India’s Neeraj Chopra competes in the Men’s javelin throw qualification round at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris. (PTI)
Just one throw in the qualifying round was all it took Neeraj Chopra to book his place in the men’s javelin throw final at the Paris Olympics. It is a reel we have all seen before at major championships. A single throw is enough for Neeraj – 88.77 metres at last year’s World Championships in Budapest, 88.39 metres at the World Championships in Eugene a year earlier and 86.65 at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
So what makes his 89.34 metres special?
This was a great start for the 25-year-old defending champion. To put it in context, his gold-medal winning throw in the final of the Tokyo Olympics was 87.58 metres.
India’s Neeraj Chopra competes in the Men’s javelin throw qualification round at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France. (PTI)
Of greater significance is that this is Neeraj’s best throw in over two years, second only to his all-time personal best of 89.94m in Stockholm in June 2022. He not only laid down the marker for the rest of the field for the final on Thursday but also allayed fears that he may struggle to find peak form after an adductor niggle forced him to take a precautionary break.
The true mark of a great competitor is the ability to rise to the occasion and perform in a big final. Neeraj has proved time and again that he can be banked upon to finish on the podium whenever he steps up on the runway, be it the Olympic Games, the World Championship, the Asian Games and the Diamond League Final.
India’s Neeraj Chopra during the Men’s javelin throw qualification round at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France. (PTI)
But Chopra is unlikely to get carried away by this excellent throw in the qualifying round. He barely celebrated. He knows only too well that there are dangerous competitors lurking at the Stade de France and all of them are hitting their stride. Grenada’s Anderson Peters, the 2022 World Champion also needed just one throw, 88.63 metres, and so did Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem with 86.59 metres – both like Neeraj produced their best throw of the year when it mattered. The ever-improving German Julian Webber came up with 87.76 metres and Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejc too cruised past the Qualification Standards of 85.63 metres. Three of the four aforementioned athletes are 90 metre plus throwers.
In the big final, holding one’s nerve when the stakes are high is key, something Chopra has mastered.
Water-cooler discussions have already begun and social media is buzzing about Neeraj crossing the 90-metre mark in the final. Chopra has been pestered with questions on when he would join the elite club of throwers and he himself has spoken about ambition of being a 90m-thrower.
90 metres or not in the final, the good news is that Olympic Champion Neeraj Chopra is throwing like an Olympic Champion.
