Tokyo Olympics: Neeraj Chopra scripts history with stunning javelin throw gold | Tokyo Olympics News – Times of India

Chopra won the country’s seventh medal and first gold in this Olympics and joined shooter Abhinav Bindra (2008 Beijing Games) as India’s individual gold winners in the showpiece.

With this, the country surpassed the previous best haul of six medals achieved in the 2012 London Games.
Czech Republic throwers Jakub Vadlejch (86.67m) and Vitezslav Vesely (85.44m) took the silver and bronze respectively.

Chopra came into the final as a medal contender after topping the qualification round on Wednesday with a stunning first round throw of 86.59m.

But few would have thought he would bludgeon his way to gold in such a dominant fashion at the grandest stage.

Season leader and pre-tournament gold favourite Johannes Vetter of Germany, who had thrown the javelin to 90m plus distances seven times between April and June, was eliminated after the first three throws as he was placed ninth with a best effort of 82.52m.
Top eight after the first three throws get three more attempts while the remaining four in the 12-man final are eliminated.

With his fifth career best throw, Chopra has done something which the likes of late Milkha Singh and P T Usha could not do in 1960 and 1984 editions.
Three track and field athletes were part of the five-member team — the other two being wrestlers — in that Games.

Watch Tokyo Olympics: Neeraj Chopra wins historic javelin gold for India