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Neeraj Chopra’s hopes of winning a second consecutive gold medal, his first at the Tokyo Olympics, were not fulfilled as the Indian athlete settled for a silver in the men’s javelin final at the Paris Olympics on Thursday night. Chopra went into the final as a favourite with a stellar 89.34m in the qualifying rounds but ultimately threw the javelin for the second-best time ever at 89.45m, a marked improvement on his gold-medal-winning 87.58m at the Tokyo Olympics. But it wasn’t enough for the reigning world champion and Diamond League final winner as his good friend on the field, Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, stole the show by winning the gold with an Olympic record-breaking effort.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem broke the Olympic record in the men’s javelin final with a stunning throw of 92.97 meters, defeating India’s Tokyo Olympic gold medalist. Nadeem finished fourth in the Tokyo Olympics and has been plagued by injuries and financial crisis during this period.
But on Thursday, Nadeem produced an amazing effort to win the gold medal.
A huge leap of 92.97 meters put Nadeem at the top of the standings, a position he continued to maintain with throws of 88.72 meters, 79.40 meters and 84.87 meters, finishing with 91.79 meters, the second time in an Olympic Games that someone broke the 90-meter mark twice, and he became Pakistan’s first Olympic gold medalist in an individual event.
Arshad Nadeem makes Olympic history
Watch him in the javelin final live now #Sports18 and watch for free #JioCinema https://t.co/4IZVAsktjp#OlympicsOnJioCinema #18 Olympic Games Sports Event #Olympic Games #javelinthrowing #sports pic.twitter.com/5gP5iRHgph
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) August 8, 2024
Granada’s Anderson Peters won bronze with a best of 88.54 meters.
At the start of the final, Chopra fouled in her first throw and Nadeem also fouled in his first throw, with Trinidadian Keshorn Walcott leading with 86.16m and Anderson Peter second with 84.70m.
The Indian star looked unconvincing with all his throws except the second, which was his only legitimate throw of the night.
Chopra still made history for India, becoming the second Indian male to win consecutive medals at the Olympics, and the third Indian male to win consecutive medals, after wrestler Sushil Kumar, who won bronze and silver at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, respectively. PV Sindhu is another Indian to win consecutive medals – silver at the 2016 and Tokyo Olympics,
Neeraj’s silver was India’s fifth medal in Paris (one silver and four bronzes). The Indian has been battling injuries over the past few years and it seems the effects are still there. The javelin event in Paris was so difficult that Tokyo silver medalist Julian Weber of Germany had to be content with sixth place.
But expectations were so high that settling for the silver medal was disappointing, but there was nothing Neeraj could do as Nadeem was so good on Thursday that everyone was disappointed.
But Nadim nearly beat his opponent in the second round, throwing a stunning 92.97, shocking everyone in the stadium. With this throw, Nadim broke the existing Olympic record of 90.57 set by Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway in Beijing in 2008. It was also the sixth-best throw of all time.
Chopra continued to put pressure on his friend and rival by scoring 89.45 in the second round of throws and moved up to second position. The 26-year-old from Haryana fouled three times in the next four rounds of throws and ended the Paris Olympics with a silver medal.
At the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Nadeem became the first Asian to break the 90-meter barrier in the javelin. Chopra had never broken the 90-meter mark. Nadeem won the first individual gold medal for Pakistan, which had won only three gold medals at the Olympics to date – all in hockey.
Only two Pakistanis have won individual medals – a bronze in the men’s freestyle welterweight wrestling in 1960 and a bronze in the men’s middleweight event in Seoul in 1988.
The men’s hockey team won Pakistan’s last medal at the Olympics, a bronze in Barcelona in 1992. Nadeem will break Pakistan’s 32-year drought. Pakistan’s last gold medal in hockey came in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
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