Expectations of Neeraj Chopra are somewhat like Indian cricket fans used to have of Sachin Tendulkar. Like the cricketer was expected to get a century each time he went out to bat, we, the contemporary followers of sports in India, have started believing that Neeraj has to win gold all the time, anywhere, on any continent and in every climate.
It’s not realistic, we know. And yet, we still believe that it is possible, with a certain amount of inevitability. No matter what the competition is, where it is being held, against what kind of opposition. If it is the Olympic Games, he has to get gold, and the same at the World Championships, or in the Diamond League of athletics.
Also Read | Arshad Nadeem: The giant killer from Pakistan who rewrote Olympic record and outshone friend & rival Neeraj Chopra
Lowering the bar somewhat and having fouled five of his six attempts at the Paris 2024 men’s javelin final, Neeraj claimed silver. It took a monstrous heave of 92.97m from his Pakistani rival Arshad Nadeem, which was an Olympic record, to stop the Indian from becoming only the third man in the world to clinch two successive javelin gold medals in the history of Olympics after World War II.
People will say it was a failure of sorts and they might have a point, because Neeraj had come first in qualifying with his season’s best of 89.34m. He bettered that in the final with a throw of 89.45m in his second attempt. Truth is, once Nadeem cleared that massive distance, the others could only play catch up. It was game, set, match and gold medal for the Pakistani then and there.
So what does it tell us of Neeraj? To begin with, he can be the second-best in the world’s toughest competition on his bad day. He flunked five of his six throws, got it right only on his second attempt and saw the red flag waved in all of his remaining attempts. That he still secured the most precious metal by an Indian at Paris 2024 went almost unnoticed. That’s Neeraj’s greatness.
Everybody will say Neeraj missed gold. How many will mention that he became the fourth Indian to secure two individual Olympic medals (after Sushil Kumar, PV Sindhu and Manu Bhaker) and the only one with a gold and a silver? That his credentials are higher because he got medals in a discipline in which securing a berth in the finals alone was a huge deal for a country of 140 billion?
That’s why one must bow to this 26-year-old, who has World Championship and Diamond League gold medals to go with his Olympic gold and silver. On a terrible day, when he got five of his six throws wrong, he claimed an Olympic silver. It may hurt a bit that he didn’t win gold. But what he has achieved is historic already, regardless of the colour of the medal.
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