Thursday's silver in the men's Javelin Throw made Neeraj Chopra only the third Indian and first in track and field to win back-to-back individual Olympic medals.
Defending champion Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian track-and-field athlete to win two successive Olympic medals after a silver in the men's Javelin Throw in Paris on Thursday.
The night though belonged to Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, who destroyed a top-class field by setting a new Olympic record for his country's maiden individual gold at the showpiece.
Nadeem cleared an astonishing 92.97 metres in his second attempt to set the bar well-high for the rest of the field, including Chopra, who seemed under pressure and had just one legitimate throw -- the silver-winning 89.45m in the second round.
It was the season's best effort from the Indian, topping his qualification throw of 89.34m, but nowhere enough for gold.
Nonetheless, Chopra became only the third Indian and first in track and field to win back-to-back individual Olympic medals.
Only wrestler Sushil Kumar (2008 and 2012) and shuttler P V Sindhu (2016 and 2021) have won back-to-back Olympic medals.
The earlier Olympic record stood at 90.57m in the name of Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway, set during the 2008 Beijing Games.
Thorkildsen was watching the proceedings from the stands, along with three-time Olympic champion and World record (98.48m) holder Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic.
Grenada's Anderson Peters grabbed the last podium place with an effort of 88.54m while the Czech Republic's Yakub Vadlejch finished fourth (88.50m). Kenya's Julius Yego (SB 87.72) was fifth.
As many as seven athletes went beyond the 86m mark as the competitive field saw three season's best efforts and an Olympic record.
Keshorn Walcot (86.16) from Trinidad and Tobago also celebrated his season's best show while finishing seventh in the 12-man field.
Chopra had never lost to Nadeem in 10 earlier meetings. Nadeem's monster throw -- sixth longest in history -- also came in his second attempt. It was like a bolt from the blue and it stunned the Stade de France.
With this performance, the 27-year-old also extracted revenge for his defeat to Chopra in the 2023 Budapest World Championships.
It was not the first 90m effort from Nadeem, having thrown 90.18m to win gold in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
He is the second Asian to throw beyond 90m, the other being Chao-Tsun Cheng (91.36m in 2017) of Chinese Taipei.
Chopra did not take part in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games due to an injury.
Nadeem was to compete with Chopra in the Hangzhou Asian Games in October last year but pulled out at the last minute due to an injury.
He was beaten by Chopra in the 2018 Asian Games and 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Nadeem came into the Olympics with just one competition under his belt -- an 84.21m throw at the Paris Diamond League last month.
