Neeraj Chopra - Man Of The Year

At just 24, Neeraj Chopra has won India's only Olympic gold in athletics, is the only Indian to win a Diamond League final, and is arguably one of our greatest athletes. On and off the field, the javelin star has inspired a generation of young athletes to dream big. Meet THE WEEK's youngest Man of the Year

- Neeru Bhatia/Panipat

It is a misty November morning. Our car exits National Highway 44 and rolls down sleepy village roads. The district is Haryana’s Panipat; the destination, Khandra village. On the way, we pass some village elders and teens, wrapped in shawls, rubbing their hands together, soaking in the winter sun. About 12km later, steered by Google Maps, we reach the house. Khandra looks like any north-Indian village—large green fields, a blanket of haze, narrow pucca roads and modest abodes.

The house in question, however, sticks out. A modern bungalow with a massive gate, it looks like a place dust and grime would fear to sully. The brown-tiled, two-storey house dwarfs all the others in the area. Its resident, too, has done the same with javelin in hand. Only 24, Neeraj Chopra has won India’s only Olympics gold in athletics, is the only Indian to win a Diamond League final, and is on the shortlist to be the country’s greatest athlete. Sports fans of a certain vintage might argue that he cannot be spoken of in the same breath as a Milkha Singh or Dhyan Chand’s men, but it is a fact that Neeraj—in six years at the senior level—has scaled peaks no Indian has (see graphics).

A boy opens the gate and Satish Kumar, Neeraj’s father, watches keenly as we step out of the car. He has decided to forgo the fields for the day to welcome us. The rest of his siblings—Bhim, Surinder and Sultan—are out for work. The children are in school and college, the ladies busy in the kitchen.

Neeraj is absent, too. Though it is his off-season when THE WEEK visits, his sponsor commitments have kept him busy, taking him all over the country.