The story for me, starts on a Saturday evening in July 2016. Bydgoszcz?
Where in the world is Bydgoszcz?
Pronounced Big-Dosh-Cha.
There was news coming in that an 18-year-old teenager from Panipat, Haryana had broken the junior world record in men’s Javelin at Bydgoszcz, Poland.
By then I had been following sports for almost two decades and I had never heard India and Javelin in the same sentence ever. This was already uncharted territory.
I immediately googled whether he could make it to the Olympics, which was happening in Rio de Janeiro, the next month.
Unfortunately, it was too late. Now we know that the world junior record throw could have got him the bronze medal at Rio.
This would have been independent India’s first athletics medal. Something beyond Milkha Singh, PT Usha and Anju George.
I was wondering, who is this guy? Little did I know then, he was just getting started.
By now, almost everyone would have guessed who I am talking about.
Neeraj Chopra– the mythical creature that dominates the minds of Indian sports fans.
Between his junior world record and the Tokyo Olympics, things were not all smooth for Neeraj.
He did not reach the finals of the 2017 world championships.
It took him another two years to get a new personal best- at the 2018 Doha diamond league.
But he was clutch AF! Asian championships, Asian games, Commonwealth games- he always delivered when it mattered more.
Then 2019 happened.
You must have seen this photo. He was seen as india’s brightest hope to break the athletics duck at the Tokyo Olympics and here he was, lying on a hospital bed, arm in a cast.
Just one year before the Olympics. If you check his throwing record from 2019, you will find nothing.
He had zero competitive throws in 2019. There were rumblings in the media that his injury could have been diagnosed earlier; that his physio at that time messed up- we might never know the right answer.
God bless Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala.
The golden hands that operated on the golden arm. He was back to competing in January 2020- after a gap of 16 months- and he returned with a massive 87.86m throw.
That was his second-best throw ever, in his first comeback competition. He was different gravy! It is one of Indian sports’ biggest what-ifs.
Had the Olympics happened in 2020 as planned, would history have been the same? Johannes Vetter and Anderson Peters could have bettered him? Well, SARS-CoV2 had other plans and the world had to shut down.
Over a period of 28 months, Neeraj Chopra had participated in just 1 competition- because of injury and Covid-19.
Again, when he came back in 2021, at the Indian grand prix at Patiala, he recorded a new personal best (88.07m).
He had 4 more competitions before the Olympics and it was clear to us that Neeraj would be there or thereabouts, come Tokyo.
What eventually transpired was the stuff of dreams! For me, what showed our man was ready, came on the early hours of August 4th 2021.
It was 5:30 in the morning and I had barely woken up. Neeraj turned up with a fresh trim and delivered the original ‘one and done’ moment.
That to me was ‘the’ moment of the 2021 Olympics. Whatever followed was just a logical conclusion. We know what happened 3 days later and how these 3 years have flown by.
Since 2022, he has competed 17 times and thrown over 85m in 15 out of the 17. That’s remarkable consistency.
Before Tokyo, he had 2 throws over 88m. Since then, he has 11. The number crunching can go on and on and Neeraj’s numbers are just mind-boggling.
However, there is one sobering thought; or rather one competitor who might be bit of a worry. Tokyo silver medallist, Jakub Vadlejch has competed with Neeraj 12 times since Tokyo.
The record is 9-3 in favour of our boy. All of the 3 losses have come in the last 3 competitions. It’s not saying much and hopefully, in the end, it should be fine.
According to Neeraj, the 86.48m throw at the junior world championships remains his most perfect and his only satisfying throw ever.
Before that his best was 82.23m. That’s a big jump in Javelin terms. He has since then won everything the sport has to offer- Olympics, World championships, Asian games, Asian championships, commonwealth games.
He has already won enough to be proud of, for an entire career. But our man is hungry for more. He is just built different.
His attitude towards javelin throwing is almost meditative. He does not want only medals; he wants the perfect throw. Hopefully, whatever was up with his adductors (medical jargon for groin injury) is all right now.
The collective prayers of all Indian sports fans are to see that perfect throw in the wee hours of August 9th (IST) and to hear Tagore’s magnificent ‘Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata’ played at the Stade de France.
Written By Sundaram
