Sunday, 22 September 2024
Sunday, 22 September 2024
Arshad Nadeem: He was just a poor boy from a poor family
Arshad Nadeem was born on January 2, 1997, the third-oldest among seven siblings in a family with limited financial resources in the Khanewal area in Pakistan’s Punjab. His father, a construction worker, was the sole breadwinner of the family.
Nadeem's skills were evident from a young age. He excelled in various sports during his school years, including cricket, badminton, football, and athletics. His skills in athletics was noticed by coach Rasheed Ahmad Saqi, who mentored and encouraged him to focus on javelin throw.
With his father's support and encouragement, Nadeem decided to pursue javelin throw as his primary sport. "People have no idea how Arshad got to this place today,” his father, Muhammad Ashraf, told PTI after his qualification to the Olympics finals on Tuesday. “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."
The only athlete Pakistan banked on
When Pakistan's national sports board was deciding who to finance among the seven athletes bound for the Paris Olympics, only Arshad Nadeem and his coach were deemed good enough for funds.
Nadeem and his coach, Salman Fayyaz Butt, were the lucky ones to have their air tickets financed by the Pakistan Sports Board.
On Thursday, the 27-year-old from Khanewal village in Punjab region repaid the faith with an Olympic record and country's first individual gold at the biggest sporting stage on the planet.
The 6'3" man sent the spear to 92.97m in a jaw-dropping performance to shatter the previous Olympic record of 90.57m and boss a field that also featured his good friend but fierce rival from across the border Neeraj Chopra.
Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra: Friends and champions
The rivalry and camaraderie of Chopra and Nadeem is well documented. In the last Olympics in Tokyo, the Indian star won gold for his country while Nadeem finished fifth in the final standings.
Few months back, when Arshad appealed for authorities to replace his old javelin – which he had reportedly been using for seven to eight years – with a new one for his training, Chopra promptly supported Nadeem's case on social media.
The defending champion Indian had to be content with a silver medal this time despite a season's best performance of 89.45m. The 26-year-old is yet to cross the 90m mark in his career and that seems to be now playing on his mind in competitions.
Neeraj Chopra may not have won the champion’s medal in Paris, but he displayed the mettle of a champion even in defeat.
"Today was Arshad's day,” he acknowledged graciously. “I gave my best, but some things need to be addressed and worked on. It's time to improve the game now. We will sit and discuss and enhance our performance."
Chopra’s mother, Saroj Devi, showed why her son is the embodiment of sportsman spirit, speaking like only the mother of a champion can to a video reporter from ANI: “...the one who has got gold is also my son; they all worked hard.”
The rise and rise of Arshad Nadeem
Nadeem has been doing well for a long time. He won a silver medal at the World Championship last year and also a gold in the Commonwealth Games 2022 with a 90.18m throw.
On Tuesday he qualified for the finals with a throw of 86.59m, bested by Chopra who produced a massive throw off 89.34 to qualify first.
Nadeem's monster throw – the sixth longest in history -- came in his second attempt. It was like a bolt from the blue that stunned the Stade de France.
With this performance, the 27-year-old also extracted revenge for his loss to Chopra in the 2023 Budapest World Championships.
It was not the first 90m effort from Nadeem, having thrown 90.18m to win gold in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
He is the second Asian to have thrown beyond 90m, the other being Chao-Tsun Cheng (91.36m in 2017) of Chinese Taipei.
Chopra did not take part in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games due to an injury.
Nadeem was to compete with Chopra in the Hangzhou Asian Games in October last year but pulled out at the last minute due to an injury.
He was beaten by Chopra in the 2018 Asian Games and 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Arshad Nadeem gives Pakistan its first Olympic gold
Nadeem had come into the Olympics with just one competition under his belt -- an 84.21m throw at the Paris Diamond League last month.
Despite his career being hit by elbow, knee and back problems and burdened by the lack of top facilities and equipment available to athletes of other countries, Nadeem has already achieved a lot by getting the Pakistani people to closely follow his feats instead of cricket.
Right after Nadeem qualified for the finals for the second successive Olympics, there was celebration at his house where his parents, brothers, wife and two children and fellow villagers raised slogans of 'Pakistan Zindabad'. His parents also distributed sweets.
"If my son can bring home an Olympic medal for Pakistan it would be the proudest moment for us and everyone in this village," his father had said.
Well, he could now throw the biggest party of his life after what transpired in the French capital.
