CHENNAI: Neeraj Chopra. Remember the name. August 7 will go into the history books. The day when an Indian finally climbed atop the podium in a track and field event at the Olympics.
Considered the blue-riband discipline at the Olympics, India has never managed to conquer that code. Not till 8.01 PM on a typically humid Tokyo night. In his first attempt in the javelin final, Chopra hurled the spear — something he has been doing for almost a decade now — to a distance of 87.03m. No other competitor, including the great German Johannes Vetter, came close to overhauling that.
Just to rubber-stamp his dominance in this utterly one-sided final, the 23-year-old's second throw went even further to 87.58m. That throw had to be seen to be believed.
After composing himself at the top of the runway, he swiftly gathered pace over the next 15-20 metres before hurling it into the night sky. He didn't wait for it to land. He knew it was better than his first throw as soon as the javelin left his hand. He turned around, lifted both his arms up in the air and had the look of a man who had known he had etched himself into the record books.
The main competitors coming into the 12-man final were Vetter, compatriot Julian Weber and the Czech Jakub Vadlejch. It wasn't the greatest field — some of Chopra's main competitors either hadn't travelled to Tokyo or didn't manage to qualify for the final.
That, however, is no slight on what the Indian did on Saturday night. It really was a 'where were you' moment.
And Chopra, like perhaps PV Sindhu, is an Indian only by nationality but not by mentality. In the sense that he doesn't get cowed down by the big occasion. The way he tends to dominate big moments is so refreshing for a country that still doesn't have enough of these sporting moments to take heart from.
At the Commonwealth Games in 2018, his final throw of 86.47m won him gold by a distance of almost four metres. At the Asian Games a few months down the line, his distance of 88.06m saw him finish first by almost six metres. At the Olympics, that gap between him and second-place Vadlejch was almost a metre.
In fact, two of his four legitimate throws (87.03m and 87.58m) would have seen him win gold. It's surely not supposed to be this easy? But then he has made holding a spear, that has to weigh 800g and be 2.6-2.6m long, the easiest thing for such a long time.