As usual, there is much excitement around a reigning Olympic and world track and field champion ahead of an Olympics. Unusually, that champion is Indian. No longer is the Indian Olympic experience restricted to cheering on the brave underdog, for, in Neeraj Chopra, India finally has the big dog.
Following the euphoria of Tokyo 2020, Chopra was ubiquitous. It is quite possible that more Indians have seen him in advertisements than those who have seen him competing. Thankfully, Chopra the athlete did not get lost in his celebrity.
Starting with the Paavo Nurmi Games in June 2022, he competed in 17 events and won 11. He was second in the other six. He consistently hit 85m and improved his personal best twice. After becoming the first Indian to win a silver at the World Athletics Championships, in 2022, he told media that he would win gold the next time. After winning that gold in 2023, he said many athletes had won the same medal many times and that he would push himself to do the same.
Going into Paris 2024, there had been concerns about an adductor niggle that had troubled Chopra, but his German coach Klaus Bartonietz allayed fears by confirming that there was no issue and that Chopra was in high-intensity training.
When asked how he keeps himself motivated after all that he has achieved, Chopra, who was THE WEEK’s Man of the Year in 2022, simply said: “I like it. Training for hours daily is a challenge.”
However, there have been times when his best has not been enough. Since the gold-winning 87.58m in Tokyo 2020, he finished second with his personal best of 89.94m in 2022―Grenada’s Anderson Peters piped him to the gold with 90.31m. In the 2022 World Athletics Championships, too, it was Peters who won gold (90.54m against Chopra’s 88.13m). Finland’s Oliver Helander, too, beat Chopra’s 89.30 with 89.83m in 2022. In May 2024, the Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch beat Chopra’s season best of 88.36m to the gold with 88.38m.
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Vadlejch, who is the current world No. 1 (Chopra is second), won the silver in Tokyo. He could be Chopra’s main challenger in Paris. His personal best is 90.88m and season best is 88.65m. World No. 3, Julian Weber of Germany, has a best of 88.37m this season. Peters, rank five, has a massive personal best of 93.07m, but his season best is 86.62. There are others in the fray who have hit 90m, like 22nd rank German Max Dehning (90.20m this year) and Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who won silver at the 2023 World Championships. He has a best of 90.18m, but his season best is 84.21m.
Chopra is supremely unperturbed about not breaching the 90m-mark. He has said that it will happen when it has to. “If I take the pressure, I may not be able to do the 88m-89m throws I do,” he said, adding that he focuses on giving his 100 per cent during a competition. Chopra, 26, has shown since Tokyo 2020 that regularly hitting high 80s may be more important to winning events than breaching 90.
At Paris 2024, Chopra will be joined by Kishore Jena, the world No. 7. And, while the Indians have a tough field to contend with, Chopra’s incredible consistency should once again see him through.