SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 23 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

When and where did India win its first World Championships medal in Athletics?

(a)2009, Germany
(b)2005, Finland
(c)2007, Japan
(d)2003, France

Answer

Why

Correct — D. India's first World Championships medal in athletics came in 2003, in France.

Anju Bobby George won bronze in the long jump at the World Athletics Championships held in Paris.

No Indian had won a medal at these championships before her, and the next came almost two decades later, when Neeraj Chopra took silver in 2022 and gold in 2023.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
2009, Germany — Berlin 2009 was a real edition of the championships, but India won no medal there. Every year-and-place pair in this question names a genuine championship, which is what makes guessing expensive.
(b)
2005, Finland — Helsinki 2005 hosted the championships two years after Paris. India's first medal had already been won by then, so this pairing is a cycle too late.
(c)
2007, Japan — Osaka 2007 is another real edition at which India won nothing. Anju Bobby George's bronze predates it by four years.

Concept

The World Athletics Championships — run by the IAAF until the body was renamed World Athletics — is the sport's global meet outside the Olympics.

India's record there is short enough to memorise whole: Anju Bobby George's long jump bronze at Paris in 2003, then Neeraj Chopra's javelin silver in 2022 and gold in 2023.

Both medal-winning names — Anju Bobby George and Neeraj Chopra — are worth carrying with their years and their host cities, since the pair can be asked from either end.

'World Championships' in a question like this means the World Athletics Championships, not the Olympics and not the season-ending World Athletics Final, which was a separate competition.

Key facts

Anju Bobby George won long jump bronze at the 2003 World Athletics Championships in Paris.
It was India's first medal at a World Athletics Championships.
Neeraj Chopra won javelin silver at the 2022 championships in Eugene and gold at the 2023 championships in Budapest.
The championships were held in Helsinki in 2005, Osaka in 2007 and Berlin in 2009.

Study next

Indian medallists in athletics at the Asian Games and the Commonwealth GamesNeeraj Chopra's Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020 and silver at Paris 2024The renaming of the IAAF to World Athletics and what the body governs

Common traps

Pairing the right year with the wrong country, since each option names a genuine host
Confusing the World Athletics Championships with the World Athletics Final or with an Olympic result

Sporting firsts are asked as a year-and-place pair, with all four pairs plausible. The long jump returns at General Awareness Q.6 of the 23 Sep 2024, 09:00 paper, which asks who holds India's longest long jump as of 2023.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.