"There will be a lot of pressure on Neeraj Chopra from all his supporters and media" - Colin Jackson on the Indian winning gold at Paris Olympics

Former Welsh sprinter Colin Jackson believes that ace Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will be under tremendous pressure of expectations to defend his gold medal at the Paris Olympics next year.

Neeraj became the first Indian athlete from Independent India to win an Olympic medal in a track and field discipline at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. He hurled the javelin as far as 87.58m to bag a historic gold medal for India. It happens to be the second individual gold after Abhinav Bindra in the men’s 10m air rifle at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Since then, Neeraj Chopra has earned massive popularity in the country and also inspired several youngsters to participate in various track and field events.

Speaking ahead of the upcoming Tata Steel Kolkata 25k race, Jackson, who is the ambassador of the event, explained how Chopra will face pressure from his own supporters and media personnel.

"There will be a lot of media pressure on him, there’s no doubt. There will be a lot of pressure on him from all his supporters for him to come back and win that," he said.

The former Olympic and world medalist added:

"But, nowadays there are so many good examples for him to look at who have defended their titles…the smartest move for him (is) to actually do (his job) and not worry about the pressure or everybody else’s expectations of him. He has got his own expectations. Deliver what he’s capable of delivering and he’ll be fine."

Who is Colin Jackson?

Colin Jackson represented Wales and Great Britain in his glittering two-decade career, participating in events such as 60m hurdles and 110m hurdles. He won a silver medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in 110m hurdles.

Jackson won the World Championships twice in 1993 and 1999. He set a world record of 12.91s for the 110m hurdles on August 20, 1993, when he won his first World Championship title. The record was later broken by China's Liu Xiang in 2006 with a timing of 12.88s.

Jackson was undefeated at the European Championships throughout his career and was one of the only four athletes to win four successful titles at the continental event.