Despite the false start in the final, Arshad Nadeem shattered the Olympic record to bag the javelin gold medal. (REUTERS)
Less than a week since his crowning moment at the Paris Olympics, Pakistan’s javelin star Arshad Nadeem revealed he travelled for the Games carrying an injury.
Despite a false start and the jitters around the niggle, Arshad stunned the world with two sensational throws in the men’s javelin final, breaking the Olympic record before clinching the gold medal.
“Just five minutes before I had to go to the call room (the room where athletes in track and field events gather before their names are announced and they appear on the track), I felt a pain. I told my coach. And he said, ‘kuch nahi hota, tu sher hai (there will be no issues, you are a lion,’” Nadeem revealed.
Speaking at the Prime Minister House in Islamabad on Wednesday, Nadeem said: “I had actually picked up an injury while throwing on 21st July when we were training at Punjab Stadium. We were supposed to fly on 24th July. We (coach, doctor and myself) didn’t tell anyone.
“During the first throw, I felt some pain and the doctor applied some medicine. I told him I didn’t know if that would have any effect. The doctor also told me ‘tum sher ho’. Both the doctor and coach told me the same words.”
After making a false start where he faltered in his run-up, Nadeem made up with a whopping 92.97m throw to shatter the Olympic record and confirming the gold. Arshad also finished his final attempt with a 91.79m and secured three of the four best throws in the final.
“In the warm-up throw, it crossed 82m then I knew I would be able to throw. But in the first throw my run-up was ruined twice. But in the second throw as soon as the javelin left my hand, I knew it was a 90+ throw. After that throw, I came to my coach and said we have gold and Olympic Record. Now let me try for world record,” Nadeem said.
Nadeem thereby became the first track and field athlete from Pakistan to win a gold medal, also ending the country’s 40-year-drought in topping the Olympic podium.
The 27-year-old also added that he has his eyes fixed on breaking the javelin world record set by three-time Olympic gold medalist Jan Zelesny. The former Czech Republic athlete broke the world record four times during his career, peaking with a best of 98.48m in May 1996.
Arshad is placed sixth on the all-time list with his 92.97m effort ranked the 16th best in history. India’s Neeraj Chopra, who claimed the silver medal in Paris behind Nadeem, ranks 25th on the list with his personal best of 89.94m throw in Stockholm in 2022.
