On August 8, Pakistani athlete Arshad Nadeem made history by clinching the gold medal in the men’s javelin throw event at the Paris Olympics. Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra – who won gold at Tokyo in 2021 – bagged the silver medal, making for an India-Pakistan podium. Anderson Peters from Grenada rounded out the podium with a bronze medal.

Nadeem’s gold-medal winning throw of 92.97 broke the previous Olympic record of 90.57 meters held by Norwegian Andreas Thorkildsen. By doing so, he secured Pakistan’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in an individual event, and also the country’s first Olympic medal since the 1992 Games in Barcelona, where the field hockey team won bronze. 

Chopra’s throw of 89.45 meters was enough to secure silver, but not enough to defend his gold medal from Tokyo. 

Meanwhile, Indian wrestler Aman Sehrawat won the bronze medal in the men’s freestyle 57 kg category, bringing home India’s first medal wrestling medal in these Olympic Games. The 21-year old also became the youngest Indian Olympic medal winner as he bested Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz 13-5 in the bronze medal bout. His success will offer some consolation to the Indian wrestling contingent and fans after Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the gold medal bout in the women’s 50 kg freestyle event, and subsequent retirement. 

As things stand, India has won one silver and five bronze medals at this year’s Olympics, making it India’s second strongest showing at the Summer Olympics after Tokyo, where the country picked up seven medals. India also won six medals at the 2012 Games in London. 

Tanay Gokhale is a California Local News Fellow and the Community Reporter at India Currents. Born and raised in Nashik, India, he moved to the United States for graduate study in video journalism after...