Vishnu Saravanan and Neeraj Chopra are both in the same city – Paris. And, will be participating in the same competition – the Olympics – but in different events. Vishnu, in sailing. Neeraj, in javelin throw.
Eight years ago, however, they competed in the same event, albeit in different age categories. Around the time Neeraj was working his way up the ladder in javelin seniors – then far from the phenomenon he is today – Vishnu was competing in the javelin juniors.
Ahead of his event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Vishnu tells The Quint:
I tried a number of sports, and I was really good at most of those. Maybe because of my long hands and feet (laughs). I made it to the nationals in javelin, where Neeraj Chopra was my senior. I was 16 at that time. I had tried javelin for only a month, but because I was a quick learner, it did not take me long to be good at it. In fact, I was good enough to be at the nationals with just a month’s training, but not good enough to win a medal.”Vishnu Saravanan