The Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra Bromance
The mutual admiration between the javelin duo and their mothers shows us a different post-Partition reality for the subcontinent.
On August 9, Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem and India’s Neeraj Chopra stood on the podium in Paris’s Stade de France. They’d just won Olympic gold and silver, respectively, in javelin, with Grenada’s Anderson Peters winning bronze. “Pakistan, India, and Grenada…proving that the javelin has moved beyond the confines of the European nations,” the commentator said.
A day earlier, Nadeem had broken the Olympic record with a 92.97-meter throw, while Chopra — who had won gold in Tokyo 2020 — threw 89.45 meters. Though there were about 11 feet separating the two’s outcomes and borders separating their fans, the javelin final gave the subcontinent a rare moment of shared joy — one we can’t seem to forget even after the Paris Olympics have come to a close.