Double Olympic medalist Neeraj Chopra has earned a lot of praise from his fellow track & field athletes, including the likes of Paris 2024 champion Mondo Duplantis.
American track star Dalilah Muhammad, who won a women’s 400m hurdles gold at Rio 2016, is the recent to praise the Tokyo 2020 gold medalist for his achievements in a country where facilities are not at par with the US.
“I remember watching Neeraj win the gold in Tokyo. That was actually my first experience watching him compete, and honestly, it was just phenomenal
“And then you get to see the country that supports it and just what that does for the community and the people. It’s just so inspirational,” said the international brand ambassador of the TCS World 10K Bengaluru.
“America has great inspirational athletes. But some of my favourite athletes, and their stories that inspired me way more, come from elsewhere. I recently went to Botswana, I know Tebogo. And just being able to witness an athlete win an Olympic medal from a country that doesn’t have the system like America does, to produce such greatness is honestly phenomenal. And I think that can be done in so many different places like India,” she said.
She also gave her vote to Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam track series, saying, “I absolutely love it. I think for us that means just making our sport a professional sport. We have the Diamond League schedule, but there’s not enough and we need more. The Grand Slam is really trying to push forward and giving athletes more opportunities to make money. It has started with the running events, but down the line we should also have the field events.”
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