If ever an example of less is more is needed, think of Neeraj Chopra and his journey in 2023. He competed only on seven days, in six competitions, in five months from May to October, but his magnetic charm is such that despite being seen performing so infrequently on TV, he occupies a vast portion of the collective mind space of the Indian sports fan.
A wonderful year has thrown up many sports heroes for India to follow. Indeed, many other sportspersons across several disciplines — cricket, badminton, hockey, tennis, chess, squash and football, to name a few — pursue their vocation with as much passion and intensity, purpose and pride as Neeraj, when wearing the India colours.
Virat Kohli returned after a lull to stride like a cricket colossus; Pankaj Advani won a double at the IABF World Billiards Championships in Doha; HS Prannoy and doubles stars Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty performed creditably at the highest level of badminton; R Praggnanandhaa caught the imagination of fans by reaching the chess World Cup final.
Boxer Nikhat Zareen’s run to the 50kg class crown in the women’s World Championships, compound archers Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Aditi Swami’s domination of the global scene and Parul Chaudhary’s amazing finish to the women’s 5000m gold in the Asian Games spring to mind when thinking of the year’s best performances by Indian sportswomen.
Yet, Neeraj stands out amidst the bouquet of Indian champions spreading fragrance. Not because I watched him in three of the six competitions this year — Doha Diamond League, World Championships and the Asian Games. But because he has effortlessly inspired a whole nation with his exploits and his humility as he produced three of the world’s five best throws this year.
He faced different challenges in his competitions in 2023. If it was the swirling wind in the Doha Diamond League, his own doubts in the World Championships in Budapest added to the degree of difficulty. He was concerned that the movement of his legs was not in sync with the rest of the body and depended on the strength of his arm to hurl the javelin to over 88.17m.
In the Asian Games in Hangzhou, he had overcome the trauma of the bizarre failure of officials to record the distance of his first throw, calm his mind and summon his best throw of the year, 8.88m, to slip past Kishore Kumar Jena and win gold. The joy that he radiated when walking with his teammate after the event will be remembered for long.
Viewed purely from the perspective of Indians and Olympic Games, Neeraj is on a rare journey. Of course, as the only Indians to win two individual Olympic medals, Sushil Kumar and PV Sindhu have enjoyed a different path to glory. However, when they set off to win their second successive medal, neither had climbed the top of the Olympic podium as Neeraj did in Tokyo 2020.
As he gets ready to launch his campaign to win the Olympic competition again and cement the belief that his place in the Indian pantheon of sporting legends is as the greatest, he has set examples in staying rooted in humility and enjoying each moment of preparation, be it physical or mental.
Like the iceberg that hides more beneath the surface than is seen above, he logs in endless hours of training to be able to produce those explosive throws in competition. His commitment to training, combined with his understanding of the signals that his body sends, enables him to show up battle-ready each time he steps on the runway.
Yet, more than anyone else, he knows that the competition in Paris would be intense. Germany’s Johannes Vetter could be back in the fray, refreshed and eager. Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch has risen as a strong competitor, as has Pakistan’s Nadeem Ashraf, who won silver in the World Championships in Budapest. Neeraj will have to work to stay injury-free and mount his challenge.
If there is any criticism that he has had to deal with, it has to do with the fact that while he has done enough to win key competitions in 2023 — barring the Diamond League final — he has not shown an improvement in terms of his personal best since making a national record at 89.94m in the Diamond League in Stockholm on June 30, 2022.
The 90m question has preceded him so much this year that he has begun to address it himself, with a smile on his face, even before being asked. Clearly, he has made pressure a companion, perhaps with a gentle arm around his shoulders, rather than as a load on his back. It also reflects the fact that athletes don’t have pressure on the toast for breakfast but have to embrace it.
For all that, his greatest feat is not adding the World Championships title to his Olympic Games gold, but challenging the popular notion that an athlete has to be seen performing and succeeding often on live TV to imprint oneself in the minds and hearts of fans. Alongside India’s leading cricketers, he has been the answer to the Messis and Ronaldos who dominate that landscape.
Yes, it takes a Neeraj Chopra to illustrate the less-is-more philosophy. In his own wonderful way.