For a man who sends the javelin soaring high into the sky, it's amazing how down to earth and grounded Neeraj Chopra is. It's a beautiful contrast. Perhaps the only time he allows himself to get ahead of the moment, is the few seconds after he releases the javelin and knows in his heart it's a good throw. Even then, it's not arrogance. It's the confidence that comes with all the hours and days and months of training, away from home and away from the spotlight. It's the two-way relationship he shares with the javelin.

And so he knew, again, on Sunday night. When the javelin left his hand, he turned back and lifted his arms up. When the javelin landed, he let out a big roar and celebrated. There was quite a lot of action to come in the night, but right then and there, he went where no Indian had gone before. Again.

After a first throw that wasn't to his liking, Neeraj stepped beyond the foul line to make it an X. He would be the only athlete among the 12 competing in the final to not have a mark next to his name after the first throw. For an ordinary athlete, that might be daunting.

Neeraj is no ordinary athlete. He stepped up to the runway again, asked the fans behind him to cheer him up, did his stretching... and off he went. Yet another 88m+ mark. Arshad Nadeem, the Pakistan athlete who makes you wonder how he gets the distances he gets with such nonchalance, kept Neeraj honest for the rest of the night. Jakub Vadlejch and Julian Weber tried their damndest. But there would be no budging the Indian from the top spot.

Now, the golden set is complete. From his U20 World Championships gold medal with a youth world record, to the senior World Championships gold medal via the Olympic gold medal and Diamond League trophy... Neeraj Chopra has won everything there is to be won in his sport. He is 25 for four more months.

And yet, speaking late at night to journalists in India through a virtual press conference, Neeraj was in no doubt that there is more than enough reason to keep going. With a beautiful one-liner, no less.

"The important thing is, we have the throw. As they say, throwers don't have a finishing line. No matter how many medals you win, there will always be the motivation that you can throw further. I think to win a medal at every event does not mean we have won everything. Many athletes have won the same medal multiple times, there are examples. I will push myself to win these medals again, to make the name for our country at the global level. And it will be even more amazing if more Indian athletes join me on the podium."

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While Neeraj didn't hide the fact that this was a medal that was special for him because he has been after it for a while, he took the time to applaud Manu DP and Kishore Jena for their efforts too. The smile was as wide when he spoke about them finishing 5th and 6th, as he did when speaking about his own elite achievement.

It is easy to see why Neeraj is so successful as an athlete, and why so many find him endearing. And what made Budapest extra special was that he could get his big moment in front of thousands of fans at the venue, many of them Indians. As extraordinary as that day in Tokyo was, it was in front of mostly empty stands. The medal ceremony happened with masks. AFI chief Adille Sumariwalla was there then, as he was on Sunday night too in Hungary. And in an intimate setting with fans, he jumped onto the podium with a big smile, sang along as the national anthem played and the flag went up. Before and after, he was greeted by some of the loudest cheers on the night. He said:

"Yeh kami thi, Tokyo Olympics ke samai. People weren't there. Adille sir was there then and now. Today, there were a lot of Indian fans, locals too. It was a great crowd. Bahut mazaa aaya, that these many people came to see athletics. Those things, that were special here compared to Tokyo."

One of those fans that Neeraj was referring to was Vaibhav Manocha, an ardent sports fan who loves his track and field. He told this writer:

“There couldn’t have been a better finale to what I was able to witness over last nine days. The grandest of the stages with the stadium at near full capacity, India’s presence could be easily felt with so many fans with tricolour in hands. It was all in the hope of watching one man deliver, and he just did that. Everything about Neeraj felt like an aura of a champion.

"After he won the Gold, he couldn’t do the victory lap as relay was about to start, but he saw the Indian flag in our hands and came to us knowing how much the fans would love to get clicked with him and savour this moment. And that’s what makes him so special.”

These are not one-off stories, mind you. You hear something like this from almost every event that Neeraj takes part in... while he has won everything there is to be won in his men's javelin, evidently enough, he will continue to win hearts. And, of course, throw the javelin as far as he can, because there is no finish line after all. That is what makes him so special.