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The Throw That Ended India’s 100-Year Wait
The inspiring story of Neeraj Chopra, who ended India’s 100-Year wait for a track and field medal in the Tokyo Olympics. He also becomes only the second Indian after Abhinav Bindra to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics. Bindra had won gold at the 2008 Olympics in the 10m air rifle event.
The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. In the second edition of the Olympics held in Paris, India’s lone representative Norman Pritchard did the country proud by winning medals in Men’s 200 metres and Men’s 200-metre hurdles.
Since Norman, a country of more than a billion people has waited to see their fellow countrymen win a medal in the track and field events. We had come close in the past with the legendary sprinter Milkha Singh finishing 4th in the 1960 Olympic Games in the men’s 400 meters final. A couple of decades later, the iconic runner PT Usha also came in 4th at the women’s 400 meters hurdles final. Since then, we had waited for a world-class athlete that can take the Olympics by storm.
On Saturday, 7th August 2021, the 23-year-old Neeraj Chopra created history by winning the first gold medal in the latest edition of the Olympic Games for India. The javelin thrower's performance was one of the best performances by an Indian in the Olympics, as he finished ahead of gold-medal favourite and…
