To be the man, you got to beat the man.
Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan just beat the man.
At the Stade de France on Thursday night, he beat him as comprehensively as possible. On the sixth opportunity he finally got the better of the man he’d always considered a role model and looked up to.
He beat India’s reigning Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra and it took an all time great Olympic performance to do it.
He bettered an Olympic record that had stood for 16 years, not once but twice. The first — a throw of 92.97m in his second throw of the competition ended it. The second of 91.79m in his final attempt put the final exclamation mark on a near flawless performance.
Paris Olympics, Day 13 | Live updates
Fighting hardNeeraj fought as hard as he could. He pushed himself harder than he ever had this season. In the qualification round he produced his biggest throw of the season. He improved on that in his second throw of the final. 89.45m. It was the second best throw of his career. It wasn’t enough.
It says something of kind of confidence that Neeraj generates with his achievement that a silver medal — the best for the country in Paris — seems like like an underachievement.
It is anything but. It took Neeraj pushing himself to his absolute best to even kept him on the podium.
Incredible standardThis was an incredible standard of competition. Julius Yego took fifth place here with a throw of 87.70 — it would have won gold in Tokyo.
While India Pakistan rivalries always carry a hint of tension, there is anything but in this one.
Arshad makes it a point to take a picture with Neeraj before every competition they take part in together.
Arshad had said last year after he took silver at the World Championship behind Neeraj that he wanted to see India and Pakistan finish 1-2 at the Olympics too.
Neeraj and Arshad did just that. But the order of medals was reversed.
