Subedar Neeraj Chopra VSM (born 24 December 1997) is an Indian javelin thrower and Junior commissioned officer (JCO) in the Indian Army. He is the first Indian athlete to win the U-20 World Championships in track and field, and the first track and field athlete to win an Olympic gold medal for India.In the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships, Chopra set the world under-20 record of 86.48 m. Chopra was also selected as the flag-bearer at the opening ceremony for India at the 2018 Asian Games, which marked his first Asian Games appearance. He scored a gold-medal winning throw (88.06m) at the 2018 Asian Games and 2018 Commonwealth Games. Chopra won the gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics with a throw of 87.58m. He is one of only two Indians to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics, as well as the youngest-ever Indian gold medalist in an individual event and the only one to have won gold in his Olympic debut.Chopra was born in Khandra village, Panipat district, Haryana.
