World Athletics Championships: 'Gold for our diamond', netizens hail Neeraj Chopra's historic feat in Budapest

Neeraj Chopra certainly does have a knack for creating historic moments. Whether it was his gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, or his gold on the final day of the 2023 World Athletics Championships on Sunday.

Two years since he won India’s maiden Olympic gold in athletics, ace javelin thrower Chopra ended the country's four-decade wait for gold in any discipline on Monday with a throw of 88.17 metres in his second attempt.

In the process, the Haryana athlete went one better that his silver-winning performance at the World Championships that took place in Eugene, USA last year.

India have won only three medals to date in the World Athletics Championships since the tournament began in 1983 in Helsinki. Two of those, a gold and a silver, have been won by Chopra in as many years while long jumper Anju Bobby George won India’s first-ever medal at the event with a bronze in Paris in 2003.

Chopra sealed the deal with an effort of 88.17 metres in his second attempt in the men’s javelin throw final. Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem finished a close second with a best effort of 87.82 metres to win silver while Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch collected bronze with an effort of 86.67 metres.

Social media’s focus however, was firmly on Chopra and his second historic feat in a space of three years. Here’s how they reacted:

💪💪💪@Neeraj_chopra1 does it again! 🇮🇳

88.17 Meters for 🥇

The golden boy of Indian athletics wins the men’s javelin throw at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. 🥇

With this, Neeraj Chopra becomes 1st 🇮🇳 athlete to win a gold medal at the… pic.twitter.com/WLmjAXwyFy

— Anurag Thakur (@ianuragthakur) August 27, 2023

Congratulations to the New World Champion @Neeraj_chopra1 Entire nation is proud of you for scripting history by winning first ever gold for Indian athletics in the World Championship.#NeerajChopra pic.twitter.com/UeCanzXgKe

— Rani Rampal (@imranirampal) August 27, 2023

#NeerajChopra makes us #Proud again!!#IndianArmy congratulates Subedar Neeraj Chopra on bagging #GoldMedal🥇 in Men's #Javelin at World Athletics Championship 2023 in Budapest with a throw of 88.17 meters.@Neeraj_chopra1 pic.twitter.com/mV76vQetWy

— ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) August 27, 2023

Gold for our diamond!🥇🇮🇳#NeerajChopra #WorldAthleticsChampionship pic.twitter.com/dM3qi6NANF

— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) August 27, 2023

Gold for Neeraj Chopra. India's first World Athletics Champion in any discipline. The Javelin Thrower now has the entire collection of top prizes - World Championship gold, Olympic gold, Diamond League Trophy, Commonwealth Gold, Asian Games gold. He makes India proud with a best… pic.twitter.com/V7s45bw72Z

— G Rajaraman (@g_rajaraman) August 27, 2023

NO QUESTIONS, ONLY CONGRATULATIONS for the one and only #NeerajChopra
No matter how big the achievement, he is level headed, gracious and wears success well#Budapest2023 #WorldAthleticsChamps #WorldAthleticsChampionships2023 pic.twitter.com/iBNmxcHxpp

— Sundeep Misra (@MisraSundeep) August 27, 2023

Neeraj Chopra is the GOAT 🇮🇳

First Indian to win a Gold Medal in the World Athletics Championships....!!!!!!https://t.co/SyE0TtzDsX

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) August 27, 2023

The fact that #NeerajChopra ends this chat by thanking the 🇮🇳s back home for staying up so late to watch him win the Worlds 🥇 just tells you how precious he is

Neeraj is the Olympic and World champion, but more importantly, he's also a champion human ✨pic.twitter.com/IqKYeHdUvl

— Shyam Vasudevan (@ShyamSportsGuy) August 27, 2023