PARIS 2024: Yego finishes 5th in men's javelin as Pakistani Nadeem sets Olympic record to win gold

Kenyan javelin thrower Julius Yego gave a good account of himself in the final of the men's javelin at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games after finishing fifth with a best throw of 87.72 metres, a season best for the Rio 2016 silver medalist.

Yego first throw, 80.29 metres was good enough for seventh place but it was his second throw, 87.72 metres, that propelled him to the bronze medal position.

However, Yego was quickly pushed down to fifth after throws by the Pakistani Arshad Nadeem and the Czech Jakub Vadlejch exceeded the mark for Yego's second throw.

The 35-year-old Kenyan then suffered a setback in his bid to reclaim his place in the medal position as his third attempt was recorded as a foul throw.

After that, despite his best efforts, Yego was not able to improve his position, throwing 84.90 metres in fourth before a 83.20-metres throw in his fifth attempt saw him going into his sixth and final attempt needing to throw at least 88.55 metres to be guaranteed a medal. However, it was not to be. His sixth throw only stretched the tape measure to 81.58 metres.

Even though he missed out on the medal podium, Yego's performance served as redemption for his failure to make the finals at the Tokyo Olympic Games three years ago.

In a recent interview with The Eastleigh Voice, after 20 years practising the sport, Yego expressed a desire to continue competing as long as his body allows him.

There is no denying that with his performance in Paris, Yego will be motivated to go on.

In a historic night that saw Europeans fail to make it to the medal podium for the first time ever at the Olympic Games, it was the Pakistani Arshad Nadeem who went home with the gold medal and he did so in style, breaking the Olympic record with his second throw and record a foul throw in his first attempt.

In his second attempt, Nadeem, a former cricket player, made had a nonchalant run before making what seemed like an effortless throw only for the javelin to pierce the sky, with its tip vibrating vigorously to generate power that propelled the javelin to land over two metres beyond the previous Olympic record of 90.57 metres set by the Norwegian Andres Thorkildsen at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Nadeem's jawdropping throw of 92.97 metres dethroned the Grenadian Anderson Peters' 87.87-metre throw from first place.

That massive throw by Nadeem remained hard to beat, even by himself as he went on to 88.72m, 79.40m, 84.87m, and 91.79m in his next four throws.

Nadeem's super throw added pressure on the former Olympic champion, Neeraj Chopra of India, who, with the intense India-Pakistan rivalry playing on his mind, was desperate to make a recovery that would bring about national pride. It was a daunting task that Chopra found himself up against as he has never broken the 90-metre barrier in his career.

However, challenged to upstage Nadeem, Chopra, who had also made a foul throw in his first attempt, threw 89.45 metres in his second attempt to put himself in the silver medal position.

That throw seemed like a warning shot to Nadeem but Chopra, whose gold medal in the event in Tokyo three years ago made him India's youngest ever Olympic champion, never threatened again with all his remaining four attempts being recorded as foul throws as he succumbed to the pressure of ensuring the perpetuation of India's cherished superiority over Pakistan in sports.

In the end, Chopra had to settle for silver as Peters for Grenada ensured the rewriting of javelin history at the Olympics Games after he dethroned the Czech Vadlejch from the bronze medal position.

Vadlejch had risen to the bronze medal position after throwing 88.50 metres in his third attempt. However, Peters out-threw him later when he launched his javelin to 88.54 metres in his fourth attempt.

With Vadlejch never beating Peters' mark again, the end of the contest meant that there Europeans had missed out on a javelin medal for the first time ever in the history of the Olympic Games.

The decimation of European domination in javelin is a moment that Yego had seen coming going by comments he made in a recent interview with The Eastleigh Voice about the global spread of javelin and non-European athletes making the medal podium in the event in every Olympic Games since London 2012, something which before the games hosted in the British capital had not happened in 40 years at the Olympics.

In the interview, Yego hailed the global spread of javelin over the last 12 years which has seen non-European athletes making it to the medal podium in each of the last four Olympic Games, something which, before London 2012, had last been witnessed in Munich 1972.

“That we currently see ‘non-javelin’ nations claiming victories at major championships and pushing super Europeans out of the top ranks is evidence that javelin has undergone tremendous transformation. Javelin has expanded in talent tapping and this is good for the sport. It is now difficult to predict the next Olympic champion because athletes from African, Asia, and Caribbean countries are also top contenders,” Yego said in an interview before the start of the Olympic Games.