Thread by @surajbrf

This thread overviews the extraordinary performance of @Neeraj_chopra1 at Tokyo 2020 in the men’s javelin throw event - the statistics & history involved.

It describes the pathbreaking nature of the achievement, with regard to both Neeraj’s own and continental performance.

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No Asian has ever won the men’s javelin gold before. The event has been the preserve of east/central Europeans built like tanks. Neeraj is only the second non-white to win it after Kershorn Walcott. In fact the magnitude of the achievement is even greater…

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No Asian has ever even medaled in Olympic javelin throw before. The Finns and other Nordics monopolize it, with Germany, USSR and Hungary making up most of the rest. They also own all the best javelin brands, covered later. But that’s not all…

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Neeraj is only the second ever Asian to win an Olympic throwing event, after Koji Murofushi’s 2004 hammer throw win. For several reasons, Neeraj did better - starting with the fact that he has no sporting pedigree, coming from a nation with no pedigree in javelin whatsoever.

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Koji is the son of 5x Asian Games hammer throw champ Shigenobu Murofushi, and a Hungarian-Romanian competitive javelin thrower. In short, he has a huge genetic benefit that helped him be the only other Asian male winner of an Olympic throwing event.

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In fact, only 3 Asian men have even medaled in throwing - Koji in hammer, Iran’s Ehsan Hadadi silver in discus 2008, and now Neeraj. These events are almost always dominated by Nordic/east/central Europe. No Chinese or Korean male has ever medaled in throwing sports.

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In over half a century, only three men have won the javelin event with their first throw:
Hungarian legend Miklos Nemeth in 1976
Jan Zelezny, the greater javelin thrower ever, in 1992
Neeraj Chopra in 2020

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Ending the competition on first throw has been a habit for Neeraj. In fact at both #CWG2018 and #AsianGames2018 all his throws exceeded the 2nd place winner’s best throws. At #Tokyo2020 his first throw was beyond the 2nd best, and his second was even better.

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This was despite the fact that the silver, bronze and 4th place winners all threw their season best throws - Neeraj finished nearly 1 meter ahead of them. Fancied Johannes Vetter, the greatest modern thrower, struggled, after stating:

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indianexpress.com/article/olympi…

The Tokyo games were affected by rain and winds. Planning ahead, Neeraj switched from his old Nemeth (from the company started by Miklos) to the imaginatively named Nordic Valhalla javelin earlier this year:

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espn.com/athletics/stor…

Nordic Sport (previously Sandvik) and Nemeth are the two most popular javelin brands. A Valhalla javelin retails for about Rs.80000. Technically unforgiving, it rewards perfect technique with high ability to tolerate wet/windy conditions, which prevailed on Aug 7 in Tokyo.

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Even before the Olympics, Neeraj was perhaps the most accomplished Indian athlete ever - the world junior champ, junior WR holder, CWG and AG champ - all by the age of 20. At 23, he’s among the youngest ever Olympic champions.

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In 2016, Neeraj won the world U20 championship with a WR breaking throw of 86.48m, which would have earned him a bronze at Rio 2016. However the junior championship was too late to serve as qualification for Rio 2016, so he could not participate.



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Neeraj is now the gold medalist in every major senior level event he has ever participated in on first attempt- AG, CWG and now OG. He won all of them on his first throw. He has never taken part in a world championship, missing 2019 due to career threatening elbow injury

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Heartiest congratulations once again to @Neeraj_chopra1 for winning an event no Asian has ever managed, in such a stupendous manner. Kudos to everyone nurturing this once in a generation talent, and I hope there are many more. @KirenRijiju @PMOIndia @ianuragthakur

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