Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem on Thursday scripted history and won gold in the Men's Javelin throw final at the Paris Olympics 2024. Arshad Nadeem gave Pakistan its first Olympic medal after 32 years with a spectacular 92.7-meter throw in the Javelin final. While Arshad Nadeem won gold at the Paris Olympics, India's Neeraj Chopra settled for silver in the event. It was the first time, Arshad Nadeem defeated Neeraj Chopra who had won the gold medal during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Notably, before the Olympics 2024 even started, Arshad Nadeem was struggling to buy a javelin for himself. Yes! you heard it right. Olympics gold medalist Arshad Nadeem's life has been full of ups & downs and he has faced a lot of financial struggles in his life. Below is all about Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem who won the gold medal at Paris Olympics 2024-
Who is Arshad Nadeem?
Arshad Nadeem was born on January 2, 1997 in a small town near Mian Channu city in Pakistan's Punjab province. It is about 300 kilometers from Lahore. He is the third of seven siblings. His father Mohammad Ashraf is a retired construction worker. Cricket was Arshad Nadeem's first love, but his family refused to let him play this sport. Later, Arshad tried his hands in athletics and made javelin throw his profession.
Arshad Nadeem's coach Faisal Ahmed has played an important role in nurturing his talent. Faisal Ahmed has trained Arshad Nadeem from the beginning and made him a world-class athlete. Nadeem crossed the 90-meter mark for the first time during the Commonwealth Games. He is still the only South Asian thrower to throw 90 meters.
Talking about Arshad Nadeem's early life, his father Muhammad Ashraf revealed that people donated money so that he could train. "People have no idea how Arshad got to this place today. How his fellow villagers and relatives used to donate money so that he could travel to other cities for his training and events in his early days," said his father Muhammad Ashraf as quoted by a news portal.
It is pertinent to mention here that in March, Arshad Nadeem said the only world-class javelin that he had been using since 2015 for competitions was damaged. In fact, Neeraj Chopra even called for better support for the Pakistan star when he made the revelation about the javelin.
Arshad Nadeem's career in javelin throw began in 2015, and he received a scholarship from World Athletics in 2016, which allowed him to train at the IAAF High-Performance Training Centre in Mauritius.
Arshad Nadeem at Paris Olympics 2024
27-year-old Arshad Nadeem did not have a great start in the final. His run-up was not right during the first throw. Because of this, he committed a foul. But in the second attempt, Nadeem broke the Olympic record. Nadeem's throw was 92.97 meters. From here his gold was almost confirmed. Performing brilliantly in the final, he threw two throws of more than 90 meters. India's star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra also gave his best performance of the series with a throw of 89.45 meters.