Neeraj Chopra gifts his Tokyo 2020 javelin to Olympic Museum

To inspire a future generation of athletes, India’s track and field star Neeraj Chopra gifted the javelin he used to win the gold medal at Tokyo 2020 to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland on Saturday.

The Olympic Museum is an inherited collection that is aimed at securing the Olympic legacy. It has a rich collection of 120 years and is managed by the International Olympic Committee’s Heritage management team. 

Neeraj Chopra’s javelin will join Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal-winning rifle from Beijing 2008 in the Olympic heritage collection. Both the Indian Olympic gold medallists were present at the Olympic Museum and shared the iconic moment.

“For any athlete, it is a great honour to be able to inspire others,” Neeraj Chopra said in an interaction with Olympics.com.

“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.”

Abhinav Bindra, who is also a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, noted that Neeraj Chopra’s exploits had already inspired millions in India.

“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,” an emotional Bindra said.

More than 90,000 artefacts, 650,000 photographs, 45,000 hours of videos, and 1.5km of historical archives are managed at the Olympic Museum.

Neeraj Chopra, who became the first Indian track and field athlete to win an Olympic gold medal last year with an 87.58m throw, was only the second Indian after Abhinav Bindra to win an individual gold medal at an Olympics.

Neeraj Chopra won India’s first silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon last month and is eyeing a dream medal at the Diamond League Final in Zurich in September.