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After winning the silver medal in the men’s javelin throw at the Paris Olympics 2024, Neeraj Chopra spoke in an interview about how the fans have every right to be emotional towards the Indian athletes for showing in France in the last fortnight. But, at the same time, the 26-year-old asked the fans to not judge the Indian athletes just on the basis of their Olympic performances.
Notably, in the men’s javelin throw final at the Stade de France, Arshad Nadeem registered an Olympic record with a throw of 92.97m, to secure the first ever individual gold medal for Pakistan at the Olympics. Neeraj Chopra was unable to defend his Olympic title from three years ago in Tokyo, registering the season’s best performance with a 89.45m throw.
Anderson Peters of Grenada took home the bronze medal with a 88.54m throw, an improvement on the gold medal winning throw from Neeraj Chopra at the Tokyo 2020.
During his interview with RevSportz, Neeraj Chopra was asked about the emotional outburst from the fans towards the Indian athletes for their disappointing Olympic performances. He responded, “Main fans ko ye bolna chahunga ki unka (emotional) hona jayaz hai. Wo jis tarikey se (humey) follow karte hai, dekhte hai, toh koi baat nahi. Lekin ye Olympics jaisi jagah par at least mat karo (I want to say to the fans that their emotions are justified. They follow us, watch us, and that’s why it is ok. But they shouldn’t do it at the Olympics at least).”
He added, “Agar aapko narazgi dikhani hai toh aap unke har event follow karo aur unke performance dekho (If the fans want to be angry at Indian athletes for their disappointing Olympic performances then they should follow all their events, watch their performances).”
In this interview, Neeraj Chopra also talked about his injury concerns leading up to the Olympic Games, Vinesh Phogat, and the India versus Pakistan rivalry, among other things.
