Indian Olympians In Their Pursuit Of Gold

In the Olympics, Gold medal is something which is glorified and celebrated from its intrinsic value as only the top performers of their relevant sports get to hold it. Every Olympian sees gold in their fantasy while getting trained for a particular sport. In case they miss it, they need to wait for years to reattempt and compete for the top position with the young entrants of the world. That must be exhaustive and tiring task. Four years only sounds small interval. However, only those who are mentally strong can wait, train and compete again. It's certainly not a child's play.

Never before has the Indians took so much interest in sports such as Javelin throw. The cricket loving nation was mapping the distance of Javelin thrown by Neeraj Chopra with great enthusiasm. Because for the nation lacking Olympics gold medal, Neeraj was the last hope of securing it.

23-year-old Neeraj Chopra was born in an agricultural family in Panipat, Haryana. The Javelin thrower, in his childhood, was quite obese and was repeatedly teased by local kids. That's why Chopra's father enrolled him in a gymnasium. Later, he also visited the nearby Panipat Sports Authority of India centre, where javelin thrower Jaiveer Choudhary recognized his early talent as Chopra was able to achieve a 40-metre throw without training. Choudhary encouraged him to pursue this sport and became his first coach. From there, he started his golden journey.

13 years ago in 2008, Abhinav Bindra ended India's long quest for a solo gold medal in the 10m air rifle event at the Beijing Olympics. Bindra, born in 1982 in Dehradun in a Punjabi family, began his journey by taking inspiration from the shooters he saw on television. He was determined to train with the best possible facilities, which were then not available in India, he had to train for prolonged periods in Germany. He didn't win any medal in his debut. He was only 15 when he entered 2000 Olympics in Sydney as youngest Indian to qualify for Olympics. Even at the 2004 Olympics Athens, he qualified for the final as a serious medal contender, but ended up firing worse shots and had to come back without any medal. The pressure was real. But in the next Olympics at Beijing, he took a shot at history.

Abhinav, who was feeling lonely in the exclusive gold club for last 13 years, has now got another member to join his club. He congratulated Neeraj in his letter, expressed his joy and welcomed him in the club.

Is it the beginning of India's golden sports legacy? Not sure. The Tokyo Olympics was the best ever when we make a comparison with our past performances. We should definitely celebrate our sportsperson but shouldn't be satisfied and become complacent. We need our sports fraternity to excel in their game which would be automatically reflected in the medal tally.

There have been only two individual gold medalists so far who represented India in the Olympics. Of course, the silver medal winners also pursue for gold but stumble just before reaching there. They do achieve appreciation and rewards, however, history forgets them in the long run. That's why gold remains to be gold — Pure and irreplaceable.

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