For someone whose passion for his sport was fueled by endless hours of watching every YouTube video featuring Jan Zelezny that he could lay his hands, videos of Neeraj Chopra claiming the Commonwealth Games gold with a throw of 86.47m in Gold Coast on Saturday could will be among the most searched.
There is a good reason for that.
First, the broadcaster, caught up in beaming a couple of sprint relay finals and other track events, did not show Neeraj Chopra’s best throw live. In fact, by the time the broadcaster came back to the javelin throw, the young man’s friend, high jumper Tejaswin Shankar had posted a short video of his, the National flag draped over his shoulders and thanking Indians.
And, what’s more, TV showed his sixth effort – a foul.
Born into a farming family in Khandra near Panipat in Haryana and inspired by the sight of some javelin throwing seniors in the village, he honed his skills at the Sports Authority of India centre in Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula for four years from 2011. He served notice of his innate potential by creating records in age-group meets at various levels.
The gold medal at the IAAF World U20 Athletics Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in July 2016 with a junior world record to boot, were the first time that India celebrated him. A year later, he won the Asian Athletics Championships gold in dramatic style, nailing the title with his final throw on a humid night in the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
And on Saturday, he became the first Indian to win the Commonwealth Games javelin gold. In fact, he is only the fourth track and field athlete from the country to win a Commonwealth Games gold after Milkha Singh (440 yards, Cardiff, 1958), Krishna Poonia (women’s discus, Delhi, 2010) and Vikas Gowda (discus, Glasgow, 2014).
There can be no doubt that his mental make-up is one of his greatest strengths. For several weeks now, he was seen as a gold medal certainty. The fact that Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott, an Olympic bronze medallist, had not travelled to Gold Coast and Kenya’s Julius Yego did not even qualify for the final only enhanced the pressure on the young Indian.
Blessed with a level-headed approach, the 20-year-old was a picture of calm in the Carrara Stadium on Saturday when he threw the gauntlet with an opening effort that seemed beyond his rivals. The 85.50m told the competition that it was fighting for the lesser medals. In fact, each of his four throws was over 83.48m, a mark that the other 11 throwers found beyond them on the day.
Clearly, his nerves are made of steel and he responded brilliantly to pressure as if he is ignorant of what it can do to the best. With a smooth run-up and his mind focused sharply on the task on hand, he sent the spear soaring into the sky with raw power. Back in India, everyone watching him on television willed the javelin to go far before it punched turf.
Importantly, he has learnt to deal with failure.
Not making the final in the IAAF World Athletics Championships in London in August 2017 would have rankled him for a while. With 83.00m set as the mark for automatic qualification, Neeraj Chopra managed 82.26m and sat out, watching compatriot Davinder Singh Kang steal his thunder by becoming the first Indian to qualify for the World Championship javelin final.
Clearly, his road ahead will have to be plotted carefully. He will have to sit down with the Athletics Federation of India, set goals and choose the best training base and competitions to take part in so that he remains fresh and ready to make an impact first in the Asian Games this year and then at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.
He will be challenged in the Asian Games in Jakatra by the likes of DG Sampath Ranasinghe (Sri Lanka), Qizen Liu (China), Arshad Nadeem (Pakistan) and his own team-mate Vipin Kasana, each of whom has throws over 80m in 2018. Besides, the Chinese-Taipei duo of Chao-Tsun Cheng and Shih-Feng Huang as well as Qatar’s Ahmed Bader Magour can be threats too.
To keep a step ahead of such a quiver of competitors, he will need to progress closer to the 90m mark. If he believes – and is able to convince the Federation – that he should continue his training with Werner Daniels in Offenburg, Germany, rather than in the National camps, he must be encouraged to make that his base over the next two years.
It is tough to forget that the lad taught himself the art of throwing a javelin by watching YouTube videos of Jan Zelezny and has already had more coaches that he would have liked. He trained with Australian Garry Calvert, including in Spala, Poland. Later, Neeraj Chopra has journeyed to Germany seeking improvement. It may not make sense to tamper with his technique now.
Yes, indeed, this pride of India has a mature head on his young shoulders. It is this quality that endears him to everyone, even his competitors.
This piece first appeared in The Quint on April 15, 2018.
