Paris Olympics Athletics: Neeraj, the shining star in an otherwise dismal campaign

Neeraj Chopra, the showman of Indian sports, led the Indian athletics contingent once more at the Paris Olympics, as he was the only medalist for India in this sport.

He won a silver medal to end the athletics campaign on a high note in an otherwise dismal outing in the capital city of France.

Except for him, Indian athletics had a sub-par performance at the Olympics, with none of them even coming close to making a new Personal Best.

These results proved that Indian athletics still need a lot of work before heading into the next 4-year cycle if they want to challenge the world's best athletes and add a few more medals to the tally.

Neeraj Chopra's Delight

Defending champion Neeraj Chopra won his second Olympic medal in Paris and ensured that India would not go empty-handed from athletics. However, he could not defend his title and ended up with the silver medal.

Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan snatched the gold medal from him with a massive throw of 92.97m. Meanwhile, Neeraj threw two of his career-best throws in Paris, but it was not enough, as Arshad delivered some gigantic results.

Despite that, Neeraj has etched his name in history as one of the multiple medalists in the Olympics. On the other hand, Kishore Jena finished 18th in the same event with a throw of 80.73m in the qualifying round.

The other athletes in the throwing events, like Annu Rani in the women's javelin throw and Tajinderpal Singh Toor in the men's shot put, had disastrous performances and finished in 29th place in their respective events.

Horrible Showing from Jumpers

India has a vibrant tradition in jumping events at major competitions, but this time at the Paris Olympics, Indian jumpers had a disappointing outing.

It started with heartbreaking news, a few months before the Olympics, that India's best long jumper, Murali, had pulled out of the games due to an injury.

Then, Jeswin Aldrin, the only Indian long jumper at the tournament, had a poor jump of 7.61m, finishing 27th in the qualification round and failing to progress to the final.

In the men's triple jump, Abdulla Aboobacker and Praveen Chithravel, who went to the Games in superb form, also failed to impress and finished 21st and 26th, respectively.

Struggle on the Track Continues

Indian track athletes also failed to impress, with only one of them reaching a final, and none coming even close to their personal bests despite the fast-paced races in the heats.

Avinash Sable was the only Indian athlete who reached the final of a track event, finishing fifth in the heat of the men's 3000m steeplechase event. However, in the final, he got caught in the middle and could not find his best form.

On the other hand, short-distance runners like Jyothi Yarraji in the 100m hurdles and Kiran Pahal in the 400m race could not impress. They finished their respective heats in 7th place and could not better this in the repechage.

Men's Relay Team Despair

The Indian men's relay team of Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Anas, Muhamed Ajmal, and Rajesh Ramesh had an excellent run in heat 1 of the 4x400m relay event, clocking a season-best time of 3:00.58.

Despite that, they missed out on the final by a mere 32 milliseconds and finished 10th in the event.

This was a big heartbreak for the team, as they were among the favorites to reach the final, especially after their 2023 World Championships performance, where they finished fifth.

On the other hand, the Indian women's team had an abysmal outing as they finished last in their heat, clocking a time of 3:32.51.