Tokyo Paralympics 2020: Driven by 'junoon', Devendra Jhajharia takes aim at making history again

"Aapko agar apne kaam main mazaa aa raha ho, uss kaam ke liye junoon ho, toh aap usko din-raat karte ho (If you are enjoying something, if you have passion for something, then you can do that day and night). The javelin throw is the same for me."

Devendra Jhajharia is the only Indian athlete ever to win two gold medals at the Olympics or Paralympics but in a conversation, he would never make you feel that you are engaging with such an accomplished athlete. There are no airs about him. He is calm, willing to listen to everything you have to say, and replies with poise. However, something changes when you speak to him about his love for javelin throw. His voice gets deeper, the words heavier as if he is trying to make a bigger point. His love for the sport can be felt in his voice.

After all, it's the sport of javelin throw that helped Jhajharia prove the naysayers wrong who had once termed him good for nothing. At the age of eight, his left hand had to be amputated after he touched a live electric cable while climbing a tree. His life changed drastically after the accident, his friends weren't welcoming, he was subjected to taunts, made fun of. His family though encouraged him to take up sports, and a district-level championship win at the age of 14 with homemade javelin laid the path for the most glittering athletics career in India.

Long before Neeraj Chopra dashed the Games disillusion with the 87.57 meters throw in Tokyo, it was Jhajharia who won India's first track and field gold medal at Olympics or Paralympics events in 2004 at Athens.

He clinched the history-making top prize with a then world record throw of 62.15m. After becoming the first Indian to set a world record at a para Games, Jhajharia went a step further by establishing another world record of 63.97m to win his second gold medal, at the 2016 Rio Games.

"Honestly, I don't know a lot other than my sport; travelling, this or that. My only focus is always on how I can improve. I can't imagine my life without it, it's like intoxication," Jhajharia tells Firstpost. "So when you love a sport so much, you can continue to do good in that over a long time. You don't really think that I have spent 20 years doing this or I am 40. My workout is the same as that of a 20-year-old. Javelin throw is what I do."

Jhajharia is currently in Tokyo preparing for the F46 category javelin throw competition. He qualified for the mega event by hurling the spear 65.71m far, surpassing his own world record, during a national selection trial in New Delhi in July this year.

At the Games, he hopes to breach the 67m mark to win a record third gold, for which he has worked incessantly at the SAI Centre in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. He may be under pressure by fellow Indians Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar for podium finishes, but he is confident he has the fitness and technique to clinch the gold.

"Olympics or Paralympics, it is the biggest stage in the sporting world. There's no doubt I will be challenged to the extreme but I have won two medals at Games overcoming those tough challenges. So I don't see there's anything that can stop me from beating the challenges of the top-level once again. My throw of 65.71m with which I qualified gives me a lot of confidence that I can do well again. My training has been intense and consistent, three hours in the morning, another two-and-half or three in the evening. I have managed to shed seven kgs recently," he says.

"My target is to make a throw between 67 to 69m. My target is that I am capable of making a throw in that range. Will I be able to achieve that? Time will tell, but every athlete has a capability. I feel I have achieved the fitness and technical capability to make a throw between that mark."

Now 40 years old, Jhajharia feels he has got wiser and better as he got older and that should hold him in good stead.

"Since 2016, I have only gained more experience. Have had more time to work on my technique. I didn't allow my fitness to go down, it's the same as before. Have worked on my shoulder strength and hence I can say that my performance will be better than the Rio Games," Jhajharia remarks.

The COVID-19 pandemic that brought life to a screeching halt in 2020 also badly impacted Jhajharia's preparations for the Games which had begun in 2019 after fighting a career-threatening shoulder injury that also forced him to think about retirement in 2018. Jhajharia, with the help of his wife and some ingenious training methods, kept his medal hopes alive at his village in the Churu district of Rajasthan.

ये साथ यूँ ही बना रहे प्रिय #happy_14th_anniversary 🌺💐🌺💐🎂🎂 pic.twitter.com/GXBBR4kd6A

— Devendra Jhajharia (@DevJhajharia) May 2, 2021

"I have been training since 2019 for the Paralympics but the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to the closure of the hostel, at that time I was forced to go to my village and train there. My personal coach Sunil Tanwar had told me that, whatever happens, make sure you don't put on weight, because if that happens you won't be able to throw' javelin. I told him 'I will try my best'," he informs.

"Never in my life, I imagined I will be away from javelin for so long, that I will be confined to the house for long. Javelin is everything for me, but how will you train being cooped up at home. My wife helped me to train, do some core exercises. I had a medicine ball so that helped me, I also did weight training with the gas cylinder or with a car tyre. Whatever it took but I didn't allow my weight to go up. Once I was back at the SAI centre, I was the same as when I left."

Jhajharia now has company in the form of Neeraj as Games track and field gold medallists from India and the veteran feels that the latest gold medal win will only help javelin throw gain popularity. "Giving your best at the Games is one of the most difficult jobs to do. Someone as good as (Johannes) Vetter who has throws of 97m could not get past 82m mark. What Neeraj has done is an incredible achievement. Now after the Paralympics, India has a gold in javelin throw in Olympics also. This will only help to develop a sporting culture around javelin throw," he says.

Another thing that followed Neeraj's gold medal win was the flurry of social media posts asking Indians not to forget Jhajharia as we celebrate the Olympic gold medallist.

As we celebrate Neeraj Chopra's success at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, please take a moment to commemorate Devendra Jhajharia, the athlete who won two gold medals in the same discipline (Javelin) for India at the Paralympic Games.#tokyo2020 #olympics pic.twitter.com/FUdlMMX7uv

— Ganesh Shankar Mishra (@gsmishraCG) August 8, 2021

It's a fact that para-athletes have long been neglected in this country, and there are many to blame for that.  For Jhajharia, however, all that means for nothing. He is a firm believer in the verse that do your work and don't worry about the result. The javelin throw is not merely a sport for him, it's the way of life.

"My duty is to represent India. My job is to win medals for India. I have two Paralympics medals and I'm doing everything I can for the third one, for our country. In 2004, I only had my father to see me off for the Games. He told me that 'if you do well, people will know you, they will want to speak to you.' So throwing the javelin is my only job," Jhajharia tells.

"It doesn't affect me that media didn't give me coverage or they are not talking about me, because my job is to play for the nation. My responsibility is that my work should be of the highest quality. The government will do its job, the media will do its job. My countrymen will do their own job."

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