After 13 days and their penultimate competition, India was able to win a medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics other than bronze. The face of Indian athletics, Neeraj Chopra, could not succeed in defending his gold medal from the Tokyo Olympics, but he did secure India’s first silver medal of the 2024 Games. His season-best throw of 89.45 meters, which he made on his second and only legitimate try of the day, was a noteworthy accomplishment, but it was insufficient to overtake Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who won gold with a stunning throw of 92.97 meters, shattering the Olympic record. Neeraj may have lost out on the gold, but he still gave India five medals from Paris 2024, and he has another chance to win one.
India went six days without taking home a medal following Swapnil Kusale’s bronze in the men’s 50m rifle 3 position final. However, the drought was broken in one day by Neeraj’s silver and the men’s hockey team’s second straight bronze. Neeraj was considered India’s greatest medal hope at the Paris Games, but with strong opponents like Julian Weber, Anderson Peters, and Arshad Nadeem, victory was far from assured. Neeraj became the only other individual male athlete from India to win multiple medals at the Olympics after former wrestler Sushil Kumar. Unexpectedly, Neeraj, Arshad, and Weber all committed fouls on their first try, which put the tournament in disarray. Initially, Arshad had trouble, pausing in the middle of his first run-up and then starting again, but on;y to produce an unsatisfactory throw.