In his first throw at the men’s javelin final, Neeraj Chopra reached a distance no other athlete could match — 87.03m.
The Indian athlete revealed in an interview that he had taken his first throw hurriedly after a delay as he couldn’t locate his javelin, which he spotted in the hands of Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem.
“I was searching for my javelin at the start of the final (in Olympics). I was not able to find it. Suddenly, I saw Arshad Nadeem was moving around with my javelin. Then I told him, ‘Bhai give this javelin to me, it is my javelin! I have to throw with it’. He gave it back to me. That’s why you must have seen I took my first throw hurriedly,” he explained.
Later, Neeraj posted a video saying he was “extremely disappointed at the reactions” to his comments.
“I would request everyone to please not use me and my comments as a medium to further your vested interests and propaganda. Sports teaches us to be together and united. I’m extremely disappointed to see some of the reactions from the public on my recent comments,” tweeted the Tokyo Olympics gold medal winner.
He also said there was nothing wrong with Arshad Nadeem taking his javelin and everything that transpired during the final was in accordance with the rules, and there was no need to make a big issue of it.
