It feels really good to be number one again: Neeraj Chopra

The Hindu

2 days ago

Neeraj Chopra is thrilled about having regained the top spot in men's javelin throw as per the latest World Athletics ranking. But it hasn't been an easy climb to the top, with the last year, in particular, being very tough, admits Chopra.'I was second almost everywhere,' he says. But, 'after a long time, I have become number one again. It feels really good,' says the 27-year-old, India's first track and field athlete to win an Olympic gold medal. 'I will try to keep it going.'
Another recent feather in his cap: a 90.23 metre throw at the Doha Diamond League on May 16, where he finally breached the 90-metre mark he had aspired for. 'I wanted to throw over 90m for a long time. People kept asking me when I would,' he says. 'Now that question is over,' says Chopra, speaking on the sidelines of a recent fitness community engagement event held at the Under Armour store in Indiranagar, Bengaluru, where he participated in a 5-kilometre run.
He is also excited about the inaugural edition of the upcoming Neeraj Chopra (NC) Classic, an elite javelin throw meet scheduled to take place at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on July 5. According to him, the event came out of a desire to create a competition in India 'where international athletes can participate,' he says, adding that the idea to do so occurred to him during the Tokyo Olympics.
While the initial plan was to have this meet at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula, Haryana, 'since I trained there and Haryana is my State,' there were some technical and infrastructural difficulties with it, he says.'There was not enough time to change things, but hopefully, it will happen in the future.' Right now, however, he is looking forward to having it in Bengaluru, where 'the weather is good and people support sports,' says Chopra.
Fitness first
As a young boy, he was overweight and often bullied by his classmates. So, he turned to fitness, heading to the nearby Shivaji Stadium in his hometown in an attempt to lose weight. There, he saw other athletes throwing the javelin, 'so it came to my mind that I also wanted to do it. I told my family, and they supported me,' says Chopra, who went on to win a gold medal at the National Junior Athletics Championships in 2012, just a couple of years after he began training seriously in the sport.
Other accolades soon followed, including a gold medal at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, another gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, an Olympic gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. 'I didn't know that I would be able to come so far when I started,' he admits. 'But the journey has been good.'
Indian sports, especially track and field events, have undergone considerable evolution in recent times, believes Chopra, who has witnessed this transformation firsthand. 'Earlier, we didn't have much knowledge about sports or much motivation about how we do it,' he says. 'We used to do some old exercises, techniques and training plans.'
This, however, has slowly changed because more athletes from India began coaching abroad, he says. Also, while traditionally the winners of the javelin throw were European athletes, 'there are throwers from all parts of the world now, and I am very happy about it,' says Chopra. He believes it will improve even more in the future. 'The Government is now doing the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) top scheme. It will help people compete with international athletes,' he says.
He also discusses how his own training has altered since he first started competing. 'We used to believe in strength and would lift a lot,' he says. 'We didn't pay attention to the techniques or the exercises.' But, a sport like javelin also requires speed and flexibility, so 'now we also do drills, sprinting, and flexibility work,' says Chopra, who is currently being trained by Jan Železný, a record-holding javelin thrower from the Czech Republic. Also, 'to prevent injury, you have to do small, boring exercises for small muscles. A lot of athletes forget about it.'
After all, safeguarding one's body and staying injury-free is especially important in an individual sport like javelin. Unlike a team sport, 'where if you get injured, someone else can step in for you', in this sort of sport, 'if you make a mistake or get injured, it is on you,' says Chopra. And while injury is often inevitable, something he has personally experienced as well, 'the most important thing is that you have to do your work consistently to keep your mind and body ready,' he says.
Think like a farmer
Chopra grew up in a farming family in Khandra village, Panipat district, Haryana, a background that shaped his resilience and positive attitude towards sports. 'There is a good sporting culture in Haryana,' he says, pointing out that one can often spot young people routinely running on the road early in the morning. 'They are enthusiastic about fitness,' he says. His agrarian roots too, helped, in his opinion. 'We (farmers) are tough and have a hard-working mindset,' he says. Drawing a parallel between farming and sports, where one must work resolutely through uncomfortable weather, managing both rain and heat, he adds, 'The fact that my mindset was like this, right from the start, helps.'