Paris Olympics: Neeraj Chopra Brings Home Silver Medal while Nadeem from Pakistan Takes the Gold

In the men's javelin throw at the Paris Olympics on Thursday, Neeraj Chopra came extremely close to keeping his gold medal. With a best throw of 89.45 meters, he managed to secure silver. With a throw of 92.97 meters, Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan won the gold, smashing the previous Olympic record established in Beijing in 2008 by Andreas Thorkildsen of Denmark. With a final throw of 91.79 meters, Nadeem's performance was outstanding and proved his domination in the competition. In the men's javelin throw final, he won with a throw of 92.97 meters on his second try.

Although Chopra's second effort was his strongest throw, he was unable to win the gold because of four straight foul attempts. In the final, Chopra fell short of his season's best throw of 89.34 meters, despite a solid effort in the qualification round. As the second male Indian athlete to win two Olympic medals in a single event since independence, Chopra created history. The other two athletes with consecutive Olympic medals were shuttler PV Sindhu (2016 and 2021) and wrestler Sushil Kumar (2008 and 2012).

How did the competition pan out?

Anderson Peters of Grenada won the bronze medal with a throw of 88.54 meters, narrowly beating Czech Republic's Yakub Vadlejch, who finished fourth with a throw of 88.50 meters. Kenya's Julius Yego finished fifth, with a season-best throw of 87.72 meters. Seven athletes broke the 86-meter barrier in the competitive field, with three achieving season-best performances and one setting a new Olympic record. Trinidad and Tobago's Keshorn Walcott also set a season-high with an 86.16-meter throw, finishing seventh in the 12-man final.

Prior to this tournament, Neeraj Chopra had never lost to Arshad Nadeem in their ten previous meetings. However, Nadeem's amazing performance, which included a monster throw of 92.97 meters—the sixth-longest in history—surprised the crowd at the Stade de France. This throw, made on his second attempt, was like a bolt from the blue, leaving the competition stunned. This victory was especially noteworthy for Nadeem, 27, since it led him to avenge his loss against Chopra at the 2023 Budapest World Championships. Nadeem had previously won gold at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games with a throw of 90.18 meters, therefore this was not his first time crossing the 90-meter threshold.

Nadeem is only the second Asian athlete to throw beyond 90 meters, following Chao-Tsun Cheng of Chinese Taipei, who threw 91.36 meters in 2017.