Neeraj Chopra was the talk of the nation at this time last year. Numerous celebrations throughout India followed his historic Olympic gold medal, and it took him about ten days to travel back to Panipat after his return from Tokyo. He had to abandon a ceremony near his village midway because of exhaustion and a fever, and the expectations of sponsors and advertisers eventually took a toll on his fitness and health. He was off the track for about three months and gained 14 kg.
Neeraj Chopra finished on the podium in all six of the tournaments he entered over the course of 87 days, earning a silver medal at the World Championships, two personal bests, and the Diamond League championship on Thursday night.
"I was quite late to resume training after the Olympics and the biggest challenge I initially faced was my fitness. Once I had regained my fitness, the next hurdle was that I had less time to get back to competing but I was determined to make the best use of the time I had. I worked on my technique, worked a lot with a medicine ball and got my strength back. I used to put in a lot of effort earlier but half of it was wasted effort due to faults in my technique. But my technique has become better and has translated to better throws," he said in a media interaction.
"The 90m mark is a barrier and it is a magical mark for sure, but what do I do if I throw 90m and do not win? Then even 90m will feel less and maybe I would want to throw 93m. The main thing is to win the gold, irrespective of the distance. What matters is how you handle the situation and how you perform."
"I have been very consistent this season and that is my biggest takeaway. I threw 89m in three events and crossed 88m in the three other events. I will once again say that I am not disappointed to not have crossed the 90m mark."
Imagine that a billion people are supporting your goal of reaching 90 million, but you are unaffected. "It will happen when it has to happen," he said.