2024 was an exceptionally eventful year for Indian sport. At the end of the year, ESPN India picks ten images that tell the story of the most stunning moments we witnessed in the last 12 months. Our sixth pick is the epic javelin throw final at the Paris Olympics.
There's a familiar, almost predictable script to Neeraj Chopra's javelin events in the last few years.
He bounds in, all smiles and unimpeachable confidence, takes the lead with a massive throw in his first or second attempt, keeps the spirits high among his competitors trying in vain to beat him, and then walks away with gold.
There was a slight blip in the Asian Games last year, when Kishore Kumar Jena briefly took the lead, but over the Olympic cycle from Tokyo in 2021 to the World Championships in 2023, when he 'completed' the sport, Neeraj had cheerfully skipped his way to the top step. The confidence of a man who knew he could not be beaten - unperturbed, unassuming victories. Child's play.
Except for a balmy, Parisian night on the 8th of August, 2024, when that familiar script was torn to shreds by Arshad Nadeem of Mian Channu, Pakistan.
Nadeem ambled up in his usual way, barely seeming to break a sweat as he lightly jogged towards the line and let fly.
You could see it was big from the moment it left his arm. These javelins weren't designed to fly very far, but when propelled by the boulders masquerading as shoulders in Arshad Nadeem's arms, they had no choice. His second throw of the night flew into the Parisian sky, carrying with it all of Pakistan's Olympic dreams, and as it landed 92.97m away into the Stade de France turf, those dreams turned golden.
Over in India, it was a mixture of horror and appreciation, as the nation's only hope for a gold medal at the Paris Olympics evaporated. Neeraj had never thrown the javelin that far, and would need to create all sorts of firsts to wrestle the gold away. The gauntlet had been thrown down, and how.
Never one to back down from a fight, Neeraj immediately responded - the second-best throw of his life coming right away as he flung the javelin as far as 89.45m. With four throws to go, this looked all set to be a contest for the ages... except it wasn't.
The unflappable demeanour had been extinguished - frustration was writ large on Neeraj's face as he proceeded to foul his following throws. It morphed into visible anger, perhaps even worry. Arshad Nadeem had never beaten him. Not in their junior years, not in the Asian Games, not at the Commonwealth Games, not at the Olympics in Tokyo.
On the biggest night of all, what would have been his crowning glory as one of the Olympic greats in his sport, Neeraj's friend across the border had upstaged him.
Neeraj's usual magnanimous encouraging of his competitors had disappeared - instead there was only a focus on himself, the frustration of never having broken the 90m mark perhaps added to by the injury he was carrying. His body wasn't perfect, the god-like consistency also under threat. For once, Neeraj looked ever so mortal - the anger and frustration such a human response.
In the end there was no answer to Nadeem's Olympic record, and the Pakistani capped off the night with another final throw over 90m, almost rubbing salt into Neeraj's wound. Where once the pair were the chummiest of competitors, now only a frosty embrace stood, as Neeraj congratulated Nadeem at the end of the night. Gold had been replaced by silver, happiness with anger, and divinity with mortality.
All thanks to Arshad Nadeem and his javelin.