Paris Olympics: Will Neeraj Chopra be plumb on point again?

As the business end of the Paris Olympics approaches, it’s time for Neeraj Chopra to take a bow again.

Come Tuesday, 6 August, the Olympic and world champion javelin thrower will be looking to defend his title, as he heads into the qualification round at the historic Stade de France.

The phrase ‘carrying a billion dreams’ is used too often, too liberally whenever any Indian team or elite sportsperson enters a major competition arena — but Neeraj Chopra is someone on whom it sits perfectly. Just ponder this: As someone who has won India their first-ever Olympic athletics medal (with due apologies to Norman Pritchard, since he was only British–Indian), and a gold at that, the ever-smiling 26-year-old ace has never failed his country.

In the last three years since that magical evening of August 2021, Chopra has managed our expectations beyond our wildest dreams — winning the World Championship gold last year in Budapest, retaining his Asian Games gold and now aspiring to emulate his hero Jan Zelezny's feat of winning back-to-back Olympic golds.

Yet Chopra's journey has been gruelling, to say the least.

Take, for example, the niggling adductor muscle that has been bothering him for the last couple of months. The Neeraj Chopra think tank (read: Chopra and his coach Klaus Baronietz) decided against having him participate in the Paris Golden League event on 7 July, which could have given him valuable competition exposure — but would also be chance-y for that injury. This effectively sees him going into the Games after only three events this season — the Doha Diamond League (where he finished with a silver), the AFI Federation Cup and the Paavo Nurmi Games (gold in both).  

A bit undercooked? Maybe. But the Army man has always been a big occasion player. And again, it’s at a critical juncture of India’s campaign in the Games that Chopra enters the fray, with the hype around the possibility of a double-figure medals tally fading, and now just him and the hockey team looking like our best remaining bets. This surely invites that dreaded word, 'pressure' — something that has seen some of India’s most proven performers falter over the last week or so; yet Chopra has often said that such a scenario only excites him.

And what is Neeraj Chopra's target as he takes on a star-studded field? Coming into the event with a season’s best of 88.36 m in Doha in May 2023, he will try to get the job done for now — rather than trying to log in the superior distance marks — and then give it his all in the final on 8 August. Talk of breaching the 90-metre mark can wait till then.

As for the field, here are the top five who stand in the way of a second gold for Chopra:

Jakub Vadlejch

The Czech world no.1, who threw a season’s best of 88.65 m and is also the reigning Diamond League champion, will be keen for revenge: Chopra had pushed him down to the silver spot in Tokyo.

Anderson Peters

A two-time world champion from Grenada, Peters defeated Chopra for the gold in the 2022 Worlds in Oregon, US. He had a personal best of 86.62 m this year, and his career best of 93.07 m is the longest among those on the entry list.

Arshad Nadeem

Arguably one of Pakistan’s most successful sportspersons ever, Nadeem won the silver at the Worlds last year and the gold at the Commonwealth Games 2022, with a massive throw of 90.18 m. A possible Chopra vs Nadeem clash could be one of the most anticipated rivalries in Paris this year.

Oliver Helander

The Finn, ranked fourth in the world, has a season’s best of 85.75m. He went head-to-head with Chopra at the Paavo Nurmi Games earlier this year, where he finished third.

Keshorn Walcott

The Trinidad and Tobago star will be gunning for his third Olympic medal in his fourth appearance. A gold medallist at the London 2012 Games and a bronze-winner in 2016, he is known for his longevity in the sport. His season’s best has been 85.11 m.