I was awakened by a phone call early in the morning. It was July 2016. “You must meet this guy, he’s tall, he’s good looking and humble. Most importantly, he is your future athletics star. Javelin phekta hai. And it’ll make a great photo-op.” Neeraj Chopra? Javelin? The name didn’t sound familiar at all. Like a PR pitch to me. Well we let that one slide.
A few days later, this Chopra boy won the World junior javelin gold in Poland with a huge throw of 86.48m. This broke a world junior record as well. A Diamond League competition would be proud for him as any elite thrower should. He was only 18 years old.
He became a hero at home after returning from Poland. There were photo-ops and interviews too. Journalists struggled to find Khandra village on Haryana’s map; what he ate, when he slept. Much of the initial buzz faded out. Sponsors kept away; media houses did not show much interest. The army came forward and offered him an option for employment as naib subedar: job description-JCO (Junior Commissioned Officer). The young man who came from humble background was relieved. His destiny had been secured. Neeraj might have lost his focus there, a government job may have satiated the hunger inside him which is something very common for talented athletes who got caught up by such offers. But he knew that it was just beginning of his journey. A different script. A different man.
That happened then. Now Neeraj Chopra is a superstar. Rockstar if you want. Yes, he is tall and handsome. In addition to that, he remains number one globally in his line of business.
Neeraj’s story about how sports came into his life while still young to fight obesity has been told countless times. It is common knowledge that his mom makes choorma. It is popular knowledge that he has a liking for dal and can go for multiple portions of it. That is not important today.
Neeraj came here with unimaginable expectations. From Asian Games gold to Commonwealth Games gold, he has won them all. He is an Olympic champion as well as the defending world champion. He is at his prime age of twenty-six.
Although, Neeraj’s last eight years have been anything but smooth. It never is for any athlete who’s elite. The back injury was experience by him after the spark in Poland. After recovering from that, he won the Asian athletics championship gold with an 85-plus throw. The subsequent world championship did not meet expectations and then came another injury.A groin injury.
Additionally, his Australian coach Gary Calvert, who had fine-tuned him into a global athlete passed away in China where he left for in 2021 after his contract with him expired. Calvert left to China and died there only recently.
Neeraj had to move on; next, he trained with Werner Daniels in Germany. Once Neeraj made a small adjustment in his technique there was nothing else stopping him. He first won the Commonwealth Games gold medal just prior to May 2018 and then went ahead to grab the best effort of 88.04m at Asian Games which won him a gold. It marked his arrival onto the national stage.
Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 were the focus. Neeraj was shaping well and then experienced another injury. He had to undergo surgery to remove bone spurs in his right elbow, in Mumbai in May 2019. There was a question whether he would be himself when he returned.
After six months of rehab and recovery program, Klaus Bartonietz, a German biomechanics expert came along with Neeraj to South Africa for Tokyo Games preparation. He came back into action in January 2020, won it and qualified for the Olympics.
The Games were postponed due to the pandemic. Neeraj went home, trained at NIS Patiala and Bhubaneswar. After that, he went for training and competition in Sweden before going to Japan. A throw 87.58m saw him get gold medal. It looked that simple on him.One after Abhinav Bindra now ,he is just second Indian ever individual Olympic gold
Neeraj passed the final frontier after Tokyo. He won World athletics gold with a throw of 88.17m. The Asian Games happened next followed by his personal best:89.94m thrown at Stockholm Diamond league in June 2022.
It has been all about this talk about the mark of ninety meters for quite some time now. When will that come? This is what he used to ask himself whenever he was addressed by anybody. He would take an inward breath and say it is close by. What did it matter really? Deep inside he knew. It’s not those little numbers but medals that count.
For Neeraj this year has been very quiet.He participated only three times throughout his journey towards Paris. He finished second in Doha diamond league with a throw of 88.36 m which occurred last month. It was also first in Paavo Nurmi games held last month where they threw at 8587 m. And in between returning home taking part federation cup at Bhubaneshwar in May.
There was a slight muscle problem with Neeraj’s adductor early this year. Can he win the gold or at least a medal? The coach had said that the adductor niggle was gone one month ago. He is alright, he looks fit,” Bartonietz had said.
Neeraj is in his way. He is ready. The nation will remain on the edge of their seats and cross fingers tomorrow as he competes at the Olympic Stadium. Before that, there is this small routine of competing in the qualifications today
