Prachi Mishra, Pune
India’s Neeraj Chopra made the entire country proud on 9th July, around 1 AM. He clinched the silver medal in the Men’s Javelin throw with a throw of 89.45 meters. Neeraj made this throw in his second attempt, and it was enough to bring him to the podium finish. Arshad Nadeem, a Pakistani player won the gold medal with a brilliant throw of 92.97 meters. Nadeem, the man of the day, surpassed the 90 meters mark twice and in the process surpassed the previous Olympic Javelin throw world record which was in the name of Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen.
The intensity of the competition is increasing with every passing year which is evident from the fact that all the top five throws made this year were farther than the one which Neeraj made at the Tokyo Olympics bagging first position in the Javelin throw.
Neeraj congratulated Nadeem at the post-match conference and was reported saying that even after Nadeem’s gigantic throw he still believed in himself and was sure that he would surpass the target. It is for the first time since 2016, that Nadeem was able to defeat Neeraj in any Javelin throw competition, with Neeraj outperforming the other every time.
Neeraj also hinted at his injury, which he didn’t get treated due to lack of time. He first sustained the groin injury in the year 2017 and since then has not been able to get the surgery done because of the big events coming one after the other. But, he said that it was time to make a big decision at this moment as more than 70% of my focus while attempting the throw remains on not aggravating the injury further which kind of slows down my sprint. He further stated that he could have easily managed to throw his javelin 4 meters more had he not suffered the injury.
Neeraj Chopra has carved such an image for himself that India, a country primarily known for its admiration for cricket, was up and praying for this man’s win at 1 AM. With his win at the Paris Olympics, Neeraj became only the third Indian to win two Olympic individual medals after Sushil Sharma and P.V. Sindhu.