| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | Indian | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 1958or1959(age 64–65) [1] Gujarat, India | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Country | India | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track and field | ||||||||||||||
| Event | Javelin throw | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Razia Sheikh is an Indian former track and field athlete, who competed in javelin throw. She was the first Indian woman to cross the barrier of 50 metres, which she did at the 1987 South Asian Games. [2] She represented India at two editions of the Asian Games (1982 Delhi and 1986 Seoul). [1]
Sheikh broke the national record for a best throw by an Indian female javelin thrower when she broke Elizabeth Davenport's 21-year-old record in 1986 with a throw of 47.70 metres at the Playmakers' athletics meet in Delhi. [3]
At the 1987 South Asian Games in Kolkata, Sheikh threw 50.38 metres setting a new Games and national record bettering her mark of 47.80 metres. She won gold at the event. [4]
Theresa Ione Sanderson is a British former javelin thrower. She appeared in every Summer Olympics from 1976 to 1996, winning the gold medal in the javelin throw at the 1984 Olympics. She was the second track and field athlete to compete at six Olympics, and the first Black British woman to win an Olympic gold medal.
Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha is an Indian sports administrator and retired track and field athlete. Usha was born in Koothali near Perambra in Kozhikode district, Kerala. She grew up in Payyoli. Usha has been associated with Indian athletics since 1979. She has won 4 gold medals and 7 silver medals in the Asian Games. She is often associated as the "Queen of Indian track and field".
Shiny Kurisingal Wilson is a retired Indian athlete. She has been a National Champion in 800 metres for 14 years. Shiny Abraham Wilson represented India more than 75 times in international competition. She holds the added distinction of representing Asia in four World Cups. She is also perhaps the only athlete to have taken part in six Asian Track & Field Meets in a row beginning 1985 in Jakarta. During this period she won seven gold, five silver and two bronze medals in the Asian competitions. She collected a total of 18 gold and two silver medals from the seven South Asian Federation (SAF) Meets she has competed.
Devendra Jhajharia is an Indian Paralympic javelin thrower competing in F46 events. He is the first Indian Paralympics player to win two gold medals at the Paralympics. He won his first gold in the javelin throw at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, becoming the second gold medalist at the Paralympics for his country. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won a second gold medal in the same event, bettering his previous record. Devendra is currently being supported by the Olympic Gold Quest. He becomes India's most decorated Paralympic player by winning his third medal, a silver at the 2020 Summer Paralympics at Tokyo. In 2024, he was elected president of the Paralympic Committee of India.
Kavita Tungar is an Indian long-distance runner from Nashik, Maharashtra. She holds the current national record for 10 km road running with a timing of 34:32 as well as the current national record in the half marathon with a timing of 1:12:50. She won the bronze medal in 10,000 metres race at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the first individual track medal by an Indian woman athlete at the Commonwealth Games. She also won the silver medal in 10,000 metres race at the 2010 Asian Games.
Sudha Singh is an Indian Olympic athlete in the 3000 metres steeplechase event. A national record holder in the event, she has represented India at international events since 2005. Singh is an Asian Champion in the discipline and has won two gold and four silver medals at varying editions of the Asian Games and the continental championships.
In India, the sport of athletics was introduced during the period of the British Raj. The sport is governed at national level by the Athletics Federation of India, which was formed in 1946. Despite its large population, few Indian athletes have won a medal in a global or major championship. This began to change in the 21st century, when Indians started taking greater interest in athletics more generally and improved facilities for the sport began to be built at a local level. At a continental level, it has been among the more successful Asian nations, though some distance behind China and Japan.
Nadeeka Lakmali Bambarenda Liyanage is a Sri Lankan javelin thrower. She is regarded one of the finest javelin throwers in Sri Lanka with global fame. She is also attached with the Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force and current national record holder in women's javelin throw event.
Deepa Malik is an Indian para athlete from Haryana. She is the first Indian woman to win a medal in Paralympic Games. She won a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in shot put.
Annu Rani Dharayan is an Indian javelin thrower from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. She was the first Indian to reach the finals of the women's javelin throw event in the World Athletics Championships, Doha, 2019. Annu had qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics through world rankings after missing out on the Olympic Qualification mark. Her career best effort is 63.24m which helped her win the gold in the National Interstate Athletic Championship, Patiala, 2021.In the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Annu Rani scripted history as she became the first Indian female javelin thrower to win a medal, a bronze. She is the first Indian Javelin thrower to win a Gold medal in Asian games 2023 at Hangzhou.
Liu Shiying is a Chinese athlete who competes in the javelin throw. She is the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in women's javelin throw.
Ankit Sharma is an Indian athlete who competes in the long jump event. He holds the long jump national record of 8.19 metres set in June 2016 at the G. Kosanov Memorial Meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Subedar Major Neeraj Chopra is an Indian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. Considered as the greatest javelin thrower India has produced, Chopra won the gold medal at the 2020 Olympics, becoming the first Asian athlete in javelin throw to do so at Olympics. He is also the first Asian to win the javelin gold in the World Athletics Championships after his win in 2023. Chopra has won gold medals in almost every major javelin throw tournament. He has a streak of having a podium finish in 23 consecutive competitions, dating back to 2020. Since his 2016 performance, he holds the junior javelin throw world record with 86.48 m.
The 2019 South Asian Games, officially the XIII South Asian Games, was a major multi-sport event which was originally slated to be held from 9 to 18 March 2019 in Kathmandu and Pokhara, Nepal. However, the dates were postponed and the event was held from 1–10 December 2019, coincidentally at the same time as the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines. The new dates were confirmed at the South Asian Olympic Council Executive Board meeting in Bangkok on 1 March 2019. The Dasarath Stadium hosted the opening ceremony along with the men's football tournament, with the stadium's renovation after the 2015 earthquake completed in under 10 months with an increased capacity of 20,000, along with the closing ceremony on 10 December.
Man Kaur was an Indian track-and-field athlete. She holds the world records in the Over-100 years old categories for a variety of events. At the age of 103, she was given the Nari Shakti Puraskar award by the President of India.
Tejaswin Shankar is an Indian athlete who competes in the decathlon event. He holds the high jump national record of 2.29 metres set in April 2018.
Arshad Nadeem is a Pakistani javelin thrower. He is the reigning Olympic and Commonwealth Games champion. He is also the current silver medalist in the World Athletics Championship. He set an Olympic record with a throw of 92.97 metres (305.0 ft) at the 2024 Summer Olympics. His throw was also the sixth longest throw in the history of javelin throw, when considering only the best throw from each athlete.
Elizabeth "Betty" Davenport is an Indian athlete. She won a silver medal in the 1958 Tokyo Asian games and bronze medal in 1962 Jakarta Asian games in Javelin Throw. She belonged to an Anglo-Indian family from Bombay. Davenport was the discus and javelin national champion and later became the sports mistress at the Frank Anthony Public School at New Delhi.
India competed in the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 August to 5 September 2021. India made its official debut at the 1968 Summer Paralympics and has appeared in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since 1984.
Sumit Antil is an Indian Paralympian and javelin thrower. He won the gold at the men's javelin throw F64 event at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and the 2024 Paris Paralympics. He set a new Paralympic record both times with his throws of 68.55 m and 70.59 m respectively. He is a two-time gold medalist at the World Para Championships. In 2022, Antil not only won the gold medal at the Asian Para Games but also made the para-javelin WR of 73.29 m. He is a six-time world record holder.
