Nadeem won gold with an Olympic record throw of 92.97m to end Pakistan’s 32-year medal drought at the Games.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem made history by winning the country’s first athletics medal at the Olympics when he won gold in the men’s javelin final in Paris.
The 27-year-old dethroned defending champion Neeraj Chopra of India and broke the Olympic record at the Stade de France on Thursday.
Nadeem raised his arms in celebration after breaking the Olympic record with his second throw, which reached an impressive 92.97 meters – the best in the world this year.
Chopra, comfortably ahead in the qualifiers and favorite to win, looked to be in top form. His best mark of 89.45 meters was also his only valid attempt, as he fouled on the other five attempts.
Anderson Peters of Granada won bronze with 88.54 meters, a redemptive moment for the two-time world champion after failing to reach the final of the Tokyo Games three years ago.
However, the night belonged to the humble man from Mian Channu, a small town in the eastern province of Punjab, who returned from a knee injury earlier this year and made history for his country despite the crumbling athletics facilities in the mad country. for cricket.
Of Pakistan’s eight previous Olympic medals, six came in men’s hockey and one each in men’s wrestling and boxing.
Nadeem’s achievement also marked Pakistan’s first medal in eight Olympics, with the last medal coming in 1992 when the men’s hockey team won bronze in Barcelona, Spain.
The men’s javelin throw final was BIG
92.97m OR Arshad Nadeem
89.45m @Neeraj_chopra1
88.54m Anderson Peters #Paris2024 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/jPrVZZ6txl– World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 8, 2024
Pakistan ‘so proud’ of Nadeem
Two months before the Olympics, Al Jazeera’s Abid Hussain spent a day with Arshad Nadeem as he prepared for the Games.
Back then in June, Nadeem told us he felt “strong and fit” for the world event, adding that he was “quite hopeful of a strong performance in Paris.”
The world record remains with Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic, who achieved a remarkable 98.48, but the new Olympic record, along with the end of a long wait for his country, drew a reaction from all of Nadeem’s compatriots.
Pakistani cricketer Fakhar Zaman said the country was “beaming with pride” in a post on X, while Nadeem’s mentor and former coach Rasheed Ahmad Saqi was emotional after his protégé won the gold medal.
“This is a miracle from God and a gift to the entire nation on our independence day next week. I am very proud of Arshad,” he told Al Jazeera moments after the gold medal was confirmed.
Saqi claims to be confident that Nadeem would win a medal and predicted it would be gold.
“I believed he would break some record. I was sure he would break his own record or Olympic record and that’s what he did.”
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also congratulated Arshad Nadeem for creating history for the country.
He posted on X: “You made the whole nation proud.”
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
