With the Olympic Games scheduled to begin on July 26th, Neeraj Chopra’s victory in the Paavo Nurmi Games a few days ago, must have given India’s ace athlete a huge boost in morale and confidence. It has also sent out a clear signal to the international fraternity that India’s golden boy is on the march again.
The Paavo Nurmi Games, named after Finland’s legendary athlete Paavo Nurmi, is a prestigious annual athletic meet that has been held regularly since 1957. The world’s best athletes take part in this event. Now with the Olympics in sight, the best javelin throwers turned up to test their own preparations and also take a look at the competitors who they will face in the Paris Olympics. Therefore, Neeraj’s victory in this event had great significance.
The host country Finland has a long tradition of producing good javelin throwers. Its participant Toni Keranen came second and his compatriot Oliver Helander came third. Interestingly Helander had beaten Neeraj in this event two years ago. But this time all the medal winners registered modest distances. Neeraj won with 85.97 metres, Keranen took the silver with 84.19 and Helander threw 83.96.
But the fact that Helander’s distance was not as good as his best (89.83) and that former two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada came fourth highlighted once again the unpredictability of the javelin throw competitions across the world.
Neeraj relies on consistency
Moreover, it has to be noted that Neeraj’s throw of 85.97 metres was far less than his personal best of 89.94 metres. Neeraj is an exception among the world’s top javelin throwers. Most of them have touched or crossed the 90-metre mark but Neeraj has not been able to do it. However, Neeraj has always maintained that he is happy to be more consistent than the others whose performances fluctuate from time to time.
One such example is Jakub Vadlejch, a giant of a man, from the Czech Republic. He is 33 years old and has taken part in three Olympic Games and six World Championships. His personal best throw stands at 90.88 metres. But throughout the year 2023 he failed to touch the 90 metre mark. Neeraj Chopra’s best throw in 2023 was 88.88 at Guangzhou in China.
Who are Neeraj’s rivals?
However, Vadlejch could be one of Neeraj’s main rivals in the Paris Olympics. If the 6-foot-3-inch tall Czech thrower gets his acts right, he can hurl the spear to a massive distance. Other competitors who may pose a threat to Neeraj’s ambitions are a 19-year-old prodigy from Germany named Max Dehning, his compatriot Julian Weber and dark horse Arsad Nadeem of Pakistan. Anderson Peters is also a man who can win in Paris because his best mark stands at 93.07 metres.
Arshad Nadeem has a personal best of 90.18 metres which he achieved two years ago. He is capable of winning a surprise medal unless hampered by injuries that have plagued his career. His drawback is that he does not have much financial support and therefore cannot undertake extensive training or coaching abroad.
Funding is essential
It is learnt that the Government of India and various sponsors have funded Neeraj to several crores to send him abroad for training and competitions. In modern-day sports, every athlete’s dedication has to be supported by adequate funding.
In the last two decades, Indian athletes have received that support and therefore India’s medal tally has been growing. This time it is hoped that India will bag at least 10 or more medals at the Paris Olympics and hopefully one of those will be a gold bagged by Neeraj Chopra. He is capable of doing it again. So we must wait and see what fate has in store for him and India.
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