He may have entered this competition as the underdog, perhaps with a little less of the name recognition of his Indian rival Neeraj Chopra, but Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem wrote his name in the stars in the Stade de France on Thursday night, winning the men’s javelin final to become the first track and field athlete from Pakistan to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games.
And he did it with panache, beating his longtime rival and equally longtime friend Chopra, and smashing an Olympic record in the process.
The record of 90.57, held by Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen since Bejing 2008, receded into the rear view mirror as Nadeem put body and soul into his second throw, shocked delight rising from the stands when the distance came up: 92.97.
Nadeem threw his arms up in celebration and near disbelief when the record flashed up on the board, confirming that it was the longest throw in the world this year.
In taking gold, the javelin thrower became his country’s first medallist since 1992, when it won a bronze medal in men’s hockey in Barcelona. With his record-breaking throw he became only the fourth athlete to cross the 90m mark in the men’s javelin at the Olympic Games.
The 27-year-old, who finished fifth in Tokyo with a throw of 84.62m and won silver at the world championships in 2023, already held the honour of being the first Pakistani to qualify for the final of any track and field event in the history of the Olympics.
Once a promising cricketer, he abandoned the sport after taking up the javelin, describing the decision as “the best thing that happened to me.
“I wouldn’t be in the Olympics otherwise,” he said before the Games. “I know I have a natural talent for athletics and I’m grateful, but being a non-cricket athlete in Pakistan has challenges, like not getting the required resources and facilities.”
Nadeem has spoken before about his difficult journey to the Olympics, saying he had reached the top of the sport with no access to state-of-art grounds or training facilities. He has also used his platform to call for more funding for track and field athletes in Pakistan, saying: “In this day and age, you have to provide world-class facilities to develop athletes as the competition is getting tougher and tougher. You can’t produce another Arshad without giving them those facilities.”
Before the competition all eyes had been on Chopra, the reigning Olympic champion. But the Indian javelin superpower could not achieve his stated goal of breaking the 90m mark, nor his hope of winning a second Olympic gold.
Wearing a bright blue bandana, Chopra bounced out into the stadium hoping to once again put his nation into a state of manic joy, but the 26-year-old looked off his best and made just one of his six throws, throwing a season best of 89.45 with his second attempt. Grenada’s Anderson Peters hit all but one of his throws, with his best of 88.54 winning him the bronze medal.
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His Pakistani counterpart can now expect a little bit of the delirium that enveloped India when Chopra won the country’s first ever Olympic athletics gold medal in this event in Tokyo, making him a social media star overnight and sparking conversations about the marital status of this most eligible of bachelors.
The pair have defied the sometimes poisonous national rivalry between sporting teams from India and Pakistan, and over the course of their careers have become good friends.
In qualifying Nadeem had recorded an 86.59m throw on his first attempt to hit the direct qualification mark of 84m. But Chopra went even further, launching a monster throw of 89.34m on his first attempt. “It gives me immense joy that there are only two of us from south Asia, myself and Neeraj bhai [brother], who are performing on the world stage,” said Nadeem. “I hope that we continue to perform for our respective countries and make the names of our countries shine bright globally.”
Soon after his victory, the plaudits for the new Olympian champion began in earnest, with education rights campaign Malala Yousafzai, leading the charge. “Congratulations, Arshad Nadeem!,” she wrote on the social media platform X. “You made history and will continue to be a champion and legend inspiring young Pakistanis to believe in their dreams.”
