Watch: Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem’s mothers share similar heartwarming sentiments after men’s javelin final

It was a memorable day for the athletics in the subcontinent with Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra helping Pakistan and India complete a one-two in the men’s javelin final in the Paris Olympics on Thursday.

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Chopra followed up his historic gold in Tokyo 2020 with a silver in Paris 2024 ; the 26-year-old from Haryana would have collected back-to-back gold medals had his rival and good friend Nadeem not broken the Olympic record with a monster 92.97-metre throw in his second attempt.

Chopra has already cemented himself as one of India’s greatest athletes of all time, if not the greatest, having won gold and silver in both the Olympics as well as in the World Champions.

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Nadeem, meanwhile, made history as well by winning Pakistan its first ever individual gold medal at the Olympics and its first gold since Los Angeles 1984. Nadeem’s feat was made all the more special by the fact that the 27-year-old barely had any financial support on the road to his Paris triumph, and could only make it after his village raised funds to send him to the French capital.

There has been an outpouring of congratulatory messages for both athletes from the subcontinent on Friday. The most heartwarming moment of them all, however, is how the mothers of the two athletes reacted.

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Chopra’s mother Saroj Devi referred to Nadeem as her son , while adding that Chopra’s silver was no less than a gold for the family.

“We are very happy. For us, silver is also equal to gold. The one who got the gold (Arshad Nadeem) is also like our son,” Devi told ANI.

Nadeem’s mother would later echo similar sentiments.

“He is also like my son. He is Nadeem’s friend and also his brother. Wins and losses are part of the sport. May god bless him, may he win medals. They are like brothers, I prayed for Neeraj too,” Nadeem’s mother told Independent Urdu.

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This is the first time in the history of the Olympics that India and Pakistan have stood together on the podium in a track and field event at the Olympics.

Chopra had won India’s maiden Olympic medal in athletics with a gold in Tokyo 2020 and Nadeem would do the same for Pakistan three years later with a top-of-the-podium finish in Paris.

And with Grenada’s Anderson Peters winning bronze with a best throw of 88.54 metres, Paris 2024 witnessed the men’s javelin podium not having a single European for the first time ever.