“Men who made it possible” - Neeraj Chopra posts a picture with coach Klaus Bartonietz and physio Ishaan Marwaha

Former Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra recently posted a picture with his coach Klaus Bartonietz and physio Ishaan Marwaha to acknowledge their efforts. The star javelin thrower secured the silver medal at the Paris Olympics 2024.

Though Chopra failed to defend his gold medal at the Paris Summer Games, he bagged a throw of 89.45m (his season-best) to settle for the silver medal. On the other hand, Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem clinched the gold medal with a throw of 92.97m, a new Olympic record.

"Glad to capture a moment with the men who made it possible - my coach Klaus Bartonietz and Physio Ishaan Marwaha," Chopra wrote on Instagram.

Regarded as a master in reading the art of javelin throw, Klaus Bartonietz, the biometrics expert from Germany, took complete charge of coaching Neeraj Chopra ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. This came after Chopra parted ways with Uwe Hohn.

For the unversed, Hohn is the only athlete to date to surpass 100m in the men’s javelin throw history (104m to be precise). However, since a new javelin design was introduced in 1986, entire records of the sport were reset, removing Hohn's record.

Since taking over, Klaus worked on Neeraj Chopra’s technique and made a lot of crucial changes that were needed for a perfect throw and release.

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Neeraj Chopra did wonders under Klaus Bartonietz

On August 7, 2021, Chopra scripted history by securing the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics with a throw of 87.58m. He emerged as the first Indian to bag a gold medal in athletics at the Games and the second individual Indian athlete to bag a gold medal after Abhinav Bindra (2008 Beijing Olympics).

Soon after this, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) confirmed Klaus Bartonietz’s contract extension until the conclusion of the Paris Olympics 2024.

At the World Championships in July 2022, he bagged a silver medal with a throw of 88.13m while Grenada's Anderson Peters secured the gold medal with a throw of 90.54m.

However, the 26-year-old could not defend his title at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham as he pulled out of the event due to a groin injury that he suffered during the World Athletics Championships.

Later in 2023, he emerged as the first Indian athlete to secure a gold medal at the World Athletics Championships with a throw of 88.17m. He went on to defend his gold medal at the Asian Games in 2023 with a throw of 88.88m.