India is lower than Pakistan in the Paris Olympics 2024 medal table for the first time since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics thanks to Arshad Nadeem's gold medal.

Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem not only threw the javelin to an Olympic record of 92.97m at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Thursday night, but also took the country to 53rd place on the medal table. Nadeem became the first track-and-field athlete from his country to win an Olympic gold medal and was also the first medal for his country at the Paris Games.

For Pakistan, this one gold medal is enough to move them past India in the medal table. Although India won 5 medals – including Neeraj Chopra's 1 silver and 4 bronze – Nadeem's lone gold is likely to leave them behind Pakistan in the medals tally.

Despite winning more medals than Pakistan, India's lower position is due to the International Olympic Committee's ranking. The main method of ranking countries in the Olympics is based on the number of gold medals won. Even if a nation has 10 silver or bronze medals, it will rank lower than a single gold medal in the case of Pakistan.

A look at the Paris Olympics 2024 medal table after Thursday night…

Medal table in Paris Olympics 2024 with position of India and Pakistan.

The number of silver and bronze medals only applies if two nations are tied on the number of gold medals won.

With India unlikely to add a gold to its existing medal tally, it will overtake neighbors Pakistan for the first time since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. While India failed to win a single medal in Barcelona that time, Pakistan bagged a bronze medal thanks to their third-placed hockey team.

What is the size of Pakistan's contingent?

The total size of Pakistan's Olympic contingent was just 7. Six of these players did not make it to the finals. Arshad Nadeem was the only one who not only reached the final but also hit the jackpot with a gold medal.

India, on the other hand, had a 117-member Olympic contingent but has not won a single gold medal since the Tokyo Olympics 2021 when Neeraj Chopra won the men's javelin title.

India will regret having six athletes finish fourth, including Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Mirabai Chanu. But the fact is that even if you convert all of them into medals, none of them were in contention for gold.

Even if they had added the six medals they lost, Pakistan would have finished ahead of India with their only gold medal.

Hon'ble Sports Minister of the country Mansukh Mandaviya will surely point out in Parliament that a huge budget of Rs 470 Crores was allocated for the sportsmen who participated in the Paris Olympics. Out of this Rs 96 crore was allocated for athletics alone but all we have to show for it is Neeraj Chopra's only silver medal.

Now the nation is wondering what would have happened if the weight of wrestler Vinesh Phogat was not more than 100 grams. Apart from Neeraj Chopra, Vinesh was probably the only one with a realistic shot at winning the elusive gold medal.

After Thursday night's men's javelin final, sports fans in the country are left wondering 'what if'.