Depending upon which version of history you prefer, Chopra might also have delivered India’s first ever Olympic athletics medal of any hue after producing his decisive effort of 87.58 metres in the second round of throwing.

"It feels unbelievable," Chopra said.

"It is the first time India has won a gold in athletics, so I feel very good.

"We have just one gold here in other sports.

"This is our first Olympic medal for a very long time, and in athletics it is the first time we have gold, so it’s a proud moment for me and my country."

If he was big back home following his Asian Games and Commonwealth Games victories of 2018, the 23-year-old Indian Army officer from Panipat is going to be enormous when he returns in glory from Japan.

Despite arriving in his first Olympic final as top qualifier with 86.65m, the strong favourite to win was Germany’s 2017 world champion and 2019 world bronze medallist Johannes Vetter.

The 28-year-old from Dresden threw 97.76m last season - moving to second on the all-time list behind the 98.48m world record thrown by Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic in 1996 and earlier this season had reached 96.29m.

But Vetter blew out completely, failing to make the cut for the final three throws after two fouls and a meagre best of 82.52m.

Suddenly the event was wide open and Chopra took full advantage, although two Czech throwers moved up to take silver and bronze - respectively Jakub Vadlejch and Vitezslav Vesely, on 86.67m and 85.44m.

Arshad Nadeem, who threw 85.16m in qualifying to become the first athlete from Pakistan to make an Olympic final in athletics, finished fifth with a best of 84.62m.

The International Olympic Committee credits Norman Pritchard’s 200m and 200m hurdles silver medals at the 1900 Olympics in Paris to India, although World Athletics records show he had competed for Britain.

The Olympedia site, which records that Pritchard was born in Calcutta, has this to say: "Norman Pritchard is a 'controversial' Olympian in that he is claimed by both Britain and India as having competed for them at the 1900 Olympics.

"The doyen of British Olympic historians, Ian Buchanan, notes that Pritchard was a member of an old colonial family and, although he was born in India, he was undisputedly British.

"The Indian Olympic historian, Gulu Ezekiel, claims Pritchard based on his birth and the fact that he lived in India for many years."

A disappointed Vetter said: "If you watch the throws again, you can see it's not the right surface for me.

"It's a good surface for all the runners, for all the nice world records and Olympic records on the track, but not for a javelin thrower like me.

"So it really makes me sad.

"It's like driving a car autopilot.

"You can't brake, and I have to brake to throw far.

"I was trying everything.

"I was trying in every throw and every warm-up throw to find the right technique for this surface.

"But it was impossible today."

While the favourite for the men’s javelin may have flown off course, the favourite for the women’s high jump, three-times world champion Mariya Lasitskene of the ROC team, lived up to her billing with a performance of characteristic guile and talent on a night when Nicola McDermott of Australia was jumping like an athlete inspired.

McDermott cleared 1.89m, 1.93m, 1.96m, 1.98m and 2.00m with just one failed attempt to put herself into gold medal position with the challenge of 2.02m looming.

At that point she was accompanied by just two other medal contenders - Lasitskene, who had pulled herself back from the brink by clearing 1.96m at her third and final attempt, and the 19-year-old Ukrainian she beat in the Doha 2019 world final, Yaroslava Mahuchikh.

But after the Australian had failed her first attempt at 2.02m, Lasitskene cleared it on her first attempt to move into a gold medal position from which she would not be budged, even though McDermott kept the competition going by clearing 2.02m on her second attempt.

A second attempt clearance of 2.04m by Lasitskene made assurance double sure, however, and McDermott - whose best height was an Oceania record - was a thrilled silver medallist, with Mahuchikh, who could get no higher than 2.00m, passing after one failure at 2.02m but then failing at 2.04m, taking bronze.

The normally impassive Lasitskene relapsed into heavy sobs after winning before smiling broadly as she flourished the neutral flag of victory.

Lasitskene, enigmatic on the infield, was similarly opaque in her opinions, saying she did not remember anything at all.

The emotions poured out of the usually enigmatic Lasitskene after her victory.

"There is a fog on my mind, a real fog," she said.

"You are making mistakes, you are telling yourself you don't have the right to be here.

"How are you even here?

"But then you go on and continue jumping.

"You try to line up with your plans.

"You feel greed, you tell yourself I won't give it up, I don't want to, I can, I must.

"There must be nerves.

"There must be fear.

"I was deadly afraid.

"At some moments I was shaking, at some moments it felt like my arms were falling off, and then my head started spinning.

"It was a real horror.

"I can't imagine how my parents were watching this.

"I can't imagine how Vladas (her husband, commentator Vladas Lasitskas) was commentating on it.

"But maybe all those challenges were thrown at me so that I could overcome them."

Speaking about being unable to compete at Rio 2016 because of the uncovered scandal of Russian doping, she responded: "What happened five years ago probably should have happened.

"It shattered many careers, including mine, but probably I had to stand strong so that this (gold medal) would now hang around my neck.

"You have to get over that, you have to accept that.

"You have to understand that there are people who think you should not be here at all.

"And I understand them too, and I know why they think that, but I put too much of myself into this to just give up."

McDermott said: "I went into this competition at the Olympics thinking that anything is possible, and I had faith enough to go whatever the high jumper, whatever the height.

"So to be able to jump with these wonderful girls and Mariya to do 2.04m, I don't think I would have ever jumped that high if I didn't have these girls who pushed me."