Neeraj Chopra — know about the travails of India's Olympic hero

Finally, India secured its first individual gold medal after 12 years in the Tokyo Olympics 2020. But the name of this phenomenal athlete who won the gold is not Virat Kohli and no he is not a cricketer, but a champion javelin thrower. YES! his name is Neeraj Chopra and he had just become the second Indian to win an Individual gold in Olympics, after Abinav Bindra won it in Beijing in 2008.  He is also the first Indian to win an Olympic medal in the track and field games.

But who is this Neeraj Chopra? Where does he come from? What are his past achievements?, Well these are some of the questions that raises everyone’s inquisitiveness. In a country where cricket is a religion and cricketers are treated as superstars,, rarely do we see athletes like Neeraj getting the spotlight they deserve.

The journey

To know more about Neeraj, we need to rewind the clock back to 2018, when the 23 year old was interviewed by Shekhar Gupta on Walk the Talk.  In the interview, Neeraj was asked as to why there has not been a javelin champion though there have been shot-putters, hammer throwers, discus throwers and decathletes at one point. Neeraj had said India’s strength has always been in Shot-put and discus throw but not hammer and Javelin throw. However, he added that with new teams coming in, India had four athletes who have crossed the 80-metre mark. And, in the world rankings India stood third after Germany and Czech Republic.

Back in 2018, the 23-year-old had a throw record of 88m and two years prior to that he had a throw record of 82m. During the 2020 Olympics qualification round the javelin champion had topped the qualification table with a stunning first round throw of 86.59m.

But the break through moment happened when Rajendar Vasu broke the barriers and touched the 82m. Later, he had taken it further in World Junior Championships in Poland and that is when he started believing that he could perform well at the world class level too.

Unwavering focus

Neeraj also noted that he gets more motivated by looking at a competitor’s performance adding that the noise from the public had always distracted him and has affected his performance.

At the Asian games, 2018 Neeraj made a new national record by touching 88.06 meters, but since his throw went a little towards his left, the throw was not perfect. He highlighted the importance of technique as even the most powerful javelin throws have failed because of bad technique.

Chopra also drew comparison of the run-up of a javelin throw to a fast bowler saying that he runs for 29-30 meters before he throws. The only difference being the point of delivery. He also said that Speed and throw are his strengths.

Early Struggles

But before all the greatness, he was under tremendous pressure from his joint family of 17 to lose weight. He was only 13 at that point  and had become a mischievous boy, often fiddling with bee hives on village trees and trying to pull buffaloes by their tails. His father wanted something to be done to discipline the boy. So, after some cajoling, he agreed to do some running to shed the flab.

His uncle took him to Shivaji Stadium in Panipat, around 15 kms from his village. Chopra wasn’t interested in running and had fallen in love instantly with javelin throw when he saw a few seniors practicing at the stadium. He decided to try his luck and as the saying goes the rest is history.

Accolades and accomplishments

His first medal came in July 2015, at the Inter State National Senior Championship in Chennai, with a throw of 77.33m. Following which he won the South Asian games in Guwahati in February 2016 with a throw of 82.23m.

Later on, In the 2018 Asian Games and Commonwealth Games he won gold medals and was also the Arjuna awardee the same year. Adding to that the gold medal victory at the 2020 Olympics is an icing on the cake.