India's 'Golden Boy' Neeraj Chopra bags silver at Paris Olympics; Pak's Nadeem smashes record for gold (WATCH)

Defending champion Neeraj Chopra made history by becoming the first Indian track-and-field athlete to win back-to-back Olympic medals, securing a silver in the men’s javelin throw at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Thursday. However, the night was dominated by Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, who clinched his country's first individual gold by setting a new Olympic record.

Nadeem’s impressive 92.97m throw in his second attempt set an insurmountable standard for the competition. Chopra, who was under significant pressure, could only manage one valid throw — an 89.45m effort in the second round that earned him silver. Although it was his season’s best performance, surpassing his qualification throw of 89.34m, it fell short of Nadeem’s gold-winning mark. The Pakistani capped off his performance with a final throw of 91.79 meters, sealing his victory in style.

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Chopra’s achievement also makes him only the third Indian athlete, and the first in track and field, to secure back-to-back individual Olympic medals. Wrestler Sushil Kumar (2008 and 2012) and shuttler PV Sindhu (2016 and 2021) are the other Indians who have achieved this feat.

The result was a bittersweet for the billion-strong Indian audience, who had pinned their hopes on Chopra to repeat his historic gold medal performance. With Chopra's silver, India's tally at the Paris Olympics 2024 now stands at five, following the Indian men's hockey team's historic bronze medal earlier in the day. Earlier in the competition, Shooter Manu Bhaker bagged two bronze medals - one in women's 10m air pistol and the other in 10m air pistol mixed team event along with Sarabjot Singh.

The previous Olympic record for javelin throw was 90.57m, set by Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen at the 2008 Beijing Games. Thorkildsen, along with Czech Republic's Jan Zelezny, a three-time Olympic champion and world record holder (98.48m), was present in the stands to witness the event.

Grenada's Anderson Peters secured the bronze with an impressive throw of 88.54m, while the Czech Republic’s Yakub Vadlejch narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth with a throw of 88.50m. Kenya’s Julius Yego followed in fifth place, recording a season’s best of 87.72m.

The competition was intense, with seven athletes surpassing the 86m mark, resulting in three season's best performances and a new Olympic record. Trinidad and Tobago's Keshorn Walcott also celebrated his season's best with a throw of 86.16m, placing him seventh in the 12-man field.

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Notably, before this event, Chopra had never been defeated by Nadeem in their previous 10 encounters.

Nadeem's monumental throw, the sixth longest in history, came in his second attempt and sent shockwaves through the Stade de France. The 27-year-old's performance not only secured his victory but also served as sweet revenge for his loss to Chopra at the 2023 Budapest World Championships.

This wasn’t Nadeem’s first time surpassing the 90m mark; he had previously thrown 90.18m to claim gold at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

Nadeem is only the second Asian to surpass the 90m mark, following Chao-Tsun Cheng of Chinese Taipei, who threw 91.36m in 2017.

Chopra, sidelined by injury, did not participate in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, where Nadeem claimed gold. The two were set to face off again at the Hangzhou Asian Games in October last year, but Nadeem withdrew at the last minute due to injury.

Previously, Nadeem had been bested by Chopra at both the 2018 Asian Games and the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Coming into the Olympics, Nadeem had only one competition under his belt—a throw of 84.21m at the Paris Diamond League last month.