Olympic gold medal has been won but javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has his new targets set. Chopra, who clinched the historic gold with a throw of 87.58m in his second attempt at the Tokyo Olympics, has been eyeing the 90m for quite some time now. His personal best has been 88.07m.
“Medal is one thing, distance is another. Crossing the 90m mark will put me in the list of the world's best throwers,” Neeraj said during a virtual media interaction.
No pressure on Chopra
“I am close to it and can hit the mark soon, but I don't think about too much. But there is no pressure on me that if I don’t reach the mark then 'gadbad ho jaega'.” The 24-year-old is confident that the mark is around the corner and some modifications in his technique will help him achieve his goal.
“The gap is of about 2m. It’s not too less also but I don’t think it’s impossible because my training is good. I don’t think about it much but it’s a barrier that I’d like to breach this year.
“No major changes in my technique, I'll need to improve what I am already doing. I'll also look to work on explosive strength, core strength and speed as these factors will add up and the distance will be covered,” he explained.
Gaining 10kg after Olympics
In the Tokyo Olympics Chopra had ended India's 100-year long wait for a track and field medal in the Olympics. He revealed that he gained over 10kg after the Tokyo Games.
“I ate everything I wanted to after I came back from the Olympics, I did not hold back because I was controlling for so long. I had gained close to 12-13 kgs.
Neeraj had previously decided to end his 2021 season after the Olympics but having returned to training in USA now, the 2018 Commonwealth gold medallist is back to his off-season weight but according to him it wasn’t an easy task.
“I've been training for about 22 days now and have cut down 5.5 kgs so far and now my weight is close to the off-season weight.
“The initial few days of training were hard, my body would hurt and the workouts felt very difficult. I had to put in a lot of effort. I was always physically tired but I pushed through despite being exhausted. I'm training hard now so that I can get to javelin-specific training soon.”
