After what seemed like an eternity, Neeraj Chopra raised his arms. The Stade de France cheered for the Indian javelin star with continued applause. Chopra’s gesture was to acknowledge the support, but there was no change in the stony expression etched on his face.
Chopra had just won silver in the men’s javelin throw event at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Countless olympians have celebrated wildly for much less – sometimes even to just be at the quadrennial event.
But such is the high standard that the 26-year-old from Khandra, a village near Panipat, Haryana, has set for himself that nothing apart from the top step on the podium is enough.
Under the Parisian twilight on Thursday, Chopra became only the fourth Indian post-independence to become a multiple-Olympic medallist in an individual discipline. Wrestler Sushil Kumar won bronze at Beijing 2008 and silver in London 2012. Badminton star PV Sindhu has a silver (Rio 2016) and bronze (Tokyo 2020) to her name. Pistol shooter Manu Bhaker won two bronze medals in Paris.
Chopra, the defending champion in Paris, is the only one to have a gold and silver.
For much of his career Chopra has led the field from the front. He is generally the one to set the tone for the competition with an early heave of the javelin that soars further than the rest.
The final in Paris however, was different as Chopra never really got on the front foot.
In his second attempt, eventual winner Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan broke the Olympic record with a massive throw of 92.97 metre – a good 2.4 meters better than the 90.57 previous record-holder Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway had managed at Beijing 2008. That was only the second time in his career that Nadeem had crossed 90 meters. The first earned him the gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Chopra came in soon after and made the second biggest throw of his career, sending the javelin 89.45 metres. He tried as much as he could to push beyond his career-best 89.94 meters to come anywhere close to Nadeem. His fifth throw even saw him take a slight step further than his regular launching mark and fall to the surface to stop the momentum from carrying him over the line. But Chopra just slid over and the attempt was ruled as a foul.
In that moment, Chopra let out a roar in anger. He is known to be a stern judge of his own performances, but never before had he betrayed such emotion at a major international event. But then again, he was in unfamiliar territory.
Since he first emerged onto the international stage at the Under-20 World Championships in 2016, Chopra seemed destined to create waves in his discipline. He started raking in the medals, winning gold at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in 2018 before taking top spot at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. In 2022 he won the Diamond League Final and clinched a silver at the World Championships in Eugene, USA. A year later, he became the first Indian to win gold at the Athletics World Championships.
Chopra has won every major medal his sport has to offer. But in Paris, he was coming in as the defending champion at the Olympics for the first time. That in itself is an immense burden of expectation. Yet his campaign, despite his high expectations, was a success.
So far, Chopra has never managed to breach the 90m mark, but he got awfully close on Thursday.
Nadeem however proved that Chopra’s 55-centimetre deficit of the 90 would not have been enough anyway. And in his last attempt at the Olympics, Nadeem crossed 90 again, posting 91.79 metres. Chopra had lost out on the gold, but he did so against a worthy champion who has a storied journey himself.
Hailing from a village near Mian Channu in Punjab, Pakistan, Nadeem is the third of seven siblings and grew up in a humble household. He once hoped of being a cricketer and had become quite the rage in his village as a fast bowler. But his father and elder brothers encouraged him to pursue athletics.
In Paris, he became the first person from his country to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics.
Chopra and Nadeem’s rivalry has been one marked with great camaraderie, friendship and a will to push each other to further distances on an athletics field. On Thursday, Nadeem managed to just get 3.52 meters further than Chopra in only the first time he has beaten the Indian.
When the dust settles and he does get a moment to reflect on his performance, Chopra may realise that his was an impressive performance. He has now finished on the podium at 24 consecutive events across national and international meets, going back to September 2018.
On Friday, he may come out smiling as he stands on the podium, cheering on his friend who won the gold while himself being celebrated by fans of Indian sport.
In an Olympic campaign that has been filled with disappointment for the Indian contingent, save for those precious four bronze medals achieved in shooting and hockey, Chopra has continued to add to his glorious sporting legacy in the country.
And a few months shy of turning 27, he certainly is not done yet.