Why Is Neeraj Chopra Not A Nominee For Male Athlete Of The Year By World Athletics?

India's lone gold-medallist at Tokyo Olympics Neeraj Chopra (Picture courtesy AP)

New Delhi: India’s only athletics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra is not among the nominees for the male athlete of the year by World Athletics. Others who failed to make it are Italian Marcell Jacobs, who was the only man to win two gold medals on the track at Tokyo Olympics and Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi, who tied for Olympic gold with Mutaz Barshim in his event moments before Jacobs won the 100, News18 reported.

Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal in the men’s javelin event and created history at the Olympics for India. He topped both the qualification and the finals on his way to the gold.

The Italian Olympic movement is outraged over the exclusion of sprinter Marcell Jacobs from the nominees, with a senior official calling it a lack of respect and “profoundly wrong.”

The 10 nominees are Joshua Cheptegei, Ryan Crouser, Mondo Duplantis, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Eliud Kipchoge, Pedro Pichardo, Daniel Stahl, Miltiadis Tentoglou, Damian Warner and Karsten Warholm. They were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of World Athletics. The winner will be announced in December.

“As always, the World Athletics Awards will recognize athletes who have performed at the highest level across the year, taking into account not only the Olympic Games, but the one-day meeting circuits,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said.