Paris: Neeraj Chopra, India’s one and only elite world-class athlete, will offer a first taste of his form and fitness as he gears up for a successful defence of his Olympic javelin throw gold with a smooth performance in the qualifications at the Stade de France here on Tuesday.
Three years ago in Tokyo, Chopra lived up to his superstar billing as he became independent India’s second individual gold medallist with a scorching throw of 87.58 metres that sent the country into hyper delirium.
Although India has produced some world-class track and field athletes sporadically, it has never seen someone like Chopra who could consistently battle the best and emerge triumphant too.
That gold in Tokyo, which was independent India’s first ever medal from track and field in Summer Games, followed by golds at the 2023 Budapest World Championships and 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, cemented Chopra’s legacy as the best in the world. Add his humility and grace, he’s nothing but a national treasure.
His ability to handle enormous pressure and deliver when it matters most has drawn praise from one and all and even here in Paris, foreign journalists are constantly querying about the 26-year-old who generally opts to stay in secrecy ahead of major bashes.
The big question bogging many is how fit Chopra is? The Indian has been troubled by an adductor niggle this season that has limited his participation to just three events — Doha Diamond League, Senior National Federation Cup and Paavo Nurmi Games. His best throw this season has been 88.36 metres at the Doha meet in early May.
According to Chopra’s coach Klaus Bartonietz, the superstar is absolutely fine and can’t wait to join a league of legends like Eric Lemming, Jonni Myyra, Jan Zelezny and Andreas Thorkildsen and become the fifth javelin thrower to successfully defend his Olympic crown.
“Everything is going according to plan. At the moment, no issue with that (adductor niggle), it's fine, it looks good, hoping to remain like that till the Olympics,” Bartonietz told PTI late last month. “It's just over two weeks left in the Olympics, so the intensity of training is high. He is having full throwing sessions.”
“Competitions sometimes disrupt preparation and you start all over again. Competing in high class events can become risky also. Travelling too much with logistics, with javelins around the world, is also not good. So, it's fine, he has prepared and trained well,” the German added about Chopra limiting his schedule.
In the image Chopra posted after checking into the Athletes Village, he looks as if he’s raring to go. There should be very little trouble in him advancing to the final on August 8 and he’ll be looking at the qualification just to get his bearings right before trying to hurl himself into the record books once again to attain GOAT (Great Of All Time) status.
Chopra’s main rivals are Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic, former world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and the German duo of Julian Weber and Max Dehning, the latter a 19-year-old star in the making.
Although the entire focus will be on Chopra, he will have the company of Kishor Jena. The 28-year-old, who shares a wonderful camaraderie with his illustrious colleague and always looks up to for inspiration, bagged a silver at the Hangzhou Asian Games. He’s competed in five events this season with a season’s best of 80.84. He may need to come close to his personal best of 87.54 to make the cut for the final.