Why a German village of 130 celebrated Neeraj Chopra’s Olympic gold

When India’s first monitor and area Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra was getting mobbed on the airport, attending VVIP felicitation features and receiving a billion thank-yous; his two German coaches, in contrasting seclusion, have been following the frenzy on their smartphones and social media.
Landing dwelling after a year-and-a-half, Dr Klaus Bartonietz, Chopra’s 73-year-old biomechanical professional, first took a prepare and later travelled by street to achieve little Oberschlettenbach, a 130-resident distant village in south-west Germany. While fixing a long-pending appointment together with his household physician, Bartonietz was amused to see clips and movies of a safety cordon round his boy who had changed into an in a single day javelin-throwing sensation.
“What is going on in India with Neeraj? It is crazy. I know it is a historic medal for India. I got some pictures and I saw the army (paramilitary) was called to protect him,” Bartonietz advised The Indian Express from Oberschlettenbach.
India’s head coach for javelin, Uwe Hohn, too was settling in Rheinsberg, catching up with family and friends and likewise preserving one eye on India. Hohn is regularly realising what the javelin gold medal meant for a rustic starved of Olympic success. In a city with a inhabitants of lower than 8,000, he has referred to as on his mom and sister to speak about Tokyo, India, and the gold.
Uwe Hohn educated Neeraj Chopra when he gained gold on the 2018 Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games.
Hohn has been on social media to observe India’s emotional reception to its latest Olympic star. “Yes, sure, Facebook is full of it,” Hohn says from Rheinsberg. “At the moment it is a good time to celebrate Neeraj and his success. Neeraj deserves all these honours. I hope it will have an influence on all athletes in India and not just javelin throwers. I came to India knowing that the biggest talent in the world has no coach. I got Klaus to India. Klaus did a good job. In the past few months the technique improved to the level we liked to see,” says the person who hand-held Chopra when he grew to become a high-80 metre javelin thrower and was his coach when he gained the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold medals.
Far away from the din, Bartonietz, a coach for the reason that late Seventies, and Hohn, the one-time East German star and the one one to throw over 100 metres, are having fun with a break after a job effectively performed.
In Oberschlettenbach, well-known for its climbing trails inside a forest which was as soon as a searching floor for royals, Bartonietz has grow to be a minor celeb. He has been receiving congratulatory telephone calls. Neighbours watched the boys’s javelin throw last on the Tokyo Olympics on tv and have been wanting to understand how an Indian with film-star seems stored his cool and stayed focussed on the most important stage. The most well-known throw in Indian monitor and area historical past, 87.58 metres, has grow to be a speaking level in Oberschlettenbach.
Flooded with telephone calls
“Earlier there were no phone calls. Some of my neighbours watched him and they were impressed with how he turned (towards the coaching staff) and raised his hand (after the second throw) and was so confident that the javelin will go long,” Bartonietz says.
In a nation which boasts of the best javelin thrower of their very own on this period in Johannes Vetter, the person who helped fine-tune Chopra’s method is getting recognition. “They are ordinary people and not sports people who are asking about Neeraj. Coaches I know, athletes all called too. They saw us on TV, it is funny how things change.”
Neeraj Chopra with Dr Klaus Bartonietz, the biomechanical professional who helped him win Olympic gold.
Bartonietz has been a part of the German athletics ecosystem for some time. His one-time scholar Boris Obergfoll was Vetter’s coach at Tokyo 2020. “The funny thing is his coach was my former athlete. They did very well all the time (till the Olympics),” he says.
The coach additionally compares the money awards given to the Olympic medalists in India and Germany. “Yesterday a friend told me that in Germany a gold medal winner will get 20,000 euros (about Rs 17 lakhs). The support Neeraj has got from the government and sponsors has been very important. Also it is not only me. When he broke the junior world record there was coach Gary Calvert, and then Uwe (Hohn) coached him when he won the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. Also there are people we don’t know. The first teacher in school or the coach who first asked him to throw. He or she must be feeling very proud now.”
By the top of September, Bartonietz is scheduled to return to India. Hohn too is aware of he wouldn’t get a lot time to be at dwelling. “Soon it will also be time to look forward to an interesting 2022 with World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games,” he says.
But earlier than taking the flight to India, Bartonietz could be hitting the climbing trails across the village. “It is actually the biggest forest area in Germany. There are some villages in between. This area has a very rich history. The climate is very nice so it is good for wine growing too.”
That is after he has visited his physician. “Your body is like your car, you have to check it before you go for a long ride.”
The one that may take Chopra past the Olympic gold.