Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem ends nation's 32-year wait for an Olympic medal; becomes first individual to win gold
Pakistan Olympic hero Arshad Nadeem jokes with father-in-law, says 'would have preferred land over buffalo'
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem on Thursday (Aug 8) scripted history for his nation as he became the first Olympian in 32 years to win an Olympic medal at the ongoing Paris Games. Arshad, who wongold medal in the javelin throw for Pakistan ended the nation’s drought having carried the weight of the entire nation. He was the flag bearer for the nation and smashed the Olympic record to win the gold medal with a throw of 92.97 meters.
Arshad Nadeem scripts history
Coming into the Olympics as one of the favourites to challenge the defending champion, Neeraj Chopra of India, Arshad was set to end the nation’s drought at the quadrennial event. Not only did he cross the coveted 90-m mark once but did it twice during his six throws to set up a benchmark for the nation. Nadeem with the Olympic medal became only the third Pakistani athlete to win an individual medal at the Olympics.
He joined Hussain Shah (1998 Seoul Olympics bronze) and Muhammad Bashir (1960 Rome Olympics bronze) to have won individual Olympic medals for the nation.
Overall Arshad’s gold medal was Pakistan’s fourth in their history having won three in field hockey in the past. The last gold medal for the nation came at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 with the last medal of any sort coming at the Barcelona Games in 1992 where they again won bronze in field hockey.
Who is Arshad Nadeem?
Born in Mian Channu in the Punjab province, Arshad was a born-athlete and excelled in multiple sports during his early school days. However, it was not until he met his coach Rasheed Ahmad Saqi who discovered his talent in javelin throw. He would often represent his school and college in multiple sports including cricket, but javelin throw became his primary sport after he started taking it seriously during his college days.
Now 27, Arshad in 2015 started taking the event seriously and attracted attention after his famous throws at the Punjab Youth Festivals. He received a scholarship in 2016 from World Athletics and never looked back since then.
