Tokyo Olympics: India’s Neeraj Chopra wins historic gold medal in javelin throw
Channel: Mahavatar babaji
Date: 2021-08-07

Tokyo Olympics: India’s Neeraj Chopra wins historic gold medal in men’s javelin throw event
Neeraj Chopra on Saturday created history by becoming the second Indian to win an individual gold medal in Olympics after shooter Abhinav Bindra. Neeraj is the first Indian in over 120 years, and the first athlete from independent India, to win an Olympic medal in a track-and-field discipline. Neeraj won the gold medal in the men's javelin throw event with a throw of 87.58m in his second attempt.
The only medal that India had won in track-and-field events was back in 1900
 when British-Indian Norman Pritchard had won two silver medals in Paris. The International Olympic Committee still credits Norman Pritchard's medals to India though various research, including the records of then IAAF (now World Athletics), showed that he had competed for Great Britain.
Neeraj Chopra’s gold took India’s medal count to seven at the Tokyo Olympics - the best ever, bettering the tally of six medals at the London Olympics in 2012. Chopra also became the sixth Indian athlete to win an individual medal at Tokyo 2020 joining weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, shuttler PV Sindhu, boxer Lovlina Borgohain, wrestlers Ravi Kumar Dahiya and Bajrang Punia.