Neeraj Chopra is the man of the moment, and rightfully so for ending a 100 year old gold drought for India when it comes to athletics in the Olympics. The extent to which the entire country is obsessed with the lad, can be gauged by his social media following in the past one week. From 200K-ish on the day he won gold for India, it took him less than a day to garner 2 million followers. Currently it stands at 3.4 million.

While most people must be thinking fame hit the 23-YO overnight, and he must be overwhelmed with all the attention because it's sudden, that isn't exactly the case. 

via GIPHY

Even though most Indians got to know about Neeraj post his qualification and achievement at the Olympics, looks like fame is something that the young man had long been acquainted with, and that too from 'influential people who matter'. 

5 years ago, when Neeraj broke the javelin world record at the IAAF World Under-20 Athletics Championship at the tender age of 18, he'd already tasted fame shortly afterwards. Neeraj revealed that he received the first call from PM Mr Modi. Then, several other 'super famous' people messaged him, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Olympic winner Rajyavardhan Rathore, cricketers VVS Laxman and Shikhar Dhawan, and film stars Shilpa Shetty and Katrina Kaif. 

via GIPHY

"But the most joyous moment was standing on the podium. I have tears in my eyes every time the national anthem plays at a sporting event," the 18-YO Neeraj had said, during an interview to a publication. Well done, champ!

View the full article