PARIS: Consistency is Neeraj Chopra’s thing. And he has used that plank to dominate javelin events at the highest levels for a few years. It’s why a silver, at least right now, felt like a disappointment. One legal throw out of six seemed a little wayward by his standard. Yet, the 2021 Olympic and the reigning world champion is capable of astounding feats on the field.
Neeraj won India’s fifth medal–silver here at the Olympics.
After fouling his first attempt, he needed courage to hurl the spear to a distance of 89.45m. He had already seen Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, World silver-medallist in 2023 behind Neeraj’s gold, set a new Olympic record with a monstrous world lead of 92.97m.
After Neeraj fell just short of the 90m mark, he turned around to his coach with a gesture with suggested ‘cool down, cool down’. It is not easy with so much pressure. Not just defending his gold but chasing more history — no individual Indian had ever won two Olympic gold.
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