Trailblazers- Episode 3- A weekly series celebrating Paralympic Champions presented by Tata Steel.
“When I went to the Athens Paralympics in 2004, all I had was a pair of spikes that cost me Rs 400 and a javelin priced at Rs 300,” said Devendra Jhajharia. “That’s all I had. I paid for the trip myself, and was one of the 25 athletes who represented India in Greece.” We had asked him to recount his journey to his first Olympic gold medal, and his response was heart-rending.
“Every other athlete participating in Athens would come to the stadium with his personal coach, trainer, physio and support team,” he said with a smile. “They had better javelins, which were very similar to the ones we use now. But for me, it was never about facilities. It was never about the quality of javelin or spikes or coaching. It was always about hard work and more hard work. Working the hardest was my weapon against adversity, and I am glad it worked for me.”
Jhajharia lost an arm at the age of eight when he accidentally touched an electric cable while climbing a tree. “The shock was more mental than anything else,” he said. “When I came back home from the hospital, I was depressed. For the first one month, I refused to leave my house.”
It was a sense of inferiority and peer pressure that had started to weigh on the mind of young Devendra. It was only when his mother motivated him to go out and play with the neighbourhood kids that he finally started stepping out to socialise. His mother was clear: Devendra was a victim of circumstances, and in no way inferior to anyone else. She inspired him to do everything that he had earlier. He still remains indebted to her for the early confidence she was able to instil in a confused and scared eight-year-old child.
The turnaround for Devendra happened when he was in grade X in school. The occasion was the annual school athletic meet. Javelin was one of the events. A young Devendra, always keen to play sport, was eager to try his hand at the javelin. But he faced serious rejection at school. As he put it, “Sabne hume manaa kar diya. Kehne lage mein kya kar raha hoon wahan pe. Javelin mere se nahi hone wala hai or mujhe yeh sab nahi karna chahiye. Mera ek haath nahi hain, maine aise kaise thaan liya ki main javelin phekunga. Bhagwan ki daya se main par raha tha yahi bahut tha [Everyone said no. They asked what I was doing there. They said I couldn’t do javelin and that I should leave this stuff. I didn’t have one hand, so how could I think of throwing a javelin, they asked. They said by God’s grace it was enough that I could still study].”
Even the teachers refused to come out in support of Devendra. In fact, they asked him to leave the field and cheer from the sidelines. They feared he might end up injuring himself, and were unwilling to take the risk. “Maine bhi thaan li thi. Main javelin khelna chahta tha or main khel ke rahunga [I was also determined that I would throw a javelin and that I would do it],” he said.
He went home, and the first thing he did was to convert a piece of wood from a nearby tree into a makeshift javelin. That was his first real equipment, which he used to practice with for the next few weeks. Soon after school got over in the afternoon, Devendra would start to run back home to be in time for practice before it got dark. Little did he know that the five kilometres he was running each day was working perfectly as his endurance training. “Mujhe yeh sab nahi pata tha. Main jaldi se jaldi ghar pahuchna chahta tha kyon ki ghar mein bag rakh ke main ground mein practice karne jahta tha. Agar mein thoda tez bhag saka toh mein aur thodi der practice kar sakta tha [I didn’t know all this. I wanted to reach home early so I could leave my bag at home and go to the ground to practise. If I ran fast, I could practise more],” he recalled.
When it was time for the inter-district championship, Devendra was ready to shock everyone with his skill in the javelin throw. When he won a medal at the meet, things started to change at his school as well. “Yeh competition main aap se keh sakta hoon mere liye Olympics ke samaan tha. Yeh mera atma-samman ke liye mujhe jeetna tha. Mein able-bodied athletes ke saath khel raha tha aur sabke samne kar dikhane ka yeh mauka mujhe dobara nahi milta [This competition, for me, was like the Olympics. I had to win this for my self-respect. I was competing with able-bodied athletes and would not get another such opportunity to showcase what I could do in front of everyone like this],” argue Devendra.
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Winning a medal at the inter-district championship transformed his athletics career forever. This competition had given him the necessary confidence to train harder. That’s when he started to think of an athletics career and making a name by representing India. He was also included in his school team thereafter and accorded respect as an athlete. By the time he entered college, javelin had become his first love.
Why Devendra Jhajharia Got an Axe and Cut Wood For Months
Devendra didn’t have the TheraBand (latex bands or tubes commonly used for physical therapy and light-strength-training exercises by athletes) that he had seen his foreign rivals using. So he found his own method of training, by getting an axe and cutting wooden logs to build his shoulder strength. “Bahar ke players sab theraband se practice karte the [All foreign players practised with a TheraBand],” he said. “Woh bahut important hai shoulder strength badhane ke liye. Mere paas to TheraBand etc thi nahi. Maine socha main kulhari se TheraBand ko replace kar dunga [It is very important to build shoulder strength. I didn’t have a TheraBand. I thought I will replace TheraBand with an axe].”
In something that is clearly unheard of, Devendra would cut wooden logs with an axe every single day of the month and repeat the action close to 500 times a day. With each swing of the axe he would expend considerable strength. By the time he was done with his training, he would be completely exhausted.
In the years 2002-3, he stopped going to every social engagement, stopped watching films or attending family parties. For him, it was all about his training and mental focus. “When I went to Athens, I was very well prepared,” he said. “I had already broken the world record in 2003, and was confident I could do it yet again in the Paralympics.”
What made a difference for Devendra was being asked to be the Indian flag-bearer in the opening ceremony. “Maine socha ki agar main flag-bearer hoon to mujhe aur achha khelna chahiye. Flag toh mere haath mein tha par mera rashtra gaan mujhe sunna tha aur yeh tabhi ho sakta thak jab main gold medal jitta. Bhagwan ne meri maang puri kar di [I thought if I am the flag-bearer, I should play well. The flag was in my hand, I wanted to listen to my national anthem. This was only possible if I won gold. God fulfilled my wish],” he said with a sense of satisfaction.
The Devendra miracle went further during the 2016 Games in Rio. Devendra was yet again the Indian flag-bearer. This time round, he was leading a very talented contingent. “Even before me, Meiyyapan had won gold in the high jump,” he said. “Our team was doing well. This would give all of us a sense of positivity and confidence.”
“My first throw wasn’t the best,” he recounted. “I had thrown 57 meters and was in third position. We are allowed six throws, as you know. It was very important I did well in the second and third throws. In fact, when I went to the top of my mark for my second throw, I was determined I will do something big. For this to happen, everything has to be perfect. Your release, your follow-through, your arm action and the harmony between each of these steps has to be perfect for you to achieve maximum distance.”
His second throw was 60.70 meters and good enough to catapult him into first place. While getting him to the gold medal position, this throw had done two things for Devendra. First, it had put the pressure back on the Chinese athlete who was now in second position and had to throw his best to catch up. Second, it allowed Devendra to go for broke on his third throw, and try and do something phenomenal. When we asked him to recount his third throw in as much detail as possible, there was a slight pause.
He gradually looked up and said, “The way you mentioned it, I am getting goosebumps.” He went on to add, “When I was walking up for my last throw, there were a lot of things in my head. I knew I was in gold medal position and I was aware I still had three more throws left with me. It was best to take a chance with the third throw. If you see the video, you will see I was constantly talking to myself. And when I released the javelin, I knew it was the perfect throw. The javelin hit the ground in one motion and there was hardly any jerk. My instant reaction was to raise my hand, because I knew the world record had been broken. All I needed was the official confirmation. When that came, I couldn’t control my emotion. I was jumping and screaming like a kid, for I had broken my own world record and had done so 12 years after I had won gold in Athens.”
By now, his eyes had started to swell up with tears of joy. “This was a big achievement not only for me, but also for my country,” he said. “I was proud of what I had achieved.”
What was important was that this time round, things did change. Devendra was celebrated for months after Rio. It seemed like things had finally turned for paralympic athletes and para sports in India. And this change went even further in Tokyo, where Devendra won a silver, his 3rd Paralympic medal.
“We now have every facility,” he said, as he continued to train at the SAI centre in Gandhinagar, away from his young family.
It is fitting that we are doing this series in collaboration with Tata Steel, for a total of 62 athletes associated with Tata Steel and its academies have received various prestigious national-level awards.
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