Became India’s first ever winner of an Olympic athletics gold medal in the men’s javelin in Tokyo. He is one of only two Indians to have won Olympic gold, the other being Abhinav Bindra in air rifle in 2008. At the age of 23, he was making his Olympic debut in Tokyo. He won the gold medal with a throw of 87.58 metres in his second attempt. In 2011 he had started attending a gym under pressure from his family to improve his fitness. While there he saw athletes practising and developed an interest in javelin. At the 2016 World Under-20 Championships he set a junior world record and won the gold medal. He has recently been training under German biomechanics expert Klaus Bartonietz.