Neeraj Chopra wins javelin silver, Pak’s Arshad gold with Olympic record
India’s Neeraj Chopra missed out on becoming the first athlete from the country to win two Olympic gold medals in individual sports.
The Tokyo champion finished with a silver medal in the men’s javelin final at the Paris Olympics. In a result that sent shockwaves in the athletics fraternity, Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem won the gold medal with a new Olympic Record of 92.97m throw.
Neeraj Chopra added an Olympic silver to his decorated trophy cabinet with a best effort of 89.45m, which came in his second attempt. It was his best-ever throw in the Olympic Games as he went past the 89.34m, which helped him seal the top spot in the qualification round on Tuesday.
Neeraj Chopra managed only one legal attempt and it was enough for him to take the silver and achieve another first for India at the Olympics. On the other hand, Arshad threw twice more than 90m in the final in one of the greatest track and field performances in the Olympics. Grenada’s Anderson Peters took home the bronze medal.
Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem ensured India-Pakistan finished 1-2 for the first time on the Olympic podium in men’s javelin, a sport that is traditionally dominated by the Europeans. It was also the reversal of order from the World Championships last year when Neeraj Chopra won gold and Arshad Nadeem won silver.
Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian to win an Olympic gold medal in a track and field event when he won the men’s javelin event in Tokyo with a best effort of 87.58m. He also became the fifth Indian after Norman Pritchard, Sushil Kumar, PV Sindhu and Manu Bhaker to win more than one individual Olympic medals.
A SENSATIONAL FINAL IN PARIS
Neeraj’s Series: X, 89.45, X, X, X, X
Arshad’s Series: X, 92.97m, 88.72m, 79.40m, 84.87m, 91.79m
Arshad Nadeem became only the third man to throw two 90-plus throws in a single day after Johannes Vetter of Germany and Anderson Peters.
Neeraj Chopra managed just one legal attempt as he fouled as many as five times in the final. He was under pressure after Arshad Nadeem threw 92.97m to smash the Olympic Record which was with Andreas Thorkildsen’s record of 90,57m since 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Eventually, Arshad Nadeem finished with two throws in excess of 90m as he finished his series with 91.79m and sealed a historic gold medal for Pakistan.
It was a sensational men’s final, which had a star-studded field of Olympic medalists. As many as five throwers went past Neeraj’s gold-medal mark of 87.58m in Tokyo on an adrenaline-pumping evening at Stade de France.
Arshad Nadeem won Pakistan’s first-ever gold medal in an individual event at the Olympics. Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Jakub Vadlejch finished fourth after a valiant effort.
Two-time world champion Anderson Peters won the bronze medal, his first Olympic medal, with an effort of 88.54m. Rio Olympics silver medalist Yulius Yego finished fifth while Julian Weber, featuring in his third Olympics, finished outside the top 3 again. He finished fourth in Rio and Tokyo.
London Olympics bronze medallist Keshorn Walcott finished 7th with a best effort of 86.16m.