MIAN CHANNU, Pakistan: Dozens of people gathered in front of the home of Pakistan athlete Arshad Nadeem to watch the hulking javelin thrower take part in the Olympic Games final round late Thursday. The contest was broadcast live by a digital projector onto a screen hanging on the back of a truck in his village near the small city of Mian Channu in Punjab, Pakistan.
As the javelin soared through the sky in Paris to a new Olympic record and a gold medal for Arshad Nadeem, thousands of kilometres away the cheers of the locals rang into the night.
Nadeem’s 35-year-old brother, Muhammad Azeem told AFP that he did a great job and created history. He added, “We are proud of him”. Villages danced to the celebratory beat of a drum and others clapped and chanted slogans as it became clear Arshad Nadeem had won. Nadeem had pledged me that he would play well, go abroad, win a medal and make the country proud,” Arshad’s mother Raziah Parveen said.
Despite practicing with shaky equipment and with little access to the gyms and training grounds his global competitors have, Arshad Nadeem had given Pakistan its first Olympic gold medal in 32 years.
Commenting over the development, Nadeem’s former coach Rasheed Ahmed said he belongs to a small village Mian Channu and raised the Pakistani national flag at the global stage.
Arshad’s older brother Shahid Nadeem said that he made Arshad switch from playing cricket to javelin at a time when no one knew about javelin. Arshad Nadeem took that stick to the Olympics, set a new record and eventually won gold for Pakistan. Former local sports official Parvaiz Ahmed Dogar shared about the difficulties they faced to get professional training for Arshad Nadeem. Earlier, in March, Arshad Nadeem said that he owned just one javelin, which he had been using for the past seven years and it was damaged. Talking to media following his win, Arshad Nadeem said the struggle was all valuable.
