G Rajaraman: Congrats. You have given so much joy to the entire country that one can’t say it in words. I wasn’t feeling like one fine day I would speak to an Olympic and World Champion. So thank you very much. How are you feeling after becoming the Olympic and World Champion?
Neeraj: I am feeling very happy. When I started playing, boys used to talk between themselves, ‘this foreign athlete is very strong, so perhaps competing with him is very tough’. So after winning all the titles in the world of athletics, I can say with full confidence that was just a mind barrier. Even with many athletes, the barrier is still there. I would say just break that barrier and you will see a different kind of magic. Already it feels as if during this season, athletes are doing very well. There were certain athletes who were in very good rhythm but couldn’t do well (at World Championships). But I believe with many Indian athletes, there is potential to perform at a world class level. You can see with the 4 X 400m relay, no one would have believed that they would suddenly perform in that way.
G Rajaraman: When we see Neeraj, we see a champion. When you see yourself in the mirror, what do you see?
Neeraj: I don’t talk much to myself but when I see myself in the mirror, I feel good. Your own journey can be motivating. In the past, I used to see videos of other athletes and get inspired. When I see my own story, the kind of family I came from, I had no background in athletics or sport. So when I think about it, I feel good. I can’t tell the feeling but it feels unbelievable. It feels like a dream that I’m sitting in front of you and talking. I won’t say like others that I had seen a dream of winning Olympic Gold, I will say the truth that I had not seen any such dream. I didn’t even know much about the journey. But while sitting here, I just feel something very different.
G Rajaraman: When you become such a big player, does that lead to added responsibility?
Neeraj: Yes, there is a lot of responsibility. Rest of it is fine (laughs) but when people start this India-Pakistan thing, then it affects the mind, and you have to push yourself a lot. There is a lot of responsibility, I mean everyone was thinking, ‘this time Neeraj would do’. Responsibility, pressure, everything you have to handle and perform and that gets a bit difficult. But I have got used to it a bit now that perhaps I can do it.
G Rajaraman: After becoming an Olympic Champion, the pressure would have naturally increased. We think that wherever Neeraj goes, he will come out with the best throw, he will bring the Gold or trophy. Olympic or World Championship Gold, which one was the tougher of the two?
Neeraj: I would say this one. Yes, both were tough competitions in their own right, but there (Olympics) the first throw had come out well, second throw: 87.58m. If your first throw comes out well, you feel a bit relaxed. And there, I was feeling like Vetter would win the Gold, but his throw didn’t come out well. Afterwards I felt like I would throw well and probably I would do something.
There, I didn’t have much pressure, I was a Commonwealth and Asian Games Gold Medallist. But here, so many people were following. I was playing as an Olympic Champion, that thing would be there inside your mind, that I have to win here as well. Here, throws were better than (what) we saw in the Olympics, and everyone was pushing each other. More importantly, at the Olympics I was fit. Here, I was a bit unfit and you get a bit of doubt as to whether you would get a bit of pain, so that was restricting the mind a bit.
EXCLUSIVE: “I hadn’t dreamt of winning Olympic or World Championship gold when I started Javelin”- @Neeraj_chopra1 🗣️on the weight of responsibility and the expectations from India after winning the Olympic Gold.
Reacts to his historic gold in the #WorldAthleticsChampionships… pic.twitter.com/dmWOU2zFkM
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) August 28, 2023
G Rajaraman: When do you get that confidence to tell the federation that I’m not 100 per cent fit and I can’t play. Most of the time our athletes are afraid to speak…
Neeraj: I don’t think they are afraid to speak, but for some athletes it feels like this is an opportunity in life, we have to play. But I feel the most important thing is to remain fit, sometimes we have to take the hard decision to not play. Previously, I had not gone to the Commonwealth, this time around, three competitions I didn’t go to. Although I was feeling like I could throw really well, in training also this time I had done my best throw. Still, you have to make a tough decision. I took the decision for the World Championship that I have to play here and prove it here. I feel that if an athlete feels I can’t do it, then should say, ‘sorry I can’t play, I have to get myself fit, and then I have to play in the next competition’.