The Indian believed he could do it, but in his desperation to go past his Pakistani rival’s mark, he ended up with four foul throws. Trying to come to terms with his first loss to Nadeem since 2016, Neeraj, who threw 89.45m and bagged silver, said a nagging groin injury has been bothering him.
“When I get ready for my throws, 70-80% of my focus is on my injury as I don’t want to aggravate it. My speed drops and so I start pushing myself. Before the last World Championships, the doctor had advised me to go for surgery. But I didn’t have the time. I couldn’t do it before Olympics either. But (now) I will have to make a big decision,” the current world champion said here after the event, adding that the same throw could have been four metres further had he been in perfect shape.
Despite the disappointment of not winning back-to-back Olympic gold, many consider Neeraj the greatest-ever Indian athlete. He, though, remains humble. “It’s been a great journey after starting from a small village,” he said.
‘I still have many good throws left in me’
Starting off, Neeraj never believed he would be on the Olympic podium one day. “I didn’t have the physique or the background. I don’t know how I reached this far,” Neeraj said.
Talking about his injury, “It was in 2017 that I felt the groin pain for the first time and after that I had a lot of treatment. At the beginning of this year, everything was perfect. Maybe (I have to undergo) surgery… I will speak to my team and make a decision,” Neeraj said. The champion athlete had tried to play down the injury in the build-up to the Olympics, but now that it’s all down, he was ready to explain how difficult it was. “I was not able to throw using my full runway for the last couple of years.
Normally, we make 40-50 throws in each session. But in my case the session itself was happening once every two or three weeks because of the injury scare. Till you throw, you are not working with the javelin and then it is very difficult to lift it. But now I’m throwing because I have the belief in my hand,” Neeraj said. The champion said he won’t rest till he manages the big throws.
“I still have many good throws left in me. Until I achieve that, I won’t get peace. I now realise that mindset is very important going into an Olympics. I will surely do it if my body is willing to come along as my mind will be ready. If you can stay away from injury, then your throw gets bigger and bigger,” the 26-year-old said. Neeraj’s first throw on Thursday was a foul, but that didn’t affect his confidence.
“After the foul in the first throw, I had confidence ahead of the second throw that I could do it. I was pushing myself a lot but the throw was good and I can tell you that I still have a lot of big throws left in me. For that I have to keep myself fit.” Asked what changed between the qualification when he appeared in great form and the final, the 26-year-old said: “In the qualification round it’s all easy and relaxed. But finals are different. I tried to keep my mind the same but it was hard. I tried to go really fast on the runway but it didn’t work.
Even in qualification I was really close to the line but I stopped within one step.” The pulls and pressures of commercial commitments become part and parcel of a top athlete’s life, but Neeraj has learnt to take that in his stride.
“After Tokyo, I gave priority to sports. With great difficulty we get a chance to endorse a brand. So if you get a chance then who will leave it? But I don’t want to overdo it, because if my body breaks, nothing will be left.” Neeraj was tired but his sense of humour was intact. “Motivating myself to talk in English is almost like being in competition with the best in the business,” he said as everyone burst into laughter.