The Paris Olympics were attended by seven Pakistani athletes but only two of them, namely Arshad Nadeem and his coach Salman Fayyaz Butt, got any financial support from the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB). This was in recognition of PSB’s belief in their potentiality.
It was shown how wise it was to select him on a Thursday when this 27-year-old boy coming from Punjab Village Khanewal made headlines.
He threw at an unbelievable distance of 92.97m, smashing the previous Olympic record of 90.57m.
This outstanding achievement gave not only Pakistan’s first individual gold medal at Olympics but also established Nadeem as a dominant person in his field that had his close friend Neeraj Chopra as an opponent.
In spite of throwing 89.45m which is his best performance this season, Chopra who is defending champion settled for silver medal.
For the last five years he has been yet to achieve this mark which bothers him deeply when competing.
On contrast with Nadeem’s financial difficulties, Chopra is one of the best paid sportsmen in his sphere. The man who stands six feet three inches tall today struggled financially to buy his own javelin back then he couldn’t even afford one at all.
“Nobody knows what Arshad has gone through until today; how every time villagers used to collect money so that he could travel other cities for training sessions or competitions during his early days,” said Muhammad Ashraf father told PTI immediately after reaching finals on Tuesday
Out of seven athletes representing Pakistan during those games held in Paris there were only six who failed to reach finals for their disciplines respectively unfortunately they didn’t make it pass preliminary rounds
But immediately he qualified for finals there was jubilation in Nadeem’s house hence making it his second straight Olympics qualification
With intense joy parents’ siblings wife two children and relatives shouted “Pakistan Zindabad” inside house. In order to mark this joyous moment, Arshad Nadeem’s parents also gave sweets to all the people who were present.
‘If my son wins an Olympic medal for Pakistan that will be our proudest moment and every other person in this village,” he noted before.”
