(Athletics news) Olympic 2021 update: “Faster, higher, stronger” is the Olympic motto and it truly represents the visuals from the Games. Top athletes from all over the world compete against each other with all their might every four years. The national anthem, the gold medal, spectators cheering, one’s national flag going up are few of the reasons why the Olympic victory is only experienced by a few top athletes. The sheer determination to break every possible human barrier and to take it to a higher level, a level which was earlier deemed impossible.
India has been competing in the Games since the 1920 Antwerp Olympics and has sent athletes ever since. Many have come close to winning in Athletics, an event where India failed to win any medal since 1920 until Neeraj Chopra achieved the impossible. The javelin he threw not only was a gold medal, it was a dream of every athlete since Milkha Singh came fourth in the final of 400m in 1960 Rome Olympics, since PT Usha came painstakingly close to winning a medal as she finished the 400m hurdles fourth, missing out on bronze by one hundredth of a second in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
But on August 7th 2021, Neeraj Chopra threw 87.58m in only his second attempt to secure the gold medal after holding a healthy lead over his opponents. He is the first Indian to win a Gold medal in athletics or even a medal for that matter. He is only the second Indian to win Gold in Individual event after Abhinav Bindra in Shooting in Beijing 2008. This was his maiden Olympics and is the only Indian to win Gold in his debut Olympics. Neeraj was ranked 4 in the top throws this year when he threw a 88.07 on 5th of March.
Neeraj Chopra is a Junior Commissioned Officer in the Indian Army with the rank of Naib Subedar. He sealed his place in Javelin Throw after equalling the National record at 18 years old in the South Asian Games with a throw of 84.23m. Neeraj stunned the world when he set the new under 20 world record with a throw of 86.48m and became the first Indian athlete to win the World title in track and meet in under 20. He also became the first Indian to win Gold in Javelin throw in the Commonwealth Games in 2018 with a throw of 86.47m.
In the Tokyo Olympic Games he started with a bang as he finished on top overall with a 86.65m throw in his very first attempt which was also his last since he crossed the 83.50m. In the final, Neeraj showed his sheer strength and confidence as he started celebrating when the javelin was still in the air. The confidence and strength of the young Indian has shown that there is a lot to expect from the young athletes. The historic performance has propelled India to 7 medals, its best ever performance in Olympic history bettering the previous 6 in Rio 2016 Olympics. Neeraj couldn’t have ended things in more dominating fashion, this victory shall be our motivation that we are not far behind gracenote's prediction as he has shown the capabilities of the Indians.
