It’s a testament to the insanely high standards Neeraj Chopra sets for himself that an Olympic silver medal — the best-ever result for India at the 2024 Summer Olympics — was a cause for some disappointment to the man himself. “It would have been nice if the national anthem could have also played,” Neeraj said after the medal ceremony of the event, won by Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem.
Neeraj, however, had nothing to be disappointed about. It took an all-time great performance from Nadeem, with two throws surpassing the previous Olympic record, to get the better of Neeraj — an athlete who had never been beaten by Nadeem in any competition since they first competed at the South Asian Games in 2016.
Unfortunately, Neeraj Chopra was not near his best during the Paris Olympics — the groin injury he’s been battling since 2017 didn’t allow him to gain any speed on his runway approach. | Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR
On another day, Neeraj might have been able to follow the Pakistani thrower into the 90-metre zone. Neeraj mentioned that, far from being discouraged when Nadeem threw the spear 92.97m in his second attempt, he was actually confident of overtaking him.
Unfortunately, Neeraj was not near his best — the groin injury he’s been battling since 2017 didn’t allow him to gain any speed on his runway approach.
The uncertainty over the injury also led to five fouls in six attempts. However, in his lone legitimate attempt, he still managed his second-best throw of all time, hitting a mark of 89.45m. That was enough to secure the silver in one of the toughest javelin throw competitions — the fifth-place finisher in Paris would have taken gold in Tokyo.
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Neeraj’s competition was easily the high point of the Indian track and field performance. Of the 28 athletes India had qualified for the Olympics, only one other Indian, apart from Neeraj — Avinash Sable in the men’s 3000m steeplechase — managed to reach the final.
Parul Chaudhary (blue) finished eighth among 12 runners in her heats in the 3000m steeplechase. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Sable’s first goal was to advance out of the heats — something he wasn’t able to do despite setting a national record at the Tokyo Olympics. He managed to do this successfully and was raring to go before the final, even believing he had a chance to fight for a medal.
However, despite going into the lead early on, he was quickly caught by the rest of the group, became trapped in the middle of the pack, and struggled to break out. He eventually finished 11th with a time of 8:14.18. Even if he had come close to his personal best of 8:09.94, he still wouldn’t have medalled, but he would have finished inside the top eight.
While none of the Indians competing made a personal best attempt, four season’s best attempts were recorded — by Parul Chaudhary in the women’s 5000m and 3000m steeplechase events, by Neeraj in the qualification round (89.34m) and in the final (89.45m), and finally by the Indian men’s relay team, who clocked a time of 3:00.58 to finish fourth in their heat.
However, with the exception of Neeraj, who qualified for the final with his first throw in qualification (a then-season’s best of 89.34m), none of the other season’s bests translated into good positions.
Jyothi Yarraji clocked 13.16 in her heats to finish last and then finished fourth in repechage. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
Parul finished eighth among 12 runners in her heats in the 3000m steeplechase — she needed not just a season’s best but a big personal best to advance to the final. The fifth place, an automatic qualifier, went at 9:10.73. Her time wouldn’t have been enough even had she competed in the slowest heat — the slowest qualifier for the final was Irene Sánchez-Escribano of Spain with 9:17.39.
The Indian men’s relay team could count itself unlucky to have finished fourth in its heats — only the top three would advance to the final. India also failed to be among the two fastest non-automatic qualifiers (Japan would go through from the first group). The Indian team then had to watch the Japanese erase their continental record (2:59.05) set at the Budapest World Championships with a new mark of 2:58.33 in the final.
Most of the other Indians, however, would disappoint. Kiran Pahal, who clocked a time of 50.92s at the National Inter-State Athletics competition in Panchkula a little over a month ago, was close to two seconds off that pace in both the heats (52.51), where she finished seventh, and in the repechage competition (52.59), where she finished last.
Kiran Pahal finished seventh in heats and last in repechage | Photo Credit: PTI
Jyothi Yarraji, who had regularly clocked sub-13-second timings over the last couple of years, fell outside that 13-second barrier in Paris. She clocked 13.16 in her heats to finish last and then finished fourth in her repechage heat. Had she matched her personal best (12.78) in either race, she would have qualified for the next round.
These sub-par performances will leave the Indian federation with plenty to think about.
Following his competition, Neeraj said he will likely undergo surgery to treat the groin condition that has been bothering him.
For now, it seems India’s hopes and dreams for the 2028 Olympics will depend on the success of the procedure.
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