Pakistan's star athlete Arshad Nadeem created history on Thursday night as he clinched the gold medal to stun the world at the Paris Olympics 2024.
Nadeem defeated his biggest rival and defending champion Neeraj Chopra from India by shattering the Olympic record with a monstrous throw of 92.97 meters with his second attempt in the men's javelin final at the Stade de France.
Nadeem has now become the first ever Pakistani gold winner at the Games and the first medal winner after 40 years.
Neeraj gave him a tough fight but could only manage to finish second with a best throw of 89.45 meters, which is his season-best this year. But he was far from his best in the final, committing 4 foul throws out of 6 attempts.
Anderson Peters from Grenada grabbed the bronze medal with a best throw of 88.54m.
Neeraj joins elite list
Chopra became the first-ever Indian athlete to clinch two Olympic medals in track & field after his Tokyo 2020 gold and this silver. Overall, he is the second male Indian to win consecutive Olympic medals after wrestler Sushil Kumar (bronze & silver in 2008 & 2012 Games).
PV Sindhu is the only Indian female to achieve the feat with her successive silver medals in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
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Men's javelin has a new star
Nadeem's monster effort was the sixth longest throw in men's javelin history at the Games. The earlier Olympic record stood at 90.57m from Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway, set during the 2008 Beijing Games.
Nadeem also signed off in style with his last throw of 91.79m when no other thrower could touch the 90m-mark.
Why Pakistan Are Above India In Medal Tally
Pakistan also overtook India on the medals tally thanks to Arshad. They are now placed 53rd with their only medal, 10 spots ahead of India which is at 63rd. That's because of the ranking system set by the International Olympic Committee. The ranking order of each country in the medal tally is determined by the number of gold medals its won. For example, even if a nation has achieved to bag say 10 silver or bronze medals, it would be placed or ranked lower than a solitary gold medal.
India added 2 medals to their tally on Day 13 - a bronze and silver - thanks to the men's hockey team and Neeraj Chopra, respectively. Team India now has 5 medals in total - 3 from shooting and one each from hockey and track & field.
