Neeraj Chopra on Saturday made history by becoming the first Indian to win gold medal in athletics at Olympic Games when he clinched first position at Tokyo 2020 with a throw of 87.58 metres in the javelin competition.
Chopra has also become only the second Indian after Abhinav Bindra to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics. Chopra now holds gold medals in javelin throw at the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and now the Olympics, all at the same time.
A look at the javelin thrower's stunning performances
2016 - Junior World Championships GOLD
2017 - Asian Championships GOLD
2018 - Commonwealth Games GOLD
2018 - Asian Games GOLD
2021 - TOKYO OLYMPICS GOLD
Chopra's elusive Olympic gold medal in athletics ends a wait of 100 years for gold in the men's javelin throw final here on Saturday.
Three track and field athletes were part of the five-member Indian team at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium -- the other two being wrestlers. Since then, no Indian has won a medal in athletics.
The International Olympic Committee still credits Norman Pritchard's 200m and 200m hurdles silver medals in the 1900 Paris Olympics to India though various research, including the records of then IAAF (now World Athletics), showed that he had competed for Great Britain.
