The Golden Spear
Written on August 15th, 2021 by {"login"=>"jcbitshyd", "email"=>"journal@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in", "display_name"=>"Journal Club, BPHC", "first_name"=>"", "last_name"=>""}"Milkha Singh had this dream of an Indian athlete winning a medal at athletics in the Olympics; he always wanted someone to win gold, it has now been fulfilled, but he is not here with us. He would have felt proud if he was here. I will dedicate this medal to him and PT Usha. PT Usha had missed out on a medal by a whisker; I think her dream has also been fulfilled," From winning a gold medal at the IAAF World U20 Championships in 2016 to finishing first at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the 23-year-old youngster, Neeraj Chopra stunned the sports world with a massive second-round throw of 87.58m in the men's javelin final to end India's 100-year wait for an Olympic track and field gold.
You know where you were; you will forever remember the exact moment when Jakub Vadlejch's Javelin landed miles behind the golden target of 87.58 meters, confirming India's first gold medal since Abhinav Bindra in Beijing 2008 via the now fabled arms of Neeraj Chopra. This was also India's first-ever athletic gold medal, with nine other golds achieved previously from Hockey(8) and Shooting was the sole equivalent individual gold. This gold medal also ensured that the Indian contingent left Tokyo 2020 on a high, having bagged their best-ever medal tally of 7, including two silver and four bronze medals.
The signs of a medal were imminent from the moment we saw his first throw in the qualification round, a solid 86.65 m that automatically sent him straight into the Final, topping the entire qualification charts along the way. Some of his trickiest adversaries included the likes of the German 2017 World Champion Johannes Vetter, who was considered to be the top favorite for the gold for the tournament based on recent form, as he scored the seven best throws of 2020, along with that absolute monstrosity of a throw-in September 2020 that was recorded to be 97.76 m, the second farthest throw of all-time behind Jan Zelezny's world record of 98.48 m. Other medal suitors included the 2019 World Champion Anderson Peters, Marcin Krukowski, and the 2016 Rio medalists Julius Yego and Keshorn Walcott. Due to a drop in performance after 2018, Rio gold medallist Thomas Rohler was unable to defend his title.
However, there was still a certain degree of anxiety lingering in the minds of most Indian fans. Even though Neeraj had already proven his pedigree on the world stage by winning gold in two major international events, namely the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 Asian Games, the fear of him succumbing to the extreme pressure of delivering his peak output at the most crucial stage of them all, the 'Olympics final,' was enough to induce intense nervousness in 1.3 billion hearts. All those doubts were immediately reduced to ashes with the very first throw of the final, where he recorded an extreme 87.03 m (which, as we would eventually find out, would have given him gold anyway). Then, astonishingly, with his second throw, he surpassed his first throw, recording the official gold-winning distance of 87.58 m. The instant he let go of that javelin, he knew he had achieved greatness, turning his back and pointing up his arms in celebration without even needing to check where the javelin landed.
Jakub Vadlejch, Vitezslav Vesely, and Julian Weber gave a few worries when they recorded 85+ throws and threatened to knock Neeraj off his perch, but they were only aimless scares. Even the daunting Johannes Vetter had an off day, finishing 9th and getting eliminated from the final only after his first three throws. Vadlejch's dismal last throw confirmed the final order of the podium, with Neeraj Chopra at the top step and the two Czech throwers Vadlejch and Vesely winning silver and bronze, respectively. His last throw was only a formality, following which he kissed the floor in gratitude to the heavens above and grabbed the tricolor, wrapping it around his shoulders as he took the lap of honor along with his coaching staff, in remembrance of the countless Indian fans who would've torn through the stadium with their voices alone while going berserk in the stadium, had there been no pandemic.
Neeraj dedicated his gold to our late great sprinter, quoting: "Milkha Singh wanted to hear the national anthem in a stadium. He is no longer with us, but his dream has been fulfilled." It would've been splendid to have Milkha Singh, one of our most honorable athletes of all time, live the dream that he wished to feel in 1960. Still, his soul would have acknowledged and appreciated the events of the 7th of August, which will now be celebrated as the 'National Javelin Throw Day.' As beamingly proud Indians, we hope that this day doesn't just remain as a red-letter day, but as the inauguration of a revolution in the way, the Indian populace perceives sports, so that there are multiple of such days to come, hopefully as latest as Paris 2024.
Congratulations, 'Subedar Neeraj Chopra.'