Fact Check: Misleading claim about Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem breaking Neeraj Chopra’s javelin record goes viral
The Men’s Javelin Throw competition at the Olympics is scheduled for August 6, 2024
By Sibahathulla Sakib Published on 2 Aug 2024 12:27 PM GMT
Claim: Viral Threads post claims Arshad Nadeem from Pakistan broke India’s Neeraj Chopra’s javelin throw record at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Fact: The claim is misleading. Arshad Nadeem became the first South Asian athlete to cross the 90-meter mark in javelin at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, not at the 2024 Olympics.
Hyderabad: The high-stakes contests between India and Pakistan, whether in cricket or hockey, frequently capture headlines. Amid the ongoing 2024 Paris Olympics, the focus has shifted to the javelin throw competition between Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem.
Recently, a viral claim stated that Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem broke the 90-meter mark, surpassing India’s Neeraj Chopra’s record during the Men’s Javelin Throw competitions at the Olympics.
A Threads user shared a photo of Nadeem with the caption, “Breaking News, ARSHAD NADEEM broke Neeraj Chopra’s record to become the first ever athlete from South Asia to cross 90M mark in javelin.” ( Archive )
Similar posts with Olympic hashtags can be found here and here. (Archive), (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading.
We found that the Men’s Javelin Throw competition at the Olympics is scheduled for August 6, 2024, and the final on August 08, 2024, meaning the events have yet to occur. This indicates that the claim is not related to the 2024 Olympics.
Then we found that on June 30, 2022, Neeraj Chopra achieved his best throw 89.94 m at the Stockholm Diamond League in Sweden.
A keyword search directed us to an X post by the official Commonwealth Sport account dated August 8, 2022, showing Arshad Nadeem participating in the javelin throw and achieving a record.
Additionally, a keyword search revealed a report by The Bridge from August 8, 2022, titled ‘Watch: Arshad Nadeem becomes first South Asian to breach 90m mark.’
The report confirmed that Arshad Nadeem set a new Commonwealth Games record by becoming the first South Asian to throw beyond 90 meters, securing a gold medal.
Neeraj Chopra was unable to participate in the Commonwealth Games 2022 due to a groin injury.
Hence the claim that Arshad Nadeem broke Neeraj Chopra’s record at the 2024 Olympics is misleading. While Nadeem did set a record by surpassing the 90-meter mark, it occurred at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, not the 2024 Olympics.
