Neeraj Chopra Gold Medalist© AFP
India’s Golden Boy Neeraj Chopra stated that he does not consider himself the greatest of all time as he has many throws left and a lot to prove. The 25-year-old made the entire nation proud after he won the gold medal in the javelin throw event of the World Athletics Championships on Sunday in Budapest. Neeraj defeated Pakistan Arshad Nadeem after recording a distance of 88.17m and 87.73m. With this win, he became the first Indian to clinch a gold medal at the prestigious event.
On being asked about how he felt after winning the gold medal, Neeraj said that he controlled his tears and would look to deliver a better performance than this in his next attempt.
“But, you know the kind of pressure these situations bring. Be it technique or speed, something falls behind. The recovery time between the qualifiers and the final was also just one day. It was also a big factor. I always tell myself that I have to push myself till the last throw,” he added.
After claiming the historic feat, Neeraj spoke to the reporters and called world record holder Jan Zelezny the greatest athlete of all time in javelin throw.
“I won’t say I am the greatest of all time. I have to improve more. The greatest of all time is Jan Zelezny when it comes to the javelin,” Chopra said.
“The biggest thing is I still have many more throws in me and the saying goes that ‘throwers don’t have a finishing line’. So I can push myself, it is motivation to see how many medals one can win. Winning medals does not mean we have done everything. There are so many athletes who have won multiple medals. So I will push myself much more and work harder,” he added.
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