Neeraj Chopra won the men's javelin final on Saturday with a best throw of 87.58 metres to claim an historic first Olympic athletics gold medal for India.
Neeraj Chopra is an Olympic champion! The 23-year-old created history on Saturday as he became the only the second Indian to win an individual Olympic gold by winning the men's javelin throw final at Tokyo 2020. Neeraj ended India's 121-year wait for an athletics medal with his gold in the javelin final.Neeraj Chopra threw the javelin 87.03m in his first throw and bettered it with 87.58m but couldn't go any further. Chopra managed four legitimate throws of 87.03m, 87.58m, 76.79m and 84.24 while his fourth and fifth throws were disqualified.
Neeraj also dedicated his gold medal to Milkha Singh and said he would have wanted to personally meet the legendary sprinter with the medal. He also dedicated the gold to PT Usha and other Indian athletes who came close to winning an Olympic medal.
The International Olympic Committee still credits Norman Pritchard's 200m and 200m hurdles silver medals in the 1900 Paris Olympics to India though various researches, including the records of then IAAF (now World Athletics), showed that he had competed for Great Britain.
Pritchard was not an Indian and the country's first Olympic participation under a national Olympic body was in 1920. Neeraj Chopra became the only 2nd Indian after Abhinav Bindra to win an individual Olympic Gold medal. The 23-year-old from Panipat was at his calmest best, hurling the javelin 87.58m to script history for India.