A bronze medal in the Paris Olympic Games and winner of the Diamond League crown on Saturday. Grenada’s champion javelin thrower Anderson Peters will not forget 2024.
The two-time world champion won the Diamond League finale in Brussels with a throw of 87.87 metres, pushing India’s Neeraj Chopra to another second-placed finish.
In a way, he also scored a point over his friend Neeraj, who had finished ahead of Peters to win the silver at the Stade de France in Paris on August 8. On Saturday, Neeraj was one centimetre short of Peters.
“Ask any athlete. Any real competitor. It doesn’t matter if you win by an inch, a centimeter or a mile. Winning’s winning. Respect d nutmeg,” Peters, who won his first Diamond League trophy and a cheque of $30,000, wrote on his social media account.
Peters was on a high two years back after two great competitions — the World Championship gold medal in Eugene, the US, and the silver medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games — when his world came crashing down.
Peters, then 24, suffered injuries after he was beaten up on a boat on which a party was being held and thrown overboard. He faced a long road to recovery, struggled to regain ground after making a comeback last year — he could not even qualify for the finals of the Budapest World Championship — and could get back to full fitness only two weeks before the Paris Games.
He gave a glimpse of his return to form in the qualifying round of the Paris Olympic Games on August 6 with a second-best overall throw of 88.63 metres and two days later was third (88.54 metres) behind Arshad Naadem of Pakistan and Neeraj.
Peters almost went unnoticed on August 8 at the mixed zone crammed with mediapersons from the subcontinent and international press. He waited for a few minutes before it dawned upon a few that Peters was there to speak.
Like Nadeem, who had two 90-plus throws in Paris — the humongous 92.97 and 91.79m — Peters also in Eugene had 90.21 metres and 90.54.
“Yes, that was a high in Eugene. Wasn’t it? Now I am feeling healthy after a long time and it shows in my performance,” he would say.
Then at the official news conference, as Neeraj, seated with Nadeem and Peters, was expressing his frustration in dealing with his long-term groin injury, the Grenadian backed his peer. “I know how it feels. Last two years I have been struggling to get back to my top form and it was only in the last 15 days that I felt I was niggle-free.”
True. The Paris podium finish was followed by the Diamond League triumph in Lausanne and then Saturday’s final flourish. Peters is back and how.
