Like all athletes, Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra are the fiercest of competitors with javelins in their hands but off the field, the duo’s chemistry transcends the casual bonhomie as was evident from the versions of their respective mothers, moments after Nadeem’s monster Olympic record throw of 92.97m lifted him to the centre of the podium at the Stade de France, leaving his friend and defending champion Neeraj Chopra to settle for the silver after a Season’s Best effort of 89.45m.

“For us, silver is also like gold…he was injured, so we are happy with his performance…The one who got the gold (Arshad Nadeem) is also like our son,” Neeraj’s mother Saroj Devi said.

Shortly after, Nadeem’s mother Raziah Parveen reciprocated the affection for Chopra from the other side of the border, saying, “Neeraj Chopra is like my son. I prayed for him as well, he’s like a brother to Nadeem. May God give him lots of success and may he win many more medals.”

The seeds of the cross-border chemistry between the two Olympic champions were sown around eight years ago in Guwahati, when the duo competed at the South Asian Games in 2016. Back then Neeraj took the centre of the podium while Nadeem ended up with a bronze.

Two years later in Jakarta, Neeraj and Arshad shared the podium with the Indian winning the Asian Games gold and the Pakistani settling for the bronze. Over the next few years, the duo have been competing with each other in multiple big-ticket events, and although on all 10 occasions, the Indian enjoyed the last laugh, there were moments where the Pakistani thrower showed he’s got the class and charisma despite agonisingly missing out on the bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

But when the 27-year-old Arshad bounced back, with a 90.18m throw to win the gold at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, the field missed Neeraj as he skipped the event due to an injury.

Later, in 2023, they were back together and the duo finished 1-2 with a difference of just 0.35m between their best attempts. Neeraj took the gold, and Arshad bagged the silver before the latter went on to wish for a similar feat at the Olympics, and his words proved prophetic after what unfolded on Thursday evening in Paris.

In the process, the two friends went on to become the first Asian pair to score a 1-2 finish in the men’s javelin event at the Olympics, thus ending a long-standing European supremacy. In the 27 editions of the men’s javelin competition at the Games, Europeans have finished at the top two spots on 21 occasions. At the 1952 Helsinki edition of the Summer Games, USA’s Cy Young and Bill Miller broke the streak to become the first non-European duo to finish 1-2 in the discipline.

Even after the event, the duo was grace personified facing the barrage of questions, with Neeraj in his trademark style, recognising Nadeem’s exceptional performance that led to his gold medal victory.

“The competition was good (today)…but every athlete have their day, today was Arshad’s day…I gave my best but some things need to be looked upon and worked upon…Our national anthem may not have been played today, but it will definitely be played somewhere else in the future..,” Neeraj said.

Arshad, who became Pakistan’s first ever individual Olympic gold medallist, also expressed his delight for his friend while acknowledging the fierce rivalry they share on the field.

“The rivalry was there, no doubt about that. People in each country were eager to see us both throw the javelin and beat each other. I am very happy to see Neeraj win the silver medal,” said Arshad.

Arshad’s journey to the Olympic podium has been nothing short of spectacular, as he overcame challenges of being a non-cricket athlete in Pakistan, where resources and facilities for sports other than cricket are often limited.

In March this year, Arshad revealed that he had been using the same javelin for nearly seven to eight years, a situation far from ideal for an athlete competing at the highest level, and his request for a new javelin to aid his training gained massive public support after Indian track and field’s poster-boy Neeraj Chopra made a heartfelt appeal on social media.

“It is hard to believe that he has been struggling to get a new javelin. Given his credentials, this should not be a big issue at all,” Chopra had said. He later went on to emphasize that an athlete of Nadeem’s caliber deserves the best equipment and support, both from his national federation and potential sponsors.

In a world often divided by borders and rivalries, such friendship amid fierce on-field rivalry are a true depiction to how sports can be a unifying factor between the two waring neighbours.