‘Olympics is a platform which is imperfect for performance,’ Abhinav Bindra opens up on Olympic performances and Neeraj-Arshad rivalry

It was in the javelin throw that the rivalry between India's Neeraj Chopra and Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem came out onto the Olympic stage at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. Neeraj won gold and Arshad couldn't medal in Tokyo, but both athletes dominated the field in Paris and the latter shattered the Olympic record to take gold. Neeraj could only get to silver but with his season-best throw. Neeraj would've had to throw more than 90m to win the gold. By winning the gold in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Neeraj had joined shooter Abhinav Bindra as the only two Indians to have won an Olympic gold medal in an individual event. Bindra feels that winning back-to-back medals at the Olympics is an “Incredible feat”.

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“I think we are all very proud of him. The Pakistani (Arshad Nadeem) is a worthy winner on the day, the way he performed. But I think Neeraj should be proud of himself,” Bindra said in an interview with The Indian Express. 

“There will be a level of disappointment, which is fine because that’s how the life of an athlete is. You’re not gonna get everything going your way, but he performed admirably. A lot of expectations were also on him. It’s not easy to be in that spot, but he delivered. Now, he can go back to the drawing board and reassess what needs to be done. Really work on how he can make the big leap,” said Bindra. 

‘Olympics is a platform which is imperfect for performance,’ Abhinav Bindra in an interview

Abhinav Bindra thinks that the Olympics is an imperfect platform for athletes to put in their best performance as there are so many things moving around it. “The Olympics is a very, very hard platform to perform at for a variety of reasons. But the Olympics is also a platform that is imperfect for performance. Because there are external expectations, and you also have internal expectations, that just doesn’t allow you to let go,” said Bindra. 

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Arshad Nadeem threw 92.97m to win the gold while Neeraj could manage to throw 89.45m. He hasn't been able to get past that 90m mark and he will be desperate to do that in the coming years. The 2008 Gold medallist Bindra said that it's not easy for the athletes to put in their best performance over and over again at the Olympics. 

“Performance sometimes is almost artistic. That’s where you almost have to allow it to happen. And the ability to let go is very difficult. So skill is almost thrown into the dustbin. Sometimes for most athletes, there will be a few who are just so great, but for a majority, it’s not just picking up your skill and trying to get things together. You have to almost find perfection on that imperfect day,” he concluded.