No other athlete from Pakistan had ever won a gold medal at the Olympics in individual events. But, Arshad Nadeem who was 27 years old didn’t just break one of the strongest fields in recent twelve-men javelin throw finals at the Games but also broke an Olympic record when he finished first on the podium in Paris yesterday evening, ahead of Neeraj Chopra from India who got a silver medal after defending his championship title.
He fell to his knees with his hands covering his face in disbelief after his second attempt went as far as 92.97m, which earned him a silver at the last World Athletics Championships in Budapest that Neeraj won.
It was enough for Pakistan to take home their historic gold while Neeraj’s best performance this season of 89.45m gave him a silver medal and Grenada’s Anderson Peters’ best throw covered 88.54m for him to earn bronze.
Arshad Nadeem already knew he had secured gold by the time he took off for his sixth and final flight on the runway. However, it appeared that he was trying to break his own Olympic record set during the second attempt. He almost did so when he sent it downfield as far as 91.79m.
At the end of the final event, Nadeem lost control over himself, sobbing and embracing his coach as well as teammates sitting at Javelin Event stand behind runway track
The javelin final was watched together by some of Pakistan cricket’s top players amidst celebrations in Pakistan
Their hockey team first place finish saw them to their only gold medal in an Olympic tournament since forty years ago when they last won it back in 1984.
This is also Pakistan’s first ever track and field medal at any Olympics since their debut appearance in Barcelona twenty-nine years back or nearly three decades ago.
