Man who made silver look small: Neeraj Chopra's Olympic medal in javelin makes India dream for more

Last night, entire India was awake, watching a game not of cricket but of athletics - a javelin throw event at the Paris Olympics 2024. Every Indian was eyeing gold in a sport that nobody knew a few years back. This confidence in clinching gold at one of the sports’ biggest events comes from our ‘Golden Boy’ Neeraj Chopra, who has earlier won gold at the Commonwealth Games (2018), Tokyo Olympics (2020) and World Athletics Championship (2023). 

At around 12:00 am IST, Neeraj Chopra’s endeavour for another gold started with a foul in his first throw. Chopra then made a solid comeback in his second attempt with his season-best of 89.45m. Indians and Chopra himself were happy but also knew they might lose gold this season because on the other side was Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem. 

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Nadeem also made a foul in his first throw, but in the second one, he broke the Olympic record mark of 92.96m, leaving everyone and himself stunned. He soon became one of the favourites to win the gold at the Paris Olympics 2024, but India were still hoping that Chopra would return and break Arshad’s record. 

However, Neeraj couldn’t do that as Arshad was in his best form, it was his day after all. Arshad won the gold, while Neeraj bagged silver and Grenada’s Anderson Peters took home bronze. 

India’s modest celebrations after the javelin throw final made it clear that Neeraj Chopra’s excellence had made silver look small. People were expecting gold, nothing less, all because of Chopra’s previous performances. He himself didn’t look content with silver, which tells you a lot about his calibre and attitude towards the sport. 

Also Read | Paris Olympics: Fitting Indo-Pak rivalry! Neeraj helped Arshad in acquiring new javelin before mega event

"I am pushing myself despite the current situation of my body. The throw is good. But there’s still a lot inside me and I have to keep myself fit for it. I have never felt, sach mein, even though I have not crossed 90m... I thought I’ll do it. I had the belief,” Chopra said in one of the interviews after the match.

Chopra with his earlier performances made India pin their hopes on gold which was clear from social media reactions. 

Take a look at social media reactions.

Chopra is also one of the only two Indians to have won an individual gold medal after Abhinav Bindra. He is also the youngest-ever Indian Olympic gold medallist. Chopra is 26 years old. As he said in one of the interviews after the Paris Olympics final he still has a lot of game left inside him, which means we are in for more and might soon witness Chopra clinch that gold again! 

Neeraj Chopra is the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in javelin and the first Asian to win gold in his event at the World Championship. He is currently the reigning World champion from 2023.