Neeraj Chopra gifts Tokyo 2020 javelin to Olympic Museum after winning Lausanne title

Following a stellar win at the Lausanne Diamond League 2022 on Saturday, Indian sports superstar Neeraj Chopra is making headlines for gifting the javelin that he used to win the prestigious Olympics Gold at Tokyo 2022 to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. In August 2021, Chopra became India’s first-ever Track and Field athlete to win the gold medal in Men’s Javelin Throw at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. He is also the only second individual gold medallist for India at the quadrennial showpiece event after shooter Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal win at Beijing 2008.

Neeraj Chopra's javelin joins Abhinav Bindra's rifle at the Olympic Museum

Neeraj Chopra's javelin joined Bindra’s Olympics gold medal-winning rifle in the Olympic heritage moment. Bindra, who is also a member of the IOC Athlete’s Commission was also seen interacting with Chopra in a video shared by Olympic Khel. As per Olympics.com, revealing his thoughts about gifting the javelin to the Olympic Museum, Chopra said it is an honor for an athlete to be able to inspire others. 

Mentioning Bindra in his comments, the 24-year-old said, “I can see Abhinav Bindra’s rifle at the museum which gives me tremendous motivation. I hope my javelin has the same impact on future athletes, especially from India.” Bindra also shed his thoughts about the same and noted that Chopra is already an inspiration for millions of Indians. 

“I am delighted that his javelin will now join my rifle at the Olympic Museum, which has been a bit lonely in terms of Indian company so far,” Bindra said. It is pertinent to mention that the Olympic Museum is a rich inherited collection, aimed at securing the 120 years of Olympic legacy. The museum is home to over 90,000 artefacts, 650,000 photographs, 45,000 hours of videos, and 1.5km of historical archives.

Neeraj Chopra scripts history at Lausanne Diamond League 2022

Notably, he gifted the javelin to the Olympic Museum after becoming the first Indian to win the Diamond League event. While he achieved the feat with a throw of 89.08m at Lausanne Diamond League 2022, he also qualified for the finals of the Diamond League Discipline, scheduled to be held in Zurich next month, as well as the 2023 World Championships in Budapest Hungary. In July this year, Chopra won the silver medal at the World Athletics Championships Oregon 2022 with a throw of 88.13m.