"The winning didn't start all of a sudden" - Neeraj Chopra talks about the series of failures in his initial days
The star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has opened up about the series of failures he endured during the initial days of his career before becoming the champion.
The Olympic gold medalist also talked about his struggles with injuries and the gold medal defence in the upcoming Olympics in 2024.
After winning the historic gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics, Neeraj Chopra affirmed his status as one of the greatest Indian athletes with a series of medals in the following events.
In the next two years, he won a whopping 13 medals, including the gold in the recently concluded Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou. In 2023, Neeraj participated in seven events and won gold in five of them while taking silver in the other two.
Despite such a solid run, Neeraj Chopra humbly struck down the tag of being invincible during the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit. When asked if he felt unbeatable at the moment, the reigning Olympic champion said he had gone through a series of failures before becoming the champion. Neeraj Chopra said:
"It is through defeats that I have reached this stage. In 2017, I had started competing in international events in Diamond League, so since 2017 till 2021, I kept losing. It was in 2022 Diamond League when I first got a position on the podium.
"So the winning didn't start all of a sudden. In 2019, I couldn't play the entire season because of an injury, then there was COVID and finally we had the Olympics in 2021. So even that level started improving through the years and so did my belief. So this winning run hasn't affected me because I have seen defeats and I had accepted that."
"It will be a big thing for me to defend the title" - Neeraj Chopra is looking forward to defending his gold medal in the Paris Olympics
Talking about defending his Olympic gold medal, Neeraj seems determined to give his 100 percent in the upcoming Paris Olympics. The superstar athlete also added that defending the Olympic gold medal will be the biggest achievement of his career.
Furthermore, Chopra also talked about the importance of remaining fit ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024. The 25-year-old added that he is focused on staying fit and injury-free on the road for the upcoming mega-event.
"Whenever I think about Paris Olympics, the sole thought is to give my best with all the learnings that I have gained through the years and experience. So it will be a big thing for me to defend the title. I am currently in that zone. I have that age, so if I can manage to keep myself fit because injury is the biggest challenge."