India’s star javelin thrower, Neeraj Chopra, won the silver medal at the Paris games, praised Arshad Nadeem’s outstanding performance after he won the gold medal. Chopra admitted that this was the first time since 2016 that Arshad had beaten him in competition.
In fact, Neeraj was regarded as the favorite having thrown an impressive 89.34 meters on day one of competition but his best throw of 89.45 meters was not enough to claim a victory this time against his closest rival and neighbour Pakistan.
Arshad delivered an Olympic record-breaking throw of 92.97 meters which gave him gold medal
Arshad put up a remarkable performance to cross the 90-meter line twice, thereby rewriting the previous Olympic record set by Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen (90.57m in Beijing 2008). His final attempt at the contest carried yet another huge hurl measuring 91.79 meters.
Pakistan also claimed its maiden individual Olympic gold in athletics courtesy of Arshad’s triumph; it was their first medal won at an Olympics since Barcelona ’92.
“Arshad did well and I congratulate him on this success. We have been competing together from last five years and this is first time he has beaten me”, said Neeraj after final.
Neeraj’s initial attempt ended with him slipping at release stage making it invalid. However, he began again with a season’s best effort of 89.45m before stepping out for his third throw that could only go beyond the lower eighty meter mark.
“I am getting injured but still pushing myself hard. II threw good but still have lot in me to achieve, to do that I need to be fit.” Tokyo Olympics gold medallist
All top five throws in men’s javelin throw final were above what won Neeraj gold at Tokyo; Underlining how intense Stade de France has been this evening.
“So far I haven’t achieved a 90-meter throw, but I got the feeling that today could be the day as I threw in the second attempt. Faith is one and someday I will get there. It’s an amazing feeling to hold your flag and win a medal for your country,” Neeraj said,
The reigning world as well as Asian Games champion admitted that he had not managed to defend his title properly due to multiple injuries ahead of Paris 2024. “Last two or three years were so bad for me –mostly it was injuries. And during trainings, because of my groin (injury) I’m not throwing much at all In fact, I really tried hard, but you know what? You have to work on your injury and technique,” he concluded.
On the other hand, Neeraj has become only the second male athlete from India and third overall to win back-to-back medals at Olympics since Sushil Kumar (2008 Beijing Olympic bronze; 2012 London Olympic silver). Similarly, shuttler PV Sindhu is the only other Indian who had won consecutive medals at Games –silver in Rio and bronze at Tokyo.”
