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'Neeraj signifies the emergence of a powerful nation in sport': Sebastian Coe
Currently in his third term as the head of track and field's governing body, Coe feels every athlete around the world "loves" Chopra.
Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics and a four-time Olympic middle-distance medallist from the UK, throws in an Italian term to describe Neeraj Chopra, the reigning Olympic javelin throw champion of India.
"Simpatico".
It means a likeable personality, a "very sympathetic, very empathetic character", said Coe. Currently in his third term as the head of track and field's governing body, Coe felt every athlete around the world "loves" Chopra. "He is a very, very popular figure," he said.
And a very, very successful athlete to go with it. From the junior world champion of 2016, Chopra is now the world champion of 2023, collecting the Olympic, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games titles (which he defended this month in Hangzhou) in the process.
Coe has closely followed the evolution of Chopra and the making of a champion in him. Not just in global competitive meets but also at the Loughborough University, from where Coe graduated and is presently serving as chancellor. Chopra trained there ahead of the start of his 2023 season.
"I see Neeraj probably more often there than in competitions. I've watched him closely. I've watched him develop through the junior ranks," Coe said in a chat with this paper on Saturday in Mumbai, where he will attend the IOC Session.
"And it's a really good story. It's a story about Indian athletics. It's a story about Indian achievement and it's a story about Indian coaching as well."
And a story that excites world athletics too.
"He (Chopra) is a huge figure. He is very important to us. Not just because he is a great athlete and genuinely one of the nicest people in our sport. But also, he signifies the advent, the emergence of a powerful nation in sport that is really beginning to punch its weight in athletics. This will get stronger, and he has been a very big driving force in that," Coe said.
The 1,500m Olympic champion of 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles — he also won the 800m silver in both — Coe labelled India as among the most improved nations in athletics. And Chopra's rise embodies that for him.
The Indian javelin star was nominated for the 2023 men's World Athlete of the Year award, featuring alongside the likes of Mondo Duplantis, Noah Lyles, Karsten Warholm and Jakob Ingebrigtsen, among others, as track and field's standout performers of the season. Chopra's presence in it flooded World Athletics' social media and for Coe, Chopra's surge isn't just a question of his world-class consistency and global appeal but also an answer to athletics' post-Usain Bolt narrative.
"I've never been more optimistic about the future of our sport, based on the talents we have across so many different disciplines and across a range of countries. There's not a continent where we don't have world-class athletes. A few years ago, we were really only talking about Usain Bolt. And everyone said to me at that time, 'Yeah, but what happens when Bolt leaves the sport?' And I said, 'We will survive. We will grow. We will prosper'. And now people are talking about Chopra. They're talking about Mondo, talking about Sydney (McLaughlin-Levrone), talking about Faith (Kipyegon), talking about Jakob. It's great, it's fantastic," Coe said.
They are all distinct personalities. Some, like Lyles and Bolt, are showmen in every sense of the word. Some, like Chopra, are, well, "simpatico", as Coe put it.
"It's important. It is, quintessentially, the world — different characters, different mentalities. That's what athletics is about. That's the strength of our sport," Coe said.
Coe also believes Chopra's sustained success over the last few years will have a ripple effect on javelin's growth in the subcontinental region.
"The development of javelin has been fantastic. And what is interesting is the strength of technical events, which has always been strong in Europe, is beginning to expand now," Coe said. "Look at the impact that he (Chopra) has had on the javelin thrower from Pakistan."
Hoping to catch some action from the India-Pakistan cricket encounter later in the day, the India-Pakistan contest in javelin between Chopra and Arshad Nadeem has got the British equally enthused.
"It's very good for the sport. Rivalries are important. Head-to-heads are important. National excitement is important," Coe said.
'Want to see India stage events'
Taking the current national excitement around athletics in the country to the next level will be key. And India hosting World Athletics events could help play a role. Even as Athletics Federation of India (AFI) president Adille Sumariwalla said India is yet to make a formal bid for the 2027 World Athletics Championships — we will finalise in the next couple of days, he said — Coe said India is a "very important market for us".
"You would be surprised if, as president of World Athletics, I didn't want to stage my events in India," Coe said earlier in a press conference by AFI to acknowledge India's rich medal haul from athletics at the Asian Games. "I want to see India stage as many of our events as possible. This is a very important market for us. You have one of the largest populations in the world, a strong economy, and a population whose median age is 28. So yes, this is a place that's very important not just personally but also for the development of athletics," he said.
