By K. P. Mohan
An absorbing athletics programme of the Olympic Games drew to a close on Sunday with the women’s marathon ending at the historic Les Invalides cheered by thousands of fans who made the Paris Games most memorable for the contestants both inside and outside the stadia.
“Paris 2024 has been an absolutely spectacular Olympic Games for athletics,” said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe.
“We are a sport where numbers matter on and off the field of play. Over the course of the last 11 days, our athletes have dazzled audiences in Paris and across the globe with some performances for the ages. We had three world records, 13 Olympic records and countless national and area records, the performances were nothing short of outstanding,” said Coe.
Athletics generated tremendous interest among the Parisians and around the world, and it truly transcended barriers and brought together countries like Pakistan and India on the podium as Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra won gold and silver medals respectively in the javelin throw contest. It was Pakistan’s first ever individual gold medal in athletics, in fact the first medal for the country in athletics. It was also only the second medal in athletics for independent India. Chopra is proud owner of both.
Nadeem became a national hero overnight back home. Cash awards were showered on a man who had found the going tough earlier because of lack of finances not to speak of injuries. His village had pooled in to fund him. Now he was the cynosure of all Pakistani eyes even as he acknowledged his friendship with Chopra.
For Chopra, who responded spiritedly once Nadeem nailed a huge personal best and Asian record of 92.97m on his second attempt, it was a season best 89.45m, also in the second round after both had fouled their first. The Indian, however, could not avoid a rash of fouls after that. Nadeem did his second best ever with a 91.79m in his last attempt.
Nadeem, coming from a village background in Punjab, has had success at the global level earlier, taking the silver behind Chopra at the World championships in Budapest last year. He was fifth at the Tokyo Olympics and the Commonwealth champion in 2022. Injuries had handicapped him in 2022 and 2023 and he had only limited competition in the run-up to the Paris Olympics.
As he was driven in a convoy from airport, Nadeem and the whole world who watched or heard the news must have realized all over again the tremendous impact an Olympic gold medal can have on a nation starved of success on the sports field. Like Chopra last time in India, Nadeem would hopefully create an added interest in athletics, especially javelin, back home. South Asia has now become home for javelin.
President Asif Ali Zardari announced on Saturday that Nadeem would be awarded Pakistan’s second-highest civilian award, the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, for his achievement
“I am thankful to God almighty. I thank my parents and Pakistani nation,” Nadeem was quoted as telling the crowds who thronged the airport despite the late hour. “There is lot of hard work by me and my coach Salman Butt behind this,” said the 27-year-old Pakistani.
Chopra end up with silver
For India it was the lone silver that Chopra earned in a tally of six medals, the other five being bronze including a rousing win in classification match over Spain to gain the one in hockey, shooting and wrestling. Chopra said he had tried his best to go past the 90-metre mark but having been injured through the season that restricted his competitions, it was difficult to generate the speed that he wanted on the runway.
Asia retained the four gold medals it had won in the last edition as well as in Rio in 2016. Paris also marked the second successive time the continent had won ten medals in all in athletics in two successive games. But the Rio high of 13 remained elusive.
Chinese woman racewalker in 20km, Yang Jiayu, Bahrain’s woman steeplechaser Winfred Yavi and Japanese woman javelin thrower Haruki Kitaguchi were the others to take the gold apart from Nadeem.
From the two-gold tally of Rio and Tokyo, China has slipped a little with a solitary gold. In total also it dropped from five in Tokyo to four in Paris. Veteran Gong Lijiao, in her fifth successive Olympics, could do no better than fifth place in shot put (19.27m) where team-mate Song Jiayuan (19.32m) took the bronze.
Another top Chinese, Javelin champion from Tokyo, Liu Shiying was absent as she could not qualify for the Games. China’s second bronze came in hammer throw in which the country has had an impressive record since 2008 at home with three silver medals and one bronze till this edition.
Kitaguchi unmatched
Like Nadeem in the men’s final, Kitaguchi opened with a season best and a formidable mark of 65.80m that could not be surpassed in the rest of the competition. The burly Kitaguchi herself produced one of 64.73m in the fifth round while the likes of former Olympic champion, Sara Kolak of Croatia (63.40m) and Colombian Flor Denis Ruiz (63.00m), World championships silver medallist last year, and season leader this year (66.70m) finished fourth and fifth respectively.
It was strange that the season’s number two javelin thrower, McKenzie Little of Australia finished 12th and last with 60.32m. She had reached 66.27m in London just three weeks earlier.
Even as some of the more established names faded out especially in women’s throws including season leader Sarah Mitton of Canada and Chase Jackson of the US in shot put, the track action lived up to the promise that the newly-laid purple Mondo track had held out weeks before the Olympics with a flurry of national records and area records, particularly in the 4x400m relays on the concluding day at the stadium. Mitton (17.48m) was 12th in the final while Jackson, world champion in 2023, did not qualify for the final.
A third silver for Asia, and a second medal for Bahrain, came through Salwa Eid Naser in the women’s 400m. Marileidy Paulino of Domiinican Republic was too good on the home straight but Naser held off Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek to take second place, her first Olympic medal, in 48.53s. Paulino won her first Olympic gold in 48.17s, an area record, to add to the World title she won last year.
The Japanese men’s quartet of Yuki Nakajima, Kaito Kawabata, Fuga Sato and Kentaro Sato, was one country that set an area record, 2:58.33 for the 4x400m that erased India’s 2:59.05 set in Budapest last year while qualifying for the World championships final. The Indians failed to make the final despite a 3:00.95 in the heats, finishing fifth in the heat and tenth overall.
Talking of Indians, steeplechaser Avinash Sable (8:114.18) made the final where he finished 11th as Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali took his second straight 3000m steeplechase final in great typical style, outpacing the field from about 250 metres out to the finish. Another Asian to figure in that race was Japanese Ryuji Miura (8:11.72) who finished eighth.
Yavi also utilised her superior finishing speed to conquer the field in the women’s 3000m steeplechase. Inconsolable in the end after Yavi outkicked her on the home straight was defending champion Peruth Chemutai of Uganda who clocked a national record of 8:53.34 for the silver. World record holder Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya finished sixth.
Feng Bin, the Chinese world champion in 2022, was up against Valarie Allman of the US, the defending champion and season leader in discus final. Allman was in such good form that she threw 68.74m in her second throw after a foul and stretched it to 69.24m in the last round. Feng Bin’s 67.51m in the last round was only good enough for the silver.
Barshim goes out with bronze
Mutaz Essa Barshim would have liked to go out with guns blazing in his final Olympic appearance. The Qatari, the second-best high jumper in the world all-time lists with 2.43m, sailed through his heights effortlessly giving hope to his countless fans in the stands and around television across the globe, that he could go for the gold. But he fouled twice at 2.36m, sought 2.38m for his final attempt and failed there too to settle for the bronze. New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr and American Shelby McEwen went into a pulsating jump-off after tying at 2.36m and the Kiwi triumphed at 2.34m.
“I’m really happy,” said Barshim. “That is very special. It was my dream to get to the Olympics. Standing here, the most decorated high jumper in Olympic history, it’s a blessing. It’s been a journey.”
Barshim had shared the gold with Italian Gianmarco Tamberi in Tokyo. The Italian, who was tipped to be the favourite this time, went out at 2.27m, drained as he was after a renal colic infection put him in hospital bed hours before the contest. He finished last but one at 2.22m. Talk of ill-fate, there couldn’t have been something worse than what Tamberi suffered.
The gap which was apparent between the leading countries in athletics and the rest last time, seemed to have widened this time. Though there were countries like St Lucia (Julien Alfred, women’s 100m), Dominica (Thea LaFond, women’s triple jump) and Pakistan (Arshad Nadeem) who were first time medal-winners and gold winners, giving fresh hope to nations that could not open their accounts or fared poorer than anticipated, the disparity among the top remained.
The Americans topped once again, doubling their Tokyo gold tally of seven and having a total of 34. China slipped from its last edition placing of seventh to 12th while India dropped from equal 17th to equal 31st. Bahrain had cause for cheer as it improved from 30th to equal 14th. Japan pushed itself up from equal 28th to equal 22nd. A total of 43 countries figured on the medals table, 27 of them winning gold medals. Twenty-one area records and 99 national records were set while a horde of newcomers including Botswana’s Letsile Tebego (200m champion) emerged.
As is almost customary, Armando Duplantis of Sweden (pole vault, 6.25m) and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the US (400m hurdles, 50.37s) set world records. The third world record came in the mixed 4x400m relay where the US team clocked 3:07.41.
For the Philippines and Asia, there was disappointment in that pole-vaulter Ernest John Obiena, World championships silver winner in 2023, finished outside the podium at fourth with 5.90m. For Qatar there was disappointment that hurdler Aberrahmane Samba, a former world championship bronze winner, finished seventh with 47.98s.
Also heart-breaking for Asia was the sixth-place finish of Japanese woman marathoner Yuka Suzuki after having kept up with the leading bunch till the final stages. Sifan Hassan who took the 5000m and 10,000m in Tokyo, won the marathon after she had clinched bronze medals in the 5000m and 10,000m earlier. A truly remarkable finish for the 31-year-old Dutchwoman.
