Fairy tale of an 'overweight Haryanvi', His village hardly knew something called Javelin

New Delhi:

Struggles do leave memories. Some could be well known, others not.
A new reputation often drives out the old one. The happier ones of course makes the 'sad memories' hide beneath some carpets.

The story goes that Neeraj Chopra (23) is in all purposeful sense a Javelin thrower by accident, and, as they say, the luck!

Parents were concerned about his overweight. He ran at times but when he took a chance throw with Javelin, some locals said, "iis mein baat hae".

That was the beginning of spotting a Talent in rural Haryana. 

A sultry afternoon, and the beginning chapter of the saga was written. 

The beginning never knows the end, did they say ?

In the case of Neeraj Chopra, prior to August 7, 2021 feat at Tokyo another memorable moment was winning the Gold in Commonwealth in 2018.

After that, he had promised to himself and his well wishers, "I would like to give the same performance in the Olympics of 2020 and get Gold for India". 

He missed the calendar 2020 certainly, thanks to 'luck' yet again and of course the dreaded pandemic.

But come 2021, the Tokyo2020 brought the historic day of his life, August 7 (2021) and yes, the Olympic Gold was his.

An ever smiling army personnel (4 Rajputana Rifles), he has certainly made men and women in camouflage proud.

He should be remembering his 'fauzi dosts' and 'seniors' - who would joke in canteen and playground ---  "a soldier never quits...". That spirit came handy. 

He kept his cool in the final, could build up pressure on rivals right from the word go, and finally the milestone.

In fact, it was a bad day for German and pre-tournament favourite Johannes Vetter.
   
Some years back, Neeraj had also said, "You know the struggles, family situations. When your true patience is tested, one had to keep Viswas (faith). Keep pushing yourself, and you will succeed".

There were other issues too - health and a surgery. He had to skip the Asian Championships and spent weeks and months sitting at home watching all the games.

"I should have been there," he told his father, a hardworking farmer from Panipat in India's key agrarian state.

And then in Doha, as he saw the World Championship and others winning medals with 85-86 metres; he knew - "Humsey ho payega....I could manage".

This confidence worked like a spring-bolt.

All these, his smiles and body reflexes were visible on ground even as he knew of the pressures of high expectations back home and thousands of enthusiastic Indians virtually across the globe.

In today's final saga, Neeraj Chopra was the second to throw in the 12-man battle and he got off to a spectacular start with a throw of 87.03 m. 

He then bettered it with 87.58 on his second,  but it came down to 76.79 m on his third. 

Notable feature of today's final event was doubly satisfying as the two biggest throws in the final belonged to the boy from Panipat.

Looking back, of course, athlete is not something sought after in Haryana hamlet.

"One day I saw some others throwing the javelin, I gave it a shot. This was in 2011. 
Within 10 days, I was throwing 40-45 metres and friends and passers by said I 
had a natural talent for it," recalled Neeraj about a year back.

In the village where he grew up, Kabaddi and wrestling had the native flavour and social acceptance.

"For long in my life, I did not know, what is a Javelin throw," he recalled.

His parents had actually sent him to sweat it out in a sports stadium to run and control his 'overweight' and finally he has made them happy and the country proud.

ends 

(Indian Awaz also ran a story on Neeraj Chopra)

THE GOLDEN BOY OF INDIA