India's Neeraj Chopra bagged India's first ever Gold medal in athletics at the Olympic Games after winning the men's Javelin Throw in Tokyo on Saturday, August 7. His throw of 87.58m, which came in his second attempt in the competition, won him the top-podium finish. He started the competition with a throw of 87.03m and improved in his second throw after which he led the competition till the end.
Final results
The chart plots the best throws of the top eight athletes in the Men's Javelin Throw final on Saturday, August 7. Neeraj Chopra achieved a distance of 87.58m in his second throw, which was good enough for the Gold medal. Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch and Vitezslav Vesely bagged the Silver and the Bronze, respectively. His biggest challenge, Germany's Johannes Vetter, who had crossed the 90m mark on seven occasions in 2021, was eliminated after the first three throws.
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Prior to the start of the event, only three of his fellow competitors in the event had thrown the javelin farther than he had in 2021. Two of them were eliminated in the qualification round. He recorded his personal best (PB) throw of 88.07m this year in March, a new national record.
The numbers show that he has improved his performance almost every year since 2013.
Competitor comparison
The chart plots the javelin throws which classed the 80m mark, of athletes who had qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. As many as 11 athletes had thrown the javelin father than Chopra's PB of 88.07m in their careers. However, only three of them qualified for the final.
Chopra, who achieved his PB in March this year, stood fourth among his competitors' best throws if only 2021 is considered. But among them, only Vetter made it to the final. Only five athletes who qualified for the Olympics had thrown the javelin a distance of 87m or more this year. Vetter and Chopra did it more than once.
Steady progress
A look at the best throws of both the Indians who competed in Tokyo shows that Chopra has improved his performance consistently since 2013. Since 2018, his best performance has consistently been above the 87m mark. On the other hand, Shivpal Singh's best came in 2019 when he achieved a distance of 86.23m.
Serious contender
Chopra's PB would have been good enough for the Bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The chart depicts his PB and the distances which bagged a medal at the Olympics and World Championships since 2012 and before the beginning of the Tokyo Olympics
Topping the chart
Chopra topped the qualification round with a throw of 86.65m on August 4. He became the first ever Indian to top the qualification round in track and field events at the Olympic Games. Vetter stood second after achieving a distance of of 85.64m. The chart shows the distance thrown by athletes who qualified for the final.
Also read: Data | How many new Olympic and World records were set in swimming at the Tokyo Olympics?
