Gold medal, Olympic record and diplomatic feat… The extraordinary evening of Arshad Nadeem, Pakistani javelin thrower

He broke the Olympic record, brought home Pakistan’s first individual gold medal and defeated the defending champion India. Arshad Nadeem has become a hero in his country where many gifts are now promised to him.

Many users of X (formerly Twitter) asked this question on Friday, August 9: what is behind the hashtag #ArshadNadeem? It is actually the name of the new Olympic javelin champion, Pakistani Arshad Nadeem, who achieved a historic double feat. He was crowned Olympic javelin champion on Thursday, bringing his country its first Olympic athletics medal in history.

With a throw of 92.97m on his second attempt, Nadeem took the lead in the competition, smashing the Olympic record by more than two metres in the process. He beat India’s Neeraj Chopra, the 2021 Tokyo champion, who came close to his record with 89.45m, and Grenadian Anderson Peters (88.54m). At 27 years old, Arshad Nadeem, the 2023 world vice-champion, had already made history for his country at the Tokyo Olympics: he became the first athlete from his country to qualify for an Olympic athletics final.

Olympic feats celebrated all night in Mian Channu, his village in Punjab bordering India. When his victory was announced, the streets were ablaze with joy. “He achieved the impossible. He brought home the first medal in 32 years, gold, while we have nothing.”exults Muhammad Azeem, wearing the green and white Pakistan jersey. Around him, people are dancing and singing, as shown in images posted on social networks.

“Arshad Nadeem is a child of Mian Channu. He came from a small village and carried Pakistani colours high internationally”proudly asserts Rasheed Ahmed, the coach who spotted him in 2011. It must be said that nothing predestined this 1.90m colossus, father of two, to world glory. Nor even to javelin throwing. Like many Pakistanis, Arshad Nadeem has long dreamed of cricket. Spotted for his qualities in the discipline, he finally turned to athletics, on the advice of one of his brothers.

In his free time, Arshad Naheem has tried everything. Shot put, javelin, discus, hammer, long jump, high jump, triple jump, and even 100m and 200m. In 2015, he was hired by the Pakistani Water and Electricity Authority, a government authority with a budget to support sports talent. This was the turning point in his career in a country where the average monthly income is 167 euros. He then discovered professionalization, intensive training, and travel for training.

On Thursday evening, Arshad Nadeem broke his record by more than five meters to beat the Indian athlete Neeraj Chopra, who had beaten him at the World Championships in Budapest. Another very strong symbol. Since 1947, and the violent partition of Pakistan with India, the rivalry has indeed been very great between the two nations. The memory of this violent period, which caused several hundred thousand deaths and led to the displacement of 12.5 million people, one of the largest population displacements in history, is still painful.

Arshad Naheem and Neeraj Chopra, who are friends, have regularly found themselves on the podium. But usually, the Indian climbed to the top step. Just after the competition, the Pakistani joined Chopra and took a photo under his Indian flag. An image that will remain from these Olympic Games… and which is particularly commented on social networks.

In Pakistan, Arshad Nadeem had no infrastructure behind him for a long time. “The athletes had to make do with wooden sticks wrapped in a javelin cordsays Parvaiz Ahmed Dogar, a former sports official in Punjab. When we saw that Arshad was progressing like a rocket, we managed to get him a real javelin which we brought from Sialkot.”400 kilometers away.

But on August 8, everything changed. Now, politicians and businessmen are rushing to announce, with great fanfare and through posts on social networks, how many gifts they want to give to the new national hero.