It’s been a week since Neeraj Chopra won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics to enter the conversation to be called the greatest Indian athlete of all time. But Chopra is hardly in the mood to let his hair down or celebrate.
Rather than returning home for what would be a well-earned break, Chopra is back at work. On Friday, he posted a clip on his social media handles where he’s suspended in the air as he rotates his legs in circular motion while holding a medicine ball between them.
This was something that nagged at him after the Tokyo Olympics: in the country-wide celebrations and the euphoria his gold medal generated, the rest of his season had to be sacrificed. For months, he was overwhelmed by countless felicitations. He crisscrossed the country, carrying with him the gold medal that everyone wanted a piece of. Commercial sponsors and state dignitaries kept courting him. For months, he was the most sought-after man in India. But ending a season midway did not sit right with him.
So this time, instead of returning to India for a victory lap, Chopra is in the Swiss town of Magglingen, where the Swiss Federal Institute of Sport is located, aiming his javelin at a couple of Diamond League competitions before he finally ends his season. Celebrations, felicitations and adulation will have to wait.
“I was earlier thinking I will compete in the Zurich Diamond League (on Sept 5) and the Diamond League final in Brussels (Sept 14). But now I will compete in the Lausanne Diamond League on August 22. Bas ek mahine aur, phir break. (Will take a break after one month when the season winds up),” Chopra tells journalists in a media briefing on Saturday.
Tokyo gold medalist Neeraj Chopra won silver this time in the Men’s javelin throw. (AP/PTI)
“Around three of four days after Paris ended, I came here and started training. In Paris I couldn’t train as there were so many commitments. After I won the medal I returned to the Games Village at 4 or 5 am.”
At the Athletissima meeting in the Stade de la Pontaise next week, plenty of Olympic medallists and world record holders such as pole vault superstar Mondo Duplantis, 200m Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo and Olympic champion in the long jump Miltiadis Tentoglou would accompany him.
“After Tokyo, I felt I should have continued my season like other athletes from around the world do. Luckily, at Paris, the groin injury that has hampered me for many years did not exacerbate, so I can continue my season. I will finish the season while keeping my groin as safe as possible and then return to India. After that I will decide on getting treated for the groin injury,” Chopra adds.
Deadliest contest
It took an Olympics record throw of 92.97m from Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem to prevent Chopra from defending his gold medal on an evening where he had one of his worst competitions: the Indian had five no throws, crossing the line deliberately a couple of times while the other times he couldn’t stop himself from going over. He attributes this to the super-quick Mondo track that was laid at the Stade de France. His groin injury, which has been hampering him for years, also played a role.
Despite that, he registered two of his top three throws at Paris: 89.34m in qualifying and 89.45m to win the silver medal in what he describes as “sabse khatarnaak (deadliest) competition in Olympic history”.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem and India’s Neeraj Chopra celebrate after their respective second attempts during the men’s javelin throw final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France. (AP/PTI)
“When Arshad threw 92.97m with his second throw, I did not have even one percent doubt that I would not be able to better it. I know I had not thrown over 90m till then, but you need just one throw where you hit it just right. I was ready mentally, but it was only physically that I just couldn’t do it. The leg work you need on the runway was not as good as it should be. If your legwork and technique is not good, it doesn’t matter how much strength you put behind your throws,” he explains.
The groin injury has forced him to drastically reduce throwing sessions in the lead up to the Olympics. Lesser throwing sessions mean he cannot focus as much on his technique as he would like to. “When this issue is fixed, my distances will rise because I will be able to focus more on my technique in training sessions,” says Chopra.
He explains that even if the groin is not hurting during a competition, the thought that the injury could flare up often prevents him from throwing at his best. “That’s the biggest fear in my mind. You don’t know when pain will come. When you do the cross steps before throwing the javelin, it puts a lot of pressure on the groin,” he says.
That groin injury has affected him for years now, but around the Doha Diamond League in 2023, he says a doctor advised him to get it operated on. “Back then doctors had told me that surgery would be the only way to fix the issue. But at that stage, I was throwing really well, and the World Championships were right around the corner. I won gold there and at the Asian Games,” he says before pointing out that even in the break between last season and this season, he didn’t want to risk getting operated just before a season with an Olympics, unless he absolutely needed to.
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As his press briefing — organised by JSW Sports — winds down, he’s asked about his targets. The inevitable question about the 90m mark makes an appearance. “In the next month, I need to work on the line of the javelin while releasing it. I was throwing the javelin slightly inwards at Paris. My arm speed was really good. Coach Klaus Bartonietz was telling me if the line of the throw was right, I could have thrown a few more meters at the Paris Olympics. So in the next month, I will work on the line of the javelin release,” he says before adding: “I was thinking that Paris could be the place where I would cross the 90m mark. But it wasn’t to be. This target business… feels like I will have to leave it to god. Train hard and whatever follows, follows.. Tagdi tayari karo. Mehnat karo. Aur jhatka maardo. Jahan jaani hai chali jaayegi. (Prepare well, work hard, wherever you want to go, you will).”
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