“I am in a good space right now, mentally well prepared”: Neeraj Chopra bullish on defending Olympic gold medal

Tokyo Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra said he is in a good frame of mind to defend his Olympic gold medal when the Paris Olympics 2024 commences in a couple of months time.

The Indian athlete is back from an injury rehab and a good off-season training and will commence his season with the Doha Diamond League and the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland before the quadrennial Games.

The star athlete said he is well prepared and raring to go. “I am in a very good space right now. I am mentally well prepared too. When I went to the Tokyo Olympics, there were some doubts, I had a few things that had to be ironed out. However, now, I feel everything is in place and I am feeling very good from the inside before the Olympics,” he said during a select media interaction, organised by JSW Sports.

Neeraj lauded World Athletics’ latest decision to award prize money to gold-medal winning athletes at the Olympics and said the move will help athletes a lot. “There is not much money in athletics, just like how it is in football or tennis. It is a good decision to award prize money (at the Olympics). I hope they (World Athletics) get to pass on the incentives to the Diamond League competitions too. It will help the athletes a lot,” he explained.

In the same breath, Neeraj thanked the Indian government for their monetary support in helping the athletes grow. “The money we get from the government is very important, especially for our families. The TOPS scheme, JSW and the AFI (Athletics Federation of India) are playing a huge role in supporting us,” he said.

There has been a lot of chatter surrounding the 90m mark in javelin throw and the 26-year-old athlete, whose best is 89.94m, said while breaching the 90m mark is one target, it isn’t easy to predict who and when it would get broken. “It all boils down to that day when I compete. It is not easy to predict what distance I will throw. It is good to see Kishore (Jena) also doing well. He has the ability to breach the 90m mark too. Who knows, he could do it before me too,” he said.

Neeraj said Indian athletics has grown by leaps and bounds and cited the example of the rise of Kishore Jena and how along with the duo, even Murali Sreeshankar is competing in the Diamond League circuit. “It is good to play with many Indians on the circuit. It is for the first time that we have two javelin throwers from India compete alongside each other. Murali Sreeshankar is another athlete to look out for on the Diamond League circuit. If we do well in the Diamond Leagues, we can dream of doing well at the Olympics too,” he explained.

The Haryana-based athlete said while he has finalised to compete in two events (Doha Diamond League and Paavo Nurmi Games) ahead of the Paris Olympics, he said it is not practically possible or advisable to compete in many tournaments ahead of the Games. He said competing in the right number of tournaments was also a main point of discussion when he met tennis legend Roger Federer in January this year.

“It was very nice to meet a great athlete and share thoughts on sports. Federer had positive vibes. He spoke about his love for Indian food. We spoke about competing in the right number of events, rather than the quantity, and how he balances his schedule. I have planned to compete in two events now. I have my agent with whom I will discuss if I need to compete more ahead of the Olympics,” he added.

Neeraj said the warm conditions in Paris could be a shot-in-the-arm for the Indian athlete as he loves competing in warm weather rather than the cold. However, he was quick to add that weather shouldn’t play a role on athletes’ minds as it would take the focus away from the performance. “Paris will be a bit humid. I don’t have a problem with that. It is usually the sweat that is a problem. I dislike cold weather, like for example inEurope or in Diamond League etc, especially after the rains. In cold weather, the time between the throws is difficult as you have to keep stretching, warming yourself. There is a lot of energy that goes in that as well. But again, whatever the conditions are, you have to prepare and be at your best. An athlete cannot be worrying about the weather as it drains you mentally. You are down even before the competition starts and that shouldn’t be the case. Rain or shine, you have to go on. That should be the mindset,” he explained.