Chopra was born in Khandra village, Panipat district, Haryana.[22][23]; and their famliy is largely a Haryanavi farming based family.[24][25] Concerned about his son's childhood obesity, Chopra's father enrolled him in a gymnasium at Madlauda, which Chopra had to cycle to and from 24 kilometers each day.[25] After informing his parents of his dislike for the Madlauda gym where he was its youngest member, Chopra was enrolled in a gym at Panipat.[25] While there, he also frequented the nearby Panipat Sports Authority of India centre, where javelin thrower Jaiveer Choudhary recognized his early talent.[25][26] Observing his ability to achieve a 40-metre throw without training and further impressed by Chopra's drive, Choudhary began coaching him.[25][27][28][29]
After training under his first coach Jaiveer for a year, Chopra was admitted to the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula, four hours from his home, which was then one of only two facilities in the state of Haryana with a synthetic runway.[29] At Panchkula, he began training under coach Naseem Ahmad, who made him train in long-distance running along with the javelin throw.[29] When he arrived at Tau Devi, at age 13, he was throwing around 55 metres.[29] He soon increased his range, and won the 2012 junior nationals in Lucknow by achieving a new national record throw of 68.40 metres.[29] The next year, he entered his first international competition, the World Youth Championships in Ukraine.[27] He won his first international medal in 2014, a silver at the Youth Olympics Qualification in Bangkok.[27] He achieved his first throw of over 70 metres at the 2014 senior nationals, following this up with a world record throw in the junior category of 81.04 metres in the 2015 All India Inter-University Athletics Meet; this was his first throw of over 80 metres.[29] Chopra received a callback for the national-level training camp in 2015,[25] leaving Panchkula in early 2016.[29] He won a gold medal at the 2016 South Asian Games with a throw of 84.23 m, where he equalled the Indian national record.[30]
2016 Junior World Champion & Joining Army
General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Army Staff, congratulating Chopra, gold medallist in javelin throw, and Gaurav Solanki, gold medallist in boxing, for their performance in the 2018 Commonwealth Games
He won another gold medal in the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships with a throw of 85.23 metres.[33] In the men's javelin throw at 2018 Commonwealth Games, he registered a season-best effort of 86.47 metres, becoming one of the few Indian athletes to win a gold medal on their Commonwealth Games debut, and also becoming the first Indian to win the javelin throw at the Games.[34] In May 2018, he again broke the national record at the Doha Diamond League with a throw of 87.43 metres.[35]
In August 2018, Chopra made his debut appearance at the Asian Games representing India at the 2018 Asian Games, and was also the flag-bearer for the Indian contingent during the 2018 Asian Games Parade of Nations.[36] On 27 August 2018, Neeraj threw a distance of 88.06 m to win gold in the Men's javelin throw at the 2018 Asian Games and set a new Indian national record, bettering his own previous record.[37][38] It was also India's first gold medal in javelin throw at the Asian Games. Chopra was the only track and field athlete that year to be recommended by the AFI for the country's highest sports award, the Khel Ratna, but was awarded the Arjuna Award in September 2018.[39]
Having suffered an elbow injury, Chopra underwent surgery in Mumbai on 2 May 2019, the day after the qualifying competitions for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics had begun[17]. After 16 months of recuperation, including practicing meditation and rehabilitative training at Patiala and the IIS Vijayanagar, Chopra travelled to South Africa in November 2019 for training under German biomechanics expert Klaus Bartoneitz.[40][41] Previously, he had been coached by Gary Calvert,[42] Werner Daniels[43] and Uwe Hohn.[44] In South Africa, he returned to international competition with a winning throw of 87.86 metres in the Athletics Central North West League Meeting in Potchefstroom, which qualified him for Tokyo.[40]
On 5 March 2021, Chopra again broke his own national record with a new throw of 88.07m, establishing him in a world leading position.[45] He opened his international season of 2021 with a throw of 83.18 metres that earned him a gold medal at an event in Lisbon, Portugal.[46]
2020 Tokyo Olympics (postponed to 2021)
Chopra made his debut appearance at the Olympics representing India at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[47] On 4 August 2021, he qualified for the final in the men's javelin throw with a throw of 86.65[17] metres. He won the gold medal in the event on 7th August 2021 with a throw of 87.58m,[48] becoming the first Indian Olympian to win a gold medal in athletics, and the first post-independence Indian Olympic medalist in athletics.[19][49][50][51][52] He also became only the second Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal after Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the men's 10 m air rifle in the 2008 Summer Olympics on 11 August 2008.[13][19] Chopra dedicated his win to sprinter Milkha Singh.[53]
According to some reports, Neeraj Chopra's ancestral roots are from Rod Maratha clan of Maratha community,[72][73][74] whose warriors came to Haryana from Maharashtra to fight third battle of Panipat in 1761; and many Maratha warrior families from Rane, Bhosale and Chopde (Chopra) communities settled in the villages of the Panipat region of Haryana. [75][76][77]
Awards and recognition
Rewards -
For winning the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics -
₹75 lakh (US$90,000) from the Government of India.[78]
₹6 crore (US$720,000) from the Government of Haryana, a Class-I state government appointment and a plot of land for an athletics centre.[79][80]
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