Neeraj Chopra won a historic, hard-fought silver medal in the Men’s Javelin Throw event at the Paris Olympics on Thursday. The dynamite defending champion faced off against Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who ultimately defeated Neeraj with an Olympic Record throw of 92.97m, while the Indian recorded a season-best 89.45m for silver. With his silver, Neeraj joins an elite list of Indian athletes who have won multiple Olympic medals in an individual event.
Chopra was the center of attention when he took the field. His astonishing monster throw of 89.34m in the qualification round was impressive, but the defending champion faced a difficult battle. Unlike Tokyo, the competition was expected to be harder, with nine throwers passing the automatic final round qualification standard of 84m compared to six in Tokyo. Five of the nine made it to the final round with their initial throws, promising a thrilling final.
The final bout in Paris began quite interestingly, with Keshorn Walcott setting the early bar with an 86.16m throw, while Nadeem and Germany’s Julian Weber both registered foul throws. Chopra made the eighth throw of the round, releasing a cannon of an attempt. But he eventually lost his equilibrium and stumbled over from the force, nearly tipping over the foul line and fouling out on his first attempt.
The rivalry heated up as the rounds went, with Grenadian Anderson Peters delivering a punch with his second effort, hitting 87.87m to seize the lead. But the actual highlight would be Nadeem, who cleared 92.97m on his second attempt to create a new Olympic record and decisively grab the lead. With the gauntlet laid down for anyone to overtake the Pakistan national, it would take a season-best and a record-breaking performance from Neeraj to earn the top place.
Chopra would not immediately take over the top spot, preferring to build on his own pace to register a solid 89.45m attempt, a new season-best for him, and take over second place, as he quietly pointed to the fans, indicating that he was only getting started. Chopra’s fortunes, however, would not improve anytime soon, as the Indian would make yet another lackluster try, fouling himself out on purpose as frustration grew in him.
With one last chance to shoot for gold, Chopra took his best shot but could only register a meager throw of less than 80m and fouled himself out to accept defeat and the Silver.
