Neeraj Chopra created history on Saturday evening at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when he won the Gold medal in the Javelin throw event. Chopra, who started off the final, stayed at top spot right from the first throw of the event as World Number 1 Johannes Vetter crashed out in the first round.
Chopra's second throw of 87.58m was enough to get him the Gold medal.
With Neeraj's win, India finish with 7 medals, making Tokyo Olympics their best campaign ever at the Summer Games. This is India's 10th Gold in the history of the Games.
Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch bagged silver medal with a throw of 86.67m. His compatriot Vitezslav Vesley took bronze medal with a throw of 85.44m. Both got their season's best throws on their fifth and third attempts respectively.
Neeraj now holds gold medals in javelin throw at the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and now the Olympics, all at the same time.
As all Indian eyes were fixed firmly behind him, Neeraj started off with a bang, kick starting the Javelin final with a throw of 87.03m. None of the athletes were within a metre of him after the first round with German Julian Weber throwing 85.360m.
Neeraj’s second round saw him better his throw to 87.58m and his reaction right after the throw he raised his hands towards the sky, signalling that he indeed really enjoyed the throw. His third throw gave him a distance of 76.79m.
Neeraj' fourth and fifth throws were fouls and the final one was 84.24m.
Once he set the tone with a monster first throw, the rest of the field was playing catch up with only Jakub causing some concern with a few big throws towards the second half of the final.
World Number 1 German Johannes Vetter, who was the overwhelming favourite for the final, threw 82.52m before slipping on the run-up in his second throw. Thankfully, Vetter wasn’t hurt and could be seen doing fine on the sidelines. His third throw too was a foul and was then shockingly eliminated at the half way stage when Belarus' Katkavets Aliaksei sneaked into the top 8 with a massive throw of 83.71m.
The 28-year-old, who came into the Olympics after seven massive throws of over 90m between April and June, opened with 82.52m.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem threw 82.40 in his first attempt with the second being a foul. He threw a 84.62m in the third throw which put him in the top 8.
This was Neeraj's first Olympic Games, having burst onto the scene in 2016, 2 months after the Rio Games.
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