Neeraj Chopra
In the final of javelin throw, India’s star athlete Neeraj Chopra missed out on winning his second consecutive Olympic gold medal. Neeraj Chopra got the silver medal. He threw his best throw of 89.45 in his second attempt and thus he finished second. With this silver medal, Neeraj Chopra has become the first Indian athlete to have won two Olympic medals in track and field. At the same time, Pakistan’s javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem broke the Olympic record and won the gold medal. Nadeem threw 92.97 meters to give Pakistan the gold medal. Nadeem crossed the distance of 90 meters twice. Arshad Nadeem has become the first track and field athlete from Pakistan to achieve the great feat of winning a medal in the Olympics. Earlier, Pakistan had got only one individual medal in boxing in the form of bronze.
India got its first silver
In Paris Olympics, 140 crore Indians were expecting Neeraj to win his second consecutive gold but this time he had to settle for silver. Neeraj’s streak of not being able to cross the 90 meter distance continued for the second consecutive Olympics. Anderson Peters of Grenada was on the third position and won the bronze medal. Peters threw a throw of 88.54 meters in his fourth attempt.
Neeraj’s throw of 89.45 meters was the best throw of the season. Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Neeraj’s second throw was his only valid throw in which he threw the javelin 89.45 meters away. His remaining five attempts proved to be fouls. Meanwhile, Nadeem created a new Olympic record by throwing his second throw 92.97 meters away. He threw his sixth and last throw 91.79 meters.
On Neeraj Chopra’s silver medal win, his mother Saroj Devi told ANI, “We are very happy, for us the silver medal is also like a gold medal. We are very happy.” With Neeraj Chopra’s silver medal, India has now won a total of 5 medals in the Paris Olympics. Earlier, India had won 3 bronze medals in shooting and one bronze in men’s hockey. India is currently at 63rd position in the medal tally with 5 medals.