Neeraj Chopra’s men’s javelin silver was India’s first second-place finish at the Paris Olympics 2024.
Paris: Neeraj Chopra produced his season’s best of 89.45m to grab the men’s javelin silver while Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem became the new Olympic champion with a record throw of 92.97m on Friday at the Stade de France. A winner of Tokyo Olympics gold, Neeraj registered his only legitimate throw in his second attempt. His other five throws were fouls. In fact, Nadeem’s gold medal-winning throw came in his second attempt before registering another 90m breach in his final attempt.
Nadeem also became the first Pakistani track and field athlete to win an Olympic gold and the first athlete to register two 90m-plus throws at the Olympics. Neeraj’s silver is also India’s first second-place finish in the ongoing Paris Olympics 2024. With his silver, Chopra becomes first Indian track-and-field athlete to win two Olympic medals.
Neeraj also became the third Indian athlete after Sushil Kumar (2008, 2012) and PV Sindhu (2016, 2020) to win back-to-back individual medals at the Olympics.
SILVER MEDAL 🥈
A seasons best, and a second Olympic Medal for @Neeraj_chopra1 . What an athlete 👏🏽👏🏽#JeetKiAur | #Cheer4Bharat pic.twitter.com/lUHMFaPfUK— Team India (@WeAreTeamIndia) August 8, 2024
The earlier Olympic record stood at 90.57m in the name of Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway, set during the 2008 Beijing Games. Thorkildsen was watching the proceedings from the stands, along with three-time Olympic champion and world record (98.48m) holder Jan Zelezny of Czech Republic. Grenada’s Anderson Peters grabbed the last podium place with an effort of 88.54m while Czech Republic’s Yakub Vadlejch finished fourth (88.50m).
As many as seven athletes went beyond the 86m mark as the competitive field saw three season’s best and an Olympic record. Keshorn Walcot (86.16) from Trinidad and Tobago also celebrated his season’s best show to finish seventh in the 12-man field. Before tonight, Chopra had never lost to Nadeem in their 10 earlier meetings.
Nadeem’s monster throw — sixth longest in history — also came in his second attempt which was like a bolt from the blue that stunned the Stade de France. With this performance, the 27-year-old also extracted revenge of his loss to Chopra in the 2023 Budapest World Championships.
It was not the first 90m effort from Nadeem, having thrown 90.18m to win gold in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. He is the second Asian to have thrown beyond 90m, the other being Chao-Tsun Cheng (91.36m in 2017) of Chinese Taipei. Chopra did not take part in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games due to an injury.
Nadeem was to compete with Chopra in the Hangzhou Asian Games in October last year but pulled out at the last minute due to an injury. He was beaten by Chopra in the 2018 Asian Games and 2018 Commonwealth Games. Nadeem had come into the Olympics with just one competition under his belt — an 84.21m throw at the Paris Diamond League last month.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Neeraj for his feat. “Neeraj Chopra is excellence personified! Time and again he’s shown his brilliance. India is elated that he comes back with yet another Olympic success. Congratulations to him on winning the Silver,” Modi posted on X. “He will continue to motivate countless upcoming athletes to pursue their dreams and make our nation proud,” added PM Modi. Meanwhile, Neeraj’s mother revealed that his son was injured. “Neeraj was injured. The silver is like a Gold Medal to us. I’ll cook his favourite meal once he returns,” she said to ANI.