In the Talmud, the central text of Judaism, the term ‘eye of the needle’ is a frequent metaphor for a very narrow opening. The same aphorism applies to track and field, especially javelin, in India where a lone ranger called Neeraj Chopra won Olympic gold and the 2023 World Championships thereby pushing an ‘elephant through the eye of the needle’.
Once a dream—perhaps not even that, since not a single track-and-field soothsayer ever predicted that India’s first-ever Olympic or World Championship gold would come from javelin—it’s now a reality, a throbbing vein of possibilities, as a lone wolf has become a catalyst for an endless shower of javelin throwers, five at the last count, who are now throwing past 80m. And pushing a bunch of jumpers, sprinters, middle- and long-distance runners to achieve that holy grail—an Olympic medal.
However improbable an Olympic medal might have seemed in track, however far-fetched, that little sliver of hope flickered again, after Milkha Singh’s 1960 Rome run, the ’76 Sriram Singh Montreal two-lapper, PT Usha’s wafer-thin LA ’84 4th place, Lalita Babar’s brave 2016 Rio 3000m steeplechase final and, lest we forget, Tintu Luka’s 2012 London semifinal in the 800m. And why not Shiny Abraham’s ’84 classic 800m semifinal finish!
And, then descended, India’s very own King Leonidas, aka Neeraj Chopra, throwing into the Tokyo night, the stadium's empty seats mute spectators while a billion-plus suddenly were jolted into celebrating a javelin throw. “Gold?”, “No!”, “Can’t be”, “Are you serious?”, expressions ranged from the incredulous to the shocked. Slowly it sunk in as images came through of Chopra's hands raised skywards, gold glinting its way across to the sub-continent.
Historically, and one can keep arguing about other sports, this victory, this gold was like a motherlode, a victory that would propel a nation from being an afterthought, just a participant in the Olympic fold, to actively push from within to be taken seriously in a sport pursued by 150-plus nations.
Back then, some regarded Tokyo as a flash in the pan, a once-in-a-century meteor. So, when Chopra picked up the 2022 World Championship silver at Hayward Field in Eugene, US, with a throw of 88.13, the hum of the ‘hmmm’ reverberated across the nation.
At the pre-meet press conference ahead of the 2023 Diamond League in Doha, European and American journalists kept their steaming coffee mugs away when a good-looking man, clad in a blue Under Armour shirt, hair splayed across the forehead, started talking about what it meant to sport in India, to be a track-and-field Olympic champion; they listened attentively. American pole-vaulter Katie Moon, Tokyo Olympic and World Championship Eugene gold medallist, and local star and hero Mutaz Essa Barshim, Olympic and three-time World Championship gold medallist, to Chopra’s right, tilted their heads and earnestly listened. As the questions kept coming Chopra’s way, Moon had that smile that, said ‘It is India’s day.’
Later, after the conference, journalists queued up again, wanting more, the Al-Jazeera crew requesting a 10-minute session. Chopra stood and kept giving, sometimes answering the same question to different reporters, never ever saying, ‘I have been asked this before’, his patience playing out like your favourite LP record. Never does he descend into cliches, ‘I will let my javelin do the talking’, when asked for the umpteenth time if he will break the 90m barrier at the Qatar Sports Club.
He is the most visible face of Indian sport (outside cricket) and yet Chopra’s life is an enduring mystery. You can ask him all you want, yet you come back with the feeling that the door is open only that much.
When the Budapest World Championships 2023 came up on the horizon, the build-up was magnificent. Three Indian javelin throwers competing, Chopra; Kishore Jena, a former volleyball player, broad-shouldered, almost like a John le Carre character of a ‘Thrower Who Came in from the Cold’; and DP Manu, tall, with that expression ‘what am I doing here?’. As India’s track-and-field team wilted under the pressure, apart from Parul Chaudhury, who made it to the 3000m steeplechase final, breaking national records, Avinash Sable, cracking up in his steeplechase as the jumpers self-detonated, the pressure was once again on Chopra. He had to win, not only for his own sake, but for the nation, for all the youngsters back home who were looking at the javelin as their flight into a world filled with dreams.
In the final, Chopra threw 88.17 in his second throw. Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem reached 87.82 on his third. Jena, 84.77 on his fifth. Manu, 84.14 on his sixth. The numbers didn’t change. Chopra won gold; the first Indian to ever win a World Championship gold medal. Down the list, Jena’s and Manu’s fifth and sixth place were no less their weight in gold; these were huge strides. The World Championship final in that cauldron of a stadium, under lights, can make you feel like an actor who has forgotten their lines in front of a live audience, panic crawling all over your skin. It took Jena and Manu three to four throws each to settle nerves and get into that groove before their alter-ego whispered ‘yes, you belong’.
Chopra’s closest rivals, Czechoslovakia’s Jakub Vadlejch finished third with 86.67 while Germany’s Julian Weber could only manage 85.79 for fourth.
In a nation where success is likened to wealth, Chopra is walking on gold. Yet, his demeanour, his personality has remained the same. He is self-effacing and respectful. To be free from vanity is a challenge when millions want a piece of you. And he takes out time to give of himself.
There is, of course, a larger context.
And that came at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. Jena, led on the third throw with 86.77. For a duration of almost 10 minutes, an ‘upset’ hovered in the air. Would this be the step that would catapult an Indian other than Chopra to a gold? The Olympic and World Champion responded with an 88.88. Jena, pushing every sinew, threw 87.54 and fouled his next two throws. Chopra retained his Asian Games gold and India for the first time finished 1-2 at the Games' javelin competition.
India’s best woman javelin thrower, Annu Rani, also stormed back into form after a lacklustre season where she finished 19th at Budapest with a throw of 57.05. A 62.92 on her fourth throw at the Asian Games gave her the gold and a reason to believe that Paris 2024 could be a high point.
Mention Indian Olympic track-and-field before the advent of Chopra to anyone, and all you would get is a sceptical raised eyebrow. Not now.
Shivpal Singh, who lost a year for failing a dope test, and is now trying to find his way back to his best of 86.23, says: “There was a time when Finland was number one, two, three. Then there were four German throwers. Now everyone in the world knows us. There are three Indian javelin throwers in the world. We are doing very well. Neeraj, Jena, Manu are all doing very well. It is possible that we will be the first, second, and third in the Olympics. Or we will be in the best of six.”
Chopra after winning at Budapest was asked whether he is now afraid of failure and what can be counted as a cliché but wasn’t, because of the earnestness with which he says it, “Keep failure as a mirror. You see more in it than you see when you win.”
Kishore Jena simply wants to walk in the footprints left by Chopra. “Just doing that will ensure I am doing right,” he said, after his silver in Hangzhou.
Chopra’s legacy—though, the word legacy in his case is like an oxymoron; he is still the favourite to win at Paris. And if he does that, the visual impact, arms raised, facing the fans, would have an atomic effect—javelin’s hip-hop star passing on the baton once again; an entire generation of track-and-field stars emerging in his wake. Or that lovely Paris evening image, a dream right now, India on the podium, 1-2-3, grinning with exultation, javelins in hand.
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