Paris Olympics: "Equally happy for Nadeem, he is also our child"

Elated over her son's silver medal, Neeraj Chopra's mother Saroj Devi also expressed happiness for his arch-rival, Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, who broke the Olympic record to beat the Indian defending champion in Paris on Thursday night, 8 August. "He is also our child," she said.

Chopra clinched the silver medal at the Paris Games with a season's best throw of 89.45m — but by then Nadeem had already pulled off an Olympic record-breaking effort of 92.97m.

With the silver win, Chopra became only the third Indian and the first in track-and-field to win back-to-back individual Olympic medals.

"We are very happy with the silver. The one who got gold is also our child and the one who got silver is also our child... all are athletes, all work hard," Saroj told PTI in Khandra, Panipat, where the family is based.

"Nadeem is also good, he plays well. There is no difference between Neeraj and Nadeem. We got gold and silver, there is no difference for us," she added, displaying a sporting spirit many an Indian supporter and 'fan' would do well to emulate.

Chopra and Nadeem have long been good friends off and even on the field, despite their equally long-standing rivalry for the top spot.

Fans not given to partisan jingoism in the guise of patriotism, on the other hand, emulated Chopra's own spirit in recalling instances of camaraderie between the two — such as this instance where Chopra pulled Nadeem forward into a photo op even though it 'unbalanced' the image, since the latter was missing his national flag.

Chopra's father too offered up similar sentiments, in fact more directly. Proud of his son's Olympics feat, he reiterated "We can't call it an India vs Pakistan match, it was a competition of the entire world."

His aunt elaborated: "I always tell people to move beyond the India vs Pakistan perspective. When you compete at the world level, it's about the competition... There's no rivalry with Nadeem. Even we pray for him whenever he plays. We want to send greetings to Nadeem's parents... We hope for the best for him."

It was certainly a moment of pride and redemption for Nadeem yesterday, having previously finished behind Chopra in several major competitions, including the 2018 Asian Games and the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Like his mother, Neeraj Chopra too saw yesterday's gold and silver both as 'our' victory, a win for South Asia. “I have been competing with Arshad since 2010 and lost to him for the first time today. We will try to maintain Asian supremacy till we have strength in our body,” he said.

Ahead of the actual event, Nadeem had expressed similar sentiments, speaking of his Indian rival — and friend: "It gives me immense joy that there are only two of us from South Asia, myself and Neeraj bhai, who are performing on the world stage."

Fans of both athletes were also quick to recall the events of March, when a frustrated Nadeem spoke to media of his worn javelin, 9 years old, needing to be replaced and his nation's sports authorities failing to support him in obtaining a new one.

At the time, an incredulous Chopra ("It is hard to believe... this should not be a big issue at all!") had advised Nadeem to talk to javelin manufacturers directly instead: "Arshad is a top javelin thrower, and I believe that the javelin makers will be more than happy to sponsor him and provide what he needs." 

Perhaps this is the payoff for that good advice? And if so — surely, by all rights — India should be proud of a sportsperson so fully embodying sportsmanship, integrity and affability. To the extent that sportspersons are automatically international diplomats on behalf of their nations, we could not wish for better than Neeraj Chopra.

The competition also saw Grenada’s Anderson Peters secure the bronze with a throw of 88.54 m, while the Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch and Kenya’s Julius Yego rounded out the top five.

With inputs from PTI