BUDAPEST. The javelin throw saw a historic World Cup final in many ways.
Neeraj Chopra achieved the first Indian gold medal in the World Championships in Athletics. Got silver Arshad Nadeem is, on the other hand, the first Pakistani World Cup medalist.
It was far from a situation where the top three had only throwers from Asia. Behind Chopra, the colors of India can be found in the list of results in places 5 and 6.
– The change is just beginning. Let’s see what happens in ten years, Finland’s previous javelin World Cup medalist, who won bronze in 2015 Tero Pitkämäki says to Urheilu when leaving the stands.
When Pitkämäki stood on the podium at Beijing’s Linnunpesä stadium eight years ago, there was not a single Indian thrower in the final. And wasn’t even in the qualifiers.
India didn’t even debut in the men’s javelin event at the World Championships until 2017. Six years later, Chopra is circling the Budapest stadium with India’s flag as the reigning world champion and Olympic champion, who has medaled in three consecutive prestigious Games.
How did it come to this?
– You should ask that person, Pitkämäki says and points to the Indian athletics influencer who is collecting congratulations next to him.
Nair Prabhakaran of Radha Krishna serves as the Director of Coaching in the Indian Athletics Federation. According to Prabhakaran, India’s rise is a result of the federation’s decision to invest in javelin in 2015.
The decision was largely based on Chopra’s potential. The following year, Chopra won gold at the World Youth Championships with a score of 86.48, which is still the current under-20 world record.
– Then I knew that there was no need to regret the decision, Prabhakaran says.
The Athletics Federation of India hired a German as its head coach by Uwe Hohn in 2017. Hohn will always be remembered for the best javelin result of 104.80, which he threw with the old javelin model in 1984.
Hohn was replaced by another German, known as an expert in biomechanics to Klaus Bartonietz in 2019. In his era, Chopra has become the world’s best javelin thrower, who is already receiving significant fire support from his compatriots in international competitions.
According to Prabhakaran, twenty of India’s top throwers train at a sports center in the northern part of the country, in the city of Patiala.
– With the help of our German trainers, our engineers were able to make a copy of the German technology, the spear simulator. Now we already have six of them, says Prabhakaran.
Support is available
With a population of 1.4 billion, India consists of 29 states and seven union territories. The aforementioned Patiala Sports Center is located in the state of Punjab, which is south of Chopra’s home state of Haryana.
However, Chopra has mostly lived and trained abroad since becoming India’s first Olympic gold medalist in athletics history two years ago. The medals have also appeared in Chopra’s bank account – and still do.
If in Finland the best in individual sports earning less than 80,000 can receive a tax-free grant of 20,000 euros annually from the Ministry of Education and Culture, according to Prabhakaran, the Indian federation will still remember its star athlete who has already earned millions with a significant amount.
– This year we have invested 18 million Indian rupees in Chopra, says the head coach.
Converted to euros, the amount is 200,000.
Chopra’s status in India is reflected by the fact that her Olympic victory has also been recognized in the Indian annual calendar. The country celebrates national javelin day on August 7.
– Then people of all ages throw javelins all over India. Otherwise, there are about a million Indians involved in the sport, says Prabhakaran.
According to him, each of the 29 states and seven union territories has its own javelin program. The program is divided into three parts: 13–15 year olds, 16–19 year olds and adult athletes.
– In the first stage, the children practice throws in general. If a child has gifts, he can specialize in the javelin from the age of 16, Prabhakaran says, but reminds that India has raised its head in recent years in other athletics as well, such as the men’s long jump.
However, after Sunday’s World Cup final in India, the javelin throw is once again a step louder.
According to the website of the international athletics federation World Athletics, 13 competitions will be held in India this year, where athletes can make the required performance limits for prestigious competitions.
As in Kenya, in India too only a fraction of the results made end up in the official international results systems.
According to the statistics workshop service, seven Indian javelin men have been able to cross 80 meters this season, but according to Prabhakaran, the number is 15.
He adds that every Indian who has thrown in the World Cup final has thrown more than 85 meters this season, although only Chopra can find such a result in Statistics Workshop.
India would have also received a fourth thrower in Budapest, as Chopra had redeemed his personal competition ticket already last season by winning the Diamond League.
– Also our fourth pitcher Rohit (Yadav) has thrown 86 meters this season (83.40 according to Stats), but he was injured a week ago and could not participate, says Prabhakaran.
The systematic collection of results is a check mark, the implementation of which has its challenges. Prabhakaran hails from Kerala, a state of 33 million people, which consists of 14 districts.
– You can imagine what it’s like to collect data from the 73 districts of Uttar Pradesh, Prabhakaran says, referring to the state whose population is reported to be 241 million in the 2021 statistics.
Prabhakaran has more to take home than just a fresh world championship that is building a boom. During the World Cup, representatives of the Indian federation visited the Nemeth javelin factory, located about 50 kilometers from the stadium.
The team returned to the Budapest Stadium with an agreement that the 1976 Olympic champion Miklos Nemeth delivers 300 of its signature spears to India.
For the sake of comparison: According to Statistics Workshop, there are exactly 300 throwers in Finland, when all the men’s and women’s javelin throw results from the current summer are taken into account – starting with the 10-meter results.
– The javelins we have acquired are only intended for use by those in the national top program. State centers and districts do their own procurement, says Prabhakaran.