics Championships in Lucknow, setting a new national record with a throw of 68.40 meters.
Neeraj Chopra earned a silver medal in the 2014 Youth Olympics Qualification in Bangkok, his first international medal. At the inter-state competition in Chennai the following year, he won his first medal in a national senior championship with a throw of 77.33 meters. Neeraj’s major breakthrough came in 2016 when, with a throw of 82.23 meters, he won a gold medal at the South Asian Games in Guwahati.
2017 saw him appointed as a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Rajputana Rifles by the Indian Army, which was impressed with his exploits in both national and international events. He was appointed directly to the position of Naib Subedar.
Neeraj trained in the Army Sports Institute in Pune and the “Mission Olympics Wing” after enlisting in the Army. The Mission Olympics Wing is committed to finding and developing talented athletes for various national and international tournaments in 11 different disciplines.
With a season-best throw of 86.47 meters, Neeraj won the gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in 2018. At the Diamond League in Doha that same year, he set a personal best of 87.43 meters. He won another gold medal in the Asian Games on August 27 with a throw of 88.06 meters.