It wasn’t a gold. But a silver at the world stage is an achievement too.
In the javelin final at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on Saturday (Sunday morning IST), Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra was battling hamstring pain and windy conditions.
He was chasing down a monstrous 90m-plus target set by Grenada’s Anderson Peters.
And yet Neeraj found an extra gear to throw 88.13m in his fourth attempt to finish on the podium. He became the first Indian athlete to win a medal at the Worlds since long-jumper Anju George took the bronze in 2003.
From a sports marketing standpoint, there was irony in Neeraj’s participation in Eugene. The 24-year-old was a Nike client, but recently signed with Under Armour.
Eugene and Oregon, meanwhile, are the home of Nike.
In the 1960s, across Eugene and Beaverton, both Oregon towns, and Portland, Phil Knight and coach Bill Bowerman began working on shoes for runners. That small enterprise, with some soles made on the waffle iron in the Bowerman kitchen, then became Nike, a sports apparel and footwear giant worth billions of dollars.
Nike’s world headquarters near Beaverton are just over a 100 miles away from Eugene.
However, there was no acrimony or drama when Nike and Neeraj parted ways, emphasizes Mustafa Ghouse, CEO, JSW Sports, which has managed Neeraj’s career for several years.
“The Nike deal was over prior to Tokyo (the Olympics last year). The Under Armour deal had been a work in progress for a while, but there was no conflict,” Ghouse told Outlook India on Sunday.
Asked if Nike were open to renewing the contract last year, Ghouse said, “There were some conversations with Nike, but we felt this (Under Armour) was a better opportunity for us.”
In the final, at the eye-catching Hayward Field Stadium, surrounded by the region’s trademark conifers, Neeraj took a while to get into medal reckoning. On the other hand, Peters, the eventual champion, was crushing it. His first two hurls crossed 90m and put pressure on his rivals.
For a moment Neeraj appeared out of medal contention, but was strong enough to raise his level when it mattered.
As India’s greatest ever track athlete, Neeraj commands fees of up to Rs 4 crore per endorsement. After his performance at the Worlds, that amount might just go up.
