Neeraj Chopra, of India, competes during the men’s javelin throw qualification at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP/PTI)
In January this year, India’s superstar athlete Neeraj Chopra had the chance to meet the legendary Roger Federer in Switzerland. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pick the brains of someone who has seen it all in his career, from the highest of highs to some crushing lows. After a quick chat about Indian food, Neeraj wanted to know something specific from the 20-time Grand Slam champion, who had one of the longest elite sporting careers in the world.
“Javelin and tennis are very different but the main thing I wanted to ask him was about his longevity at the top and his mentality. He said that maintaining a balance between competition, training and recovery was the most important thing, and I agree with that. I try to do that as well,” Neeraj had said before his season began, recalling that chat with the Swiss great.
Neeraj, 26 years old, will enter the Stade de France on Thursday night as the reigning Olympic and World Champion in men’s javelin throw. He might already know a thing or two about longevity. He’s still young, but has been at the centre of all Indian athletics hopes since the time he broke the junior world record back in 2016.
But striking a balance between competing and staying healthy is something he has had to learn in 2024. The temptation to test his preparation for the title defence in Paris might have been strong, but he and his team have been cautious in taking part in meets in the lead-up to the Olympics.
While he has largely remained tight-lipped about his fitness concerns, Neeraj said after his qualification throw of 89.34m that he decided to focus on remaining fit for Paris instead of participating in meets to warm himself up. But if there were any concerns over his competitive level, he allayed some of those fears with the second- best throw of his career so far. One and done, into the final.
The clash for the podium, though, promises to be an absolute cracker given how the main contenders of the medal fared during qualification. “The final will be a cracker, the Tokyo final mark has already been surpassed in qualification,” Neeraj said. It could be a different final too, if Neeraj finds himself playing catch-up early on unlike Tokyo where he laid down the early marker.
India’s Neeraj Chopra competes in the Men’s javelin throw qualification round at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris. (PTI)
But in the years since, Neeraj has had sufficient experience in fighting back. While he is a good starter naturally, Neeraj has also shown he can dig deep if needed, as he did at the 2022 Oregon Worlds to win silver, at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year to respond to Kishore Kumar Jena’s challenge, and at the Doha Diamond League meet earlier this year.
Pressure is a privilege
Pressure? Of course, there will be pressure. He has been asked that question pretty much in every single one of his media interactions since Tokyo. His response, however, has always been uniform. He prefers to look at the weight of expectations as a motivation. But even for someone who has stepped up repeatedly on big occasions, the atmosphere at a potentially packed Stade de France will be a new experience. Once again though, in a sea of global superstars, Neeraj will have to stand up as the solitary Indian title contender. It’s a privilege he enjoys.
Not a good day on track & field
That Neeraj will be in action on a day after a series of disappointments in track and field only adds to the heft of his consistent showings at international events since Tokyo. Officials’ claims of India being a fast-rising athletics contender haven’t quite played out so far as the likes of Jyothi Yarraji and Annu Rani went below their best on Wednesday.
While there are no expectations from most of the athletics contingent to win medals at the Olympics yet, a basic benchmark for performance usually is how close they can get to their personal bests, or at the very least, Season Bests.
Jyothi, on her debut, was expected to dip below her own 100m hurdles national record (12.78s) but instead ran one of her rare recent races where she went 13s+ (13.16s). But she will get another chance to race on the lavender track as athletics has introduced repechage for racers who don’t meet the automatic qualification criteria in the opening round.
For Annu, even matching her season best of 60.68m wouldn’t have been enough for qualifying for the final, but 55.81m was well below her capabilities. (Her 2nd and 3rd throws were in the 53m range). In men’s high jump qualification, Sarvesh Anil Kushare was 25th overall in the qualification round as he finished with a clearance of 2.15m, and three misses at 2.20m. (SB: 2.25m)
Away from the Stade de France, Suraj Panwar and Priyanka Goswami did not finish the race in marathon race walk mixed relay, a debut Olympic event.
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Vinayakk Mohanarangan is Senior Assistant Editor and is based in New Delhi. … Read More
First uploaded on: 07-08-2024 at 23:53 IST
