Neeraj Chopra Opens Up on Winning Medals with Less Than 100% and Why 'Distance' Doesn't Matter

Neeraj Chopra has been the golden poster boy for Indian sports in recent times and the superstar from Khandra cemented his legacy yet again by clinching gold at the World Athletics Championship. The 25-year-old hence became the third javelin thrower in history to hold both the Olympic and World Championships titles.

Before Neeraj, Czech Republic’s Jan Zelezny and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway were the ones to hold the Olympics and World Championships titles simultaneously.

When asked if he can emulate Jan Zelezny, who won three Olympics and three World Championships titles, during an interaction with the media on Friday, Neeraj Chopra said, “Everything is possible if I remain motivated and focussed in my game.”

“My endeavour would be to defend my title (Mera koshish hai ki mujhe mera title phirse dohraana hai) and whatever hard work I need to do to achieve that, I will do.”

The 25-year-old was second in the men’s javelin throw event at the Zurich Diamond League meet on Thursday night, behind Jakub Vadlejch.

When asked if there was fatigue involved, Neeraj said: “There was fatigue, yes, but there was also acknowledgement that there was no need to push yourself. I had already qualified for the Diamond League finals.”

“Maybe for the first time I needed these many warm-up throws. I did regular warm-up for a while and then with the javelin as well. It was tricky getting used to the conditions. I struggled in the first three throws, I wasn’t able to run properly. I didn’t think I was ready. By the fourth throw, I had to push myself to do enough and be competitive. The aim here was mostly to remain competitive,” he added.

In fact, Neeraj also revealed that he was not 100 per cent at the events.

“I did not want to say this earlier because people may think it was an excuse. But I was having a cough and sore throat before the qualification round. I was having problems. I am still having problems in Zurich,” he said.

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Neeraj Chopra had managed a throw of 88.17m at the World Athletics Championships, to win gold and then threw 85.71m at the Zurich Diamond League meet.

Constantly haunted by the idea of hitting the 90m mark, Neeraj had said that he is not exactly focusing on the distance.

“Distance only matters when the medal is not to your liking. But if you’re getting a gold medal, then distance doesn’t matter. For me that is most important. I thought I would make great distance this time around but just when things looking up, injury disrupted things. I had an injury in May due to which I had to skip a couple of competitions. Slowly I worked on reaching fitness, with rehabilitation and returned at the Lausanne Diamond League followed by the World Athletics Championships. The plans of which events to compete in didn’t work out,” Neeraj said.

“I’m not pleased with the distance this year. Last year, I had hit 89m in three different competitions, this year I’ve averaged 88m. But on the upside, there is a gold medal at the World Championships which makes up for it. Sometimes, the distance doesn’t matter, the title does. You should never be happy with the distance and should always work towards improving it. The aim should also be to remain injury-free,” he added.

Neeraj harped on the importance of keeping himself fit and not overexerting himself, given that he has been troubled by shoulder pain along with a groin injury from training in May, which led to him missing several competitions.

“It is important to understand your body, knowing where your limits are. You might push yourself in one competition but things could break down in the next. It is important to know when to go all out even if not fully fit,” Neeraj said.

“I will work on recovery for two days and then train here for 10-12 days. I wasn’t quite feeling well in Budapest also. There’s a bit of groin strain, slight shoulder issue… but I will work towards recovery now before the final two competitions of the season.”

Neeraj has two back-to-back events lined up, the Eugene Diamond League in the USA on 16-17 September and the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China from September 10-25

“Before the Asian Games, there is the Eugene Diamond League finals and there is very little time available. There is plenty of travel involved followed by time difference so the focus is on doing well at both competitions and remaining injury-free. It is important to remain healthy and fit so as to start work on the next season quickly and in good condition.”

Asked if it will be more or less challenging to repeat his gold at the next Olympics, Neeraj said: “It was a big challenge to win the first Olympics title, and it will be a bigger challenge to defend it again because everybody will come prepared. It will be more stressful than the Tokyo Olympics because there will be a lot more expectations than before, even though I have my expectations.”

“But the most important thing is to save myself from injury. I need to remain healthy and injury-free so that I can repeat all my titles,” Neeraj added.