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NDTV
21-05-2025
- Sport
- NDTV
"Matter Of Time...": Bio-Mechanics Expert Reveals Secret Behind Success Of Neeraj Chopra
It was only a matter of time before Neeraj Chopra broke through the elusive 90m barrier, according to his former coach Klaus Bartonietz, who described the double Olympic medallist as a highly attentive and creative athlete constantly seeking to refine and improve his craft. Chopra opened his season in stunning fashion as he sent his spear to 90.23m in the Diamond League in Doha last week to finally enter the elusive 90m club. "It was just a matter of time (that he would breach the 90m mark)," Bartonietz told PTI when asked about his former ward's latest achievement. Chopra and Bartonietz, a German bio-mechanics expert, shared a highly fruitful five-year partnership during which the Indian javelin star collected a host of accolades, including a historic Olympic gold at Tokyo and a silver at the Paris Games last year. "Neeraj is a very responsive athlete, very attentive, and trustful. That trust places a responsibility on you as a coach to always be at your best," Bartonietz said. "But on the other side, he brings a lot of own mental effort into training. He is very creative towards his training in terms of looking for new exercises, looking for making the exercises more efficient, specifically for the javelin." Rather than functioning mechanically, Chopra approaches training with curiosity and initiative. "He understands very well what the event requires. What we (coaches) want is a creative-thinking athlete, not one that just asks 'coach what we have to do today' and just walk into (training) like it's a factory, just mechanistic working." Apart from the Olympic medals, under Bartonietz, Chopra also became a World and Diamond League champion, besides becoming an Asian Games gold medallist. The two amicably parted ways last year, with the septuagenarian stepping back to spend more time with his family. Bartonietz has since joined the Inspire Institute of Sport as a consultant and is currently conducting a five-day javelin workshop at their Hisar campus, set to conclude on Thursday. At the Diamond League opener, Chopra led the field until Germany's Julian Weber unleashed a 91.06m throw in his final attempt, edging the Indian into second place. And despite breaching 90m, Chopra later described his second-place finish as bittersweet. It was the 27-year-old's fourth runners-up finish in a big-ticket event. "There is no need to motivate Neeraj, he just knows that it is a sport, event. The throw (better than his) can come at any time, you have to be prepared to counter it. "But in Neeraj's case, no. He knows. He doesn't require motivation. He comes in with this mindset," he added.
Indian Express
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Neeraj Chopra's former coach Klaus Bartonietz back in India to guide coaches and mentor budding throwers
The contrast between Hisar in Haryana and Oberschlettenbach, a village in south-west Germany, is stark. The latter is home to just 130 residents, has scenic hiking trails, forested mountains and old castles. The summers are pleasant. Hisar has a population of over three lakh, a bustling city centre with temperatures touching 43 degrees centigrade in May. For biomechanics expert Klaus Bartonietz, better known as Neeraj Chopra's coach before the legendary Jan Zelezny took over earlier this year, Oberschlettenbach is home. He returned to the German village when his successful partnership with Chopra ended last October, after fetching two Olympic and two World Championship medals. Seven months later, the 72-year-old is in India as a coaches' coach at the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) centre in Hisar, formed via an MoU with the Sports Authority of India (SAI). October to mid-April was a welcome break for Bartonietz. 'There's no traffic in Oberschlettenbach. In the middle of the village, water comes out of a fountain, we drink that water. We went to the forest to cut firewood. In March and April, we plant potatoes,' Bartonietz said about his life away from coaching. With wife Luba, he also travelled halfway across the world to meet their daughter and her family in Queensland, Australia. His son works in the IT industry in Hamburg. In the mid- 1970s, as a 25-year-old, Bartonietz met Luba, a 20-year-old Russian gymnast, in Dombai, in the foothills of the Caucasus mountains. They have been married nearly four decades. But after the break at home and the extended holiday Down Under, Bartonietz got the itch to coach again. Luba realised Bartonietz was getting restless. It was around this time that IIS president Manisha Malhotra offered him the role of a consultant in Hisar. 'Manisha had the idea. Don't let him go so easily out of India. Let him come back and help us to work with our younger throwers. So we thought about such a project,' Bartonietz told The Indian Express. Among the javelin throwers in Hisar is Deepika, a silver medallist at the 2022 Asian Under-18 Championship, and Jyoti, a former junior national gold medallist. Himanshu, the current Asian Under-18 javelin champion, is also one of the trainees. Bartonietz guides the coaches who train 21 throw-events athletes. He has been at Hisar for less than a week and returns home on Friday to complete coaching assignments he had signed up for earlier. The short visit to the Haryana town is like a recce, to figure out what he is getting into as a long-term consultant of the throws programme. 'There are five or six athletes who are at a very good level and require very sophisticated coaching so their talent is not wasted. It unfortunately happens too often, everywhere in the world,' Bartonietz said. The veteran coach is particularly impressed by the medal-winning potential and backstory of Jyothi and Deepika from Bangaon, a village nearly 50 kilometres from Hisar, where physical education teacher Hanuman Singh set up a javelin academy. 'They are already the best in India in their age group. There is no synthetic track in their academy, Next to them, buffaloes go swimming. The good thing is these are kids of farmers, so they get a good environment, healthy food and buffalo milk,' Bartonietz said. He is following the East German philosophy, where a coach is responsible for an athlete. Others, like consultants, can advise the coach but not the athlete directly. 'I, as an outsider, cannot interfere with the process. I have to speak to the coach and then the coach says, 'okay, maybe we do it this way'. With the coaches here (in Hisar), we have already become like a team. I discuss my observations with them.' Bartonietz may take up a direct coaching role for athletes who have the potential to excel at a higher level, Manisha said. 'Ideally, we would like Klaus to train the trainers or coaches because they are the ones who will be there on a day-to-day basis. When you work with developmental athletes, they don't need a coach of Klaus's level. Biomechanics comes at an elite stage. If there are athletes who he thinks can reach the Olympic level, then next time he comes, he could have specialised sessions with them,' she told The Indian Express. The aim is to boost the talent pool, so the next potential Chopra does not slip through the net. 'We are going to Bangaon and the surrounding areas, to the clubs, the academies to get them more aligned. You have to reach out to as many people as you can. We have a team in Hisar that goes around talent-scouting,' Manisha added. While he focuses on the next generation, Bartonietz is still in touch with his famous ward. When Chopra was promoted as honorary Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Army, he sent a congratulatory message. He, however, steers clear of talking tactics with Chopra but is glad that he not only broke the 90-metre barrier at the Doha Diamond League but is also free of the groin problem. Behind the scenes, Chopra's long-time physio Ishaan Marwah, has worked wonders, Bartonietz said. 'It has taken a lot of sophisticated work with his physio. Only a healthy athlete can perform well. It's a good beginning (to the season). Now he knows what he can do. We used to jokingly say it is just a number, But still it (90 metres) is in your head. If he's well prepared, he'll be able to throw 90 metres again,' the German said.
NDTV
21-05-2025
- Sport
- NDTV
"So Stupid": On India Star Javelin Thrower Failing Dope Test, Former Coach Says This
He may not have coached him as closely as Neeraj Chopra but Shivpal Singh's second doping offence has infuriated celebrated German bio-mechanics expert Klaus Bartonietz, who cannot make sense of the Olympian's "stupid" conduct while claiming to be a proud representative of India. Bartonietz lambasted Shivpal for "cheating" despite coming from a proud sporting family. The German bio-mechanics expert, who guided Chopra to a historic gold at the Tokyo Olympics and a silver at the Paris Games, didn't hide his anger as he lambasted Shivpal for a second doping offence that could lead to an eight-year ban. "Disappointed? I don't know. But I'm really pissed off. So stupid," Bartonietz told PTI in an interview on Wednesday. "It shows that you don't trust in this process. All those who are doping don't trust that they can reach the top by normal nature of training," he added. The 29-year-old Shivpal, who also competed at the Tokyo Olympics, tested positive for a banned substance in an out-of-competition test earlier this year. "It makes me so angry that they are promoting javelin throw everywhere and coming from a family of javelin throwers and then doing these things," Bartonietz said referring to the Varanasi-based Shivpal's sporting family in which his father, two uncles and younger brother have been javelin throwers. "This is like cheating. And carrying the Indian flag proudly, saying Jai Hind, by cheating. I have no word for this. (But) the good thing about the Shivpal story is that, he got caught. So, the system is working." Currently associated with the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) as a consultant, Bartonietz is conducting throwing sessions at the IIS campus in Hisar in a five-day workshop, which will conclude on Thursday. Bartonietz, who had briefly worked with Shivpal during his early days in India and also before the Tokyo Games, said he was brought in to assist the then head coach Uwe Hohn in handling a large group of 17 athletes. "When I came to India, I was like assistant coach to Uwe Hohn because we had 17 athletes and he could not handle it (so many athletes). "There was Neeraj, Annu (Rani) and Shivpal, they were at the top and he was travelling around them. At the same time, no one was coaching them. It was my job to come and to coach them. So Shivpal was with Uwe, but sometimes we worked together," he recalled. "After Neeraj's surgery, I started to work with Neeraj and coach Uwe was then fully responsible for Shivpal, Annu and the others. Even if you're not a personal coach directly for trusted actually, and you think he trusts you. It means (doping), he didn't trust you anyway." He also cited disciplinary issues during their brief stint together. "So, even when he (Shivpal) did not come for training four times after he had an evening where he was no more able to train the next day." The German expert expressed deep frustration over the mentality driving athletes towards doping. "I had a Kazakh high jumper come to me in Germany and said how can you expect me to be dope free when all the others do it? This is a wrong mindset that these young people have," he said.
India Today
16-05-2025
- Sport
- India Today
Parul Chaudhary betters steeplechase national record, qualifies for World Championship
Parul Chaudhary opened her 2025 athletics season with a landmark performance, breaking the national record in the women's 3000m steeplechase and qualifying for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Competing at the Doha Diamond League on Friday night, the 28-year-old clocked 9:13.39, bettering her own previous mark of 9:15.31 set at the World Championships in Budapest two years effort earned her a sixth-place finish in a high-calibre field at the Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium. Uganda's Peruth Chemutai, the Paris 2024 silver medallist, followed Parul in seventh place, underscoring the quality of the Indian athlete's felt very good in the race," Parul told reporters post-event. "The weather was also nice. Considering the way I trained, the race went well. This is the first time in two years my season-opener has been good." GET IN THERE! Parul Chaudhary scripts another National Record for #TeamIndia at the #DohaDL, with her effort handing her a ticket to the 2025 World Athletics Championships, in Tokyo. #CraftingVictories Inspire Institute of Sport (@IIS_Vijayanagar) May 16, 2025The timing also comfortably cleared the World Championships qualifying standard of 9:18.00, confirming Parul's participation in the Tokyo meet scheduled for race was won by Kenya's Faith Cherotich in a world-leading 9:05.08. Bahrain's Olympic champion Winfred Yavi took second with 9:05.26, while Ethiopian Sembo Almayew finished third in 9: performance comes as a major boost for Indian athletics, particularly in the steeplechase discipline, where global competition has grown increasingly intense. With her run in Doha, she not only reaffirmed her standing as India's premier steeplechaser but also positioned herself among the top contenders heading into a crucial championship FINISHES 9TH IN MEN'S 5000MadvertisementElsewhere in Doha, India's Gulveer Singh made his Diamond League debut in the men's 5000m, finishing ninth with a time of 13:24.32. The 25-year-old, who won bronze in the 10,000m at the Asian Games and set the Indian 5000m record earlier this year with a 12:59.77 effort in Boston, was competing against a packed field led by Kenya's Reynold won the men's 5000m in Doha, setting a new personal best of 13: Watch
