Paris, France, August 8, 2024: Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem upstaged the defending Olympic champion Neera Chopra of India to win the men’s javelin gold medal at the Stade de France on Thursday, August 8.
Nadeem threw a mighty 92.97 metres on his second attempt to break the Olympic record of 90.57 set by Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen on August 23, 2008 at Beijing.
The Pakistani could not improve on this mark in his next four throws but, critically, neither could any of his rivals.
Chopra, who won gold at Tokyo three years ago when Nadeem was fifth, registered only one score in his six throws – a season’s best 89.45 on his second attempt. Still, it earned him the silver medal for his second Olympic podium in consecutive Games.
Anderson Peters of Grenada won the bronze with his best throw of 88.54.
The night belonged to Nadeem, though. Aged 27 and a burly 1.90 metres, the Khanewal-born javelin giant experienced a life-changing moment on the grandest stage of all.
After his gold medal was confirmed, he sank to the track on his knees and leaned forward in prayer.
When asked about his winning throw of 92.97m, Nadeem replied: “When I threw the javelin, I got the feel of it leaving my hand, and sensed it could be an Olympic record, inshallah (God willing). God indeed made it an Olympic record."
Chopra congratulated Nadeem and his country Pakistan.
Referring to his silver medal-winning effort, Chopra said: “It was a good throw. I’m not that happy with my performance today and also my technique and runway was not that good.
“Only one throw, the rest I fouled. But the last two, three years was not so good. I’m always injured. I really tried hard, but I have to do some more work on my injury and technique.
“In training, I’m not doing a lot of throws because of my groin. But I will work hard in future. Today’s competition was really great. Arshad Nadeem threw really well. Congratulations to him and his country.”
Chopra said that he started to believe in himself after his second throw. “But in javelin, if your run is not so good, you can’t go very far.”
