Neeraj Chopra embraces pressure, draws support and basks in adulation in Doha Diamond League

There was the full moon, rising gently over Doha, and there was Neeraj Chopra casting a magical glow of his own in the Doha Diamond League. There were multiple World Champions on show but, for the sizeable Indian presence in the Suheim bin Hamad Stadium on Friday, there was Neeraj Chopra. He drew greater support from and basked in greater adulation that any other athlete. 

With three meet records and five World Lead performances, the Diamond League season could not have had a better start. However, while World Athletics probably knows it, if it needed any confirmation that Neeraj Chopra is a growing phenomenon, it found that after he won the top prize by 4cm from his friend and competitor Jakub Vadlejch (Czech Republic). 

On a windy Friday night – the Triple Jumpers had a tail wind that was sometimes more than 3m/s – it was always going to be a challenge to for the athletes, to make the Javelin travel take on the headwind and land close to the 90m mark, if not beyond.  The four throwers who have achieved that in their careers could not match his best of 88.67m.

Neeraj Chopra faced the most pressure on several fronts and yet he embraced, wrapping his arms around it gently and making it work in his favour. He did that with a top-notch opening throw, his first this year, that punched turf at 88.67m. He appeared to have cajoled the wind into offering less resistance to the javelin on its path. It was his career’s fourth best throw.

Of course, the field was tough, but he cherished the chance to prove his mettle. Jakub Vadlejch had established a good world lead in a competition in Potchefstroom, South Africa, before he arrived in Doha. Grenada’s Anderson Peters is a two-time World Champion. And there was Germany Julian Weber making his own bid to beat Neeraj to the 90m Club.

The greatest pressure came from all the talk about 90m that has tailed him for a while now. If it was at the back of his mind, he did not let it affect his routine. He stayed focused on getting ready for each of his throws, using the space next to the runway to stretch, shadow practice and perhaps even visualise the next throw.

After stepping over the line deliberately after his fourth attempt, he had to wait for the men’s 800m race to be complete before he could start his fifth throw. The extra time seemed to impact him a shade and resulted in 84.37m throw. However, he was ready when the final set of throws for the top three were announced and it was confirmed that he would go first.

He knew that both Jakub Vadlejch and Anderson Peters could spring a surprise with their final throws. After all, the Czech star had been the most consistent of the competitors, producing three of the four best throws. Hundreds of cell phone cameras captured his purposeful run and the perfect release that he uncoiled.

For a moment, he believed his best throw of the night would be his longest too. Like he did in the Asian Games 2018 and the Tokyo Olympic Games, he turned around and raised his arms aloft – a sign of his joy of effort and expectation that the Javelin would defy gravity just that bit longer and produce the best distance. But it dipped its nose earlier for his second best throw. 

His throws done, he stood with the other competitors and clapped in rhythm to encourage Vadlejch and Peters when they lined up their final throws of the evening. He shook hands and embraced them both, accepting their congratulations in a spontaneous show of friendship and mutual respect, wonderful ideals to nurture and showcase.

Even when the 10 throwers were sizing up the conditions, he noticed that one of his competitors tripped during a warm-up throw and went up to him to check if he was alright. It is this quality that endears Neeraj Chopra to everyone who did not blink all evening when he unfurled his craft and his personality for everyone to see.

He had been on his feet nearly all through the competition, sitting for but a moment to take a sip from his bottle to stay hydrated.  And yet, as he made his way out of the stadium at the end of an exhilarating competition, he did not disappoint anyone who thrust a mobile phone in his hands and pleaded him to click selfies. No other athlete faced as many requests as Neeraj Chopra.

It is a good wager that the Indian cricketers and badminton star PV Sindhu may not grudge Neeraj Chopra the status of the most loved contemporary Indian sportsperson. With his gift of remaining gentle and, at once intimidating the opposition, with his humility, it should surprise none that he is on his way to becoming the most loved track and field athlete in the world as well.