“A new history of success” Neeraj Chopra’s tweet from 2017 comes true as the Javelin Thrower clinches the Gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
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Neeraj Chopra
Neeraj Chopra became a household name in India as he became the first Indian to win a Gold medal in the track and field event 121 years after India made its debut in the Olympic Games. The 23-year old was confirmed as the Gold medallist even before he took his final attempt after having crossed the 87.58m mark in his 2nd throw at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Chopra also became the first Indian gold medallist in Tokyo and just the 2nd individual athlete from India to win an Olympic Gold and ended India’s wait of 13 years for an Olympic Gold with Abhinav Bindra‘s gold in 10m Air Rifle Shooting at the 2008 Beijing Olympics being the last Gold before Neeraj won it today.
Neeraj has had an inspirational journey on his way to the Gold in Tokyo and his old tweet from 2017 when he was preparing for the future events having already won the Gold medal at the 2016 U20 World Championships and also at the 2016 South Asian Games.
The tweet translates to, ‘When the desire for success doesn’t let you sleep, When there is nothing better than hard work, when you do not get tired after working continuously, understand that it is going to create a new history of success.’
Neeraj Chopra holds the rank of Subedar in the Indian Army
Neeraj hails from Khandera village, Panipat district, Haryana in India and as a teenager at the age of 19, he joined the Indian Army as a Junior Commissioned Officer being appointed as a Naik Subedar. He credits the Army in supporting him in the training for the sport and with his growing list of laurels, he has also been promoted as a Subedar at the age of 23.
The athlete now holds the national record at 88.07m breaking his own previous record. He has won Gold medals at the 2017 Asian Championships, 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2018 Asian Games where he was also the flag bearer in the opening ceremony. Chopra also holds the U-20 junior record having touched the 86.48m mark at the 2016 World U-20 Championships in Poland.
With the Olympics Gold a cherry on the top, Neeraj’s success will be followed closely at the future events as well where he will now be an Olympic Champion at least till the 2024 Paris Olympics where he will enter as the defending champion.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)