Bengaluru: Exactly 10 days ago, Neeraj Chopra won his second Olympic medal at the Stade de France in Paris.

While India is celebrating the magnificent performance of the javelin thrower, who took silver this time to add to his gold medal in Tokyo, Neeraj has long since stopped. The 26-year-old was back in training four days after finishing second on the podium with a throw of 89.45 metres.

However, an unfamiliar disappointment was clearly visible on Neeraj’s face. After all, ending his campaign without winning gold or crossing the 90m mark on the biggest stage was not the kind of result that an athlete striving for excellence would settle for.

“Mentally I was ready, but physically I could not give 100 percent because of the groin problem,” Neeraj said on Saturday during an online interaction from his training base in Switzerland.

“Because of the injury I’ve had for some time, I couldn’t give it my all. When the cross step is performed during the run-up, the groin is put under a lot of strain. Since the footwork wasn’t optimal, the technique suffered. Although the arm speed was good, the throwing line was disturbed. The throw curved inwards instead of going straight, which would have given me another 2-3 meters.”

Neeraj has been considering surgery for some time but has decided to wait until the end of the 2024 season. With one major event after another looming, the athlete says surgery would cast doubt on his participation in the Paris Games.

“Even though it was uncomfortable, it didn’t completely affect my training schedule in the months leading up to the Olympics. The only downside was that I had to compromise on my throwing training to protect my groin. But not once during the final did I feel like I couldn’t win gold, even after Nadeem set a new Olympic record with that big throw (92.97m).

“We still have about a month until the end of this season. As of now, I will compete in the Lausanne Diamond League (scheduled next week on August 22). The original plan was to also compete in the DLs in Zurich (September 5) and Brussels (September 13-14), but we will decide how it goes next week. As soon as these events are over, I will also meet the doctors.”

Neeraj thanked coach Klaus Bartonietz of Germany and his personal physiotherapist Ishaan Marwaha for helping him deal with his injury. In that sense, the silver is as valuable as the gold in Tokyo, he said.

“It’s difficult to judge which is better than the other. I mean, we also have to look at the circumstances in which I won. But yes, the main difference is that if I had won gold, the national anthem would have been played in the stadium. That was missing this time,” explained the world champion.

With two Olympic medals and several other titles under his belt, Neeraj is far from finished. While he stresses on improving his mind, body and skills, the golden boy of Indian athletics has plans to set up javelin academies in the country to nurture future champions. But that will happen only after his career is over, he stressed.

Is the target still 90 million for now or is the stakes higher?

“I don’t know, I leave that up to God. Really. I just want to work hard, focus more on strengthening my weaknesses and improving myself.”