Javelin throwers stand out amidst a bunch of athletes, carrying a spear around during training or competition. The pole is their identity, like an extension of their arm. This field event is striving to gain more attention, sandwiched as it is between glamourous track events around the 400m lanes during every athletic meet, from local to international, for example, the World Athletics 2022.
Fans’ focus is firmly on long-distance runners loping rhythmically in the stadium, or the sprinters bursting around the track in the electrifying relay races. The burly thrower holding a spear is an isolated figure in a packed stadium, waiting patiently at the start of the run-up for the signal to hurl the javelin into the vastness, noticed by fans when one of the throwers screams after the javelin release, willing the projectile further.
Neeraj Chopra stepped into this world of burly men at Hayward Field, bounded down the run-up, and screamed as the javelin left his hand. Watching the spear pierce the air before arrowing down to punch the turf, the long-haired Indian attracts so much attention that a field event is now a show-stopper.
Here is a champion from the Olympic Games 2021 blessed with the power, and panache to change the way the javelin throw is looked at. His ambition to clear 90 metres remains a dream (Chopra threw 88.13m to win India’s first silver in the Worlds). There is something about this Indian oozing enthusiasm and radiating confidence, lending a touch of gloss to a technical event.
With exposure in athletics hotspots and smart marketing, Chopra’s composure can potentially boost the spear throw, the way Sergey Bubka boosted the pole vault. Charisma off track, gravity-defying leaps and a string of world records kept pole vault in the headlines. The Ukraine-born vaulter, representing the Soviet Union and his own nation, raised the bar so high after turning pro in 1981 till retirement in 2001 that a highly technical event about strong men taking off on tall poles turned into a stadium centrepiece. He is among 24 legends inducted into the athletics Hall of Fame. Bubka rose to VP status in the International Amateur Athletics Federation (World Athletics now).
No comparison with Neeraj Chopra, a 24-year-old Indian powerhouse who is a work in progress, growing through the ranks from U-20, then Olympic champion at Tokyo and now a podium finish at World Athletics in Eugene. The Indian fauji has the world at his feet and got the world’s most populous nation hooked.
The interest back home in him is huge, youth inspired by Chopra’s popularity are taking up javelin in numbers, similar to a badminton boom after Saina Nehwal, P V Sindhu’s exploits at the Olympic Games and the World Championships earlier. Television creates a multiplier effect and live telecast of World Athletics 2020, Diamond League series, followed by Commonwealth Games and Asian Games can only increase the buzz.
The champ has lowered a barrier in their minds since stepping on the podium at Tokyo. Indians have accepted that javelin medals are within reach. Newer faces are aiming for the 80m mark in national level meets, interest has spread among boys and girls.
Chopra’s younger teammate Rohit Yadav was the second Indian qualifier at Hayward Field. Annu Rani made the final in women’s javelin, her second time back-to-back at this level. These are exciting times for track & field in Asia (Asian Games 2022 to be hosted by China), the right time for World Athletics to turn focus on nations with the numbers, to popularise athletics by staging big-ticket competitions and boost television rights.
The Indian is on the verge of becoming a familiar face in Europe, finished on the podium in the Diamond series. He is a famous face across Asia, including the lucrative Gulf region, as the 2018 Asian Games gold medallist.
Just like on the athletics track, sports promotion is a question of timing. World Athletics can boost track & field’s profile on an international level with timely decisions, as crowd-pullers emerge in newer nations. Access to newsmakers like him is easier than before, Chopra’s training bases include Chula Vista (USA), Antalya (Turkey), Kuortane (Finland). Private organisations in India like JSW, will back the Olympic champion to the hilt.
Javelin throw has got a shot in the arm in a composed champion, ready to conquer the world.
Read all the Latest News and Breaking News here
Comments
0 comment