Neeraj Chopra received the Arjuna Award in 2018. In 2020, he was recognized for his sporting prowess with the Arjuna Award and the Vishist Seva Medal (VSM).
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The current Olympic champion, silver medalist at the World Championships, and Diamond League winner in the javelin throw is Indian track and field athlete Neeraj Chopra (born 24 December 1997). He is the first athlete from Asia to win the men’s javelin throw gold medal at the Olympics. Chopra, a Junior Commissioned Officer Subedar (JCO) in the Indian Army, is the nation’s first track and field gold medalist in Olympic history. In 2016, he created a new global U20 record with a throw of 86.48 meters, making him the first Indian track and field athlete to do so. He is also the first Indian to win the global Under-20 Championships.
The 25-year-old Chopra reached world number two on August 30 of last year but has since remained in second place behind Peters. Neeraj Chopra received the Arjuna Award in 2018. In 2020, he was recognized for his sporting prowess with the Arjuna Award and the Vishist Seva Medal (VSM). He was given the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in 2021, which was formerly the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Neeraj received the Padma Shri in 2022, India’s fourth-highest civilian honor. Neeraj Chopra, the first Indian to win the renowned trophy, won the Diamond League 2022 finals in September of last year in Zurich. In 2022, he was also awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM).
Bartonietz, a German biomechanics specialist, has been collaborating with Neeraj Chopra and Uwe Hohn since 2018. But after Chopra and Hohn split up, he took over all of Chopra’s preparation for the Tokyo Games. Under the guidance of Uwe Hohn, Chopra won gold medals at the Asian and Commonwealth Games in 2018, but the javelin thrower from Haryana believed that his training regimen needed to change.
Neeraj Chopra and Klaus Bartonietz’s trip got under way at that point. The most difficult period in Chopra’s career has been supported by the German. Chopra was sidelined for over a year in 2019 due to an elbow injury that affected his throwing arm. Bartonietz and his group had to put in a lot of overtime to construct Chopra from the bottom up. Chopra won his first competition after making a full recovery from an injury by throwing a whopping 87.86 meters.
Chopra’s Olympic training, however, was hampered, and the COVID-19 epidemic prevented him from competing in any events in 2017. However, Chopra and Bartonietz have never parted ways. During the lockdown, Bartonietz worked with Chopra to enhance the athlete’s inherent bodily flexibility. They remained in the National Institute of Sports in Patiala for a few more months following the lockdown. It was before departing for Europe for a brief competitive tour leading up to the Olympics.
On August 7, Neeraj Chopra and Klaus Bartonietz’s planning and hard work finally paid off at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. The German biomechanics expert had honed Neeraj’s speed and body suppleness, which allowed his spear to travel the farthest. The 23-year-old achieved the first-ever individual gold medal in athletics for India with it.
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