Neeraj Chopra’s hopes of winning a second successive gold medal to add to his first from Tokyo failed to materialise and the Indian had to be satisfied with a silver medal in the men’s javelin throw final in the Paris Olympics on Thursday night.
Chopra, who came into the final as the favourite with a brilliant effort of 89.34 metres in the qualifying, threw the javelin to 89.45, his second-best ever effort a clear improvement on the 87.58 that bagged him the gold medal in Tokyo. But that did not prove enough for the reigning World Champion and Diamond League final winner as Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, his good friend on the circuit, upstaged him by setting the Olympic Record to win the gold medal.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem broke the Olympic Record in the men’s javelin throw final with a monster heave of 92.97 metres to upstage the Indian Tokyo Olympic Games gold medallist. Nadeem had finished fourth in Tokyo and had struggled with injuries and financial crunch in the interim period,
But on Thursday, Nadeem came up with a sensational effort to win the gold.
Anderson Peters of Granada took the bronze medal with a best throw of 88.54 metres.
Chopra started the final with a foul on his first attempt, Nadeem too fouled his first throw while Trinidad’s Keshorn Walcott took the lead with a throw of 86.16m while Anderson Peter was second at 84.70.
The Indian star did not look convincing in any of his throws except on the second turn, which was his lone legal throw on the night,
Chopra still made history for India, becoming the second male Indian and third overall to win a medal in back-to-back medals in the Olympics after wrestler Sushil Kumar who won a bronze and silver in the 2008 and 2012 Games. PV Sindhu is the other Indian to win back-to-back medals – silver in 2016 and Tokyo,
Neeraj’s silver medal was India’s fifth medal in Paris one silver and four bronze medals. The Indian has been struggling with injuries for the last couple of years and it seems the effects are still there.
The javelin throw event in the Paris Olympics was so tough that Julien Webber of Germany, the silver medallist at Tokyo, had to be satisfied with a sixth place.
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