Pakistan athlete Arshad Nadeem was decorated with an Olympic gold medal in Paris, France on Friday, a day after he secured the coveted medal and broke the Olympic record with a throw of 92.97 metres.
It was the first time after 40 years that Pakistan’s national anthem was played at the mega event. The country’s flag was in the centre and raised the highest among the other two flags.
“When I threw the javelin, I got the feel of it leaving my hand and sensed it could be an Olympic record,” said the 27-year-old Nadeem after securing the medal on Thursday.
It is a major feat not just for Nadeem, but for the South Asian nation which won their last Olympic medal 32 years ago.
Before Nadeem’s remarkable victory, Pakistan had never won an individual gold medal at the Olympics.
All of Pakistan’s previous three gold medals came in field hockey, with their team winning gold in 1960, 1968 and 1984.
Prior to Thursday, only two Pakistan athletes had won individual medals of any colour - with a wrestling bronze in 1960 and a boxing bronze in 1988.
Since the 1992 Barcelona Games, Pakistan has not won a medal of any kind.
Nadeem, the 2022 Commonwealth champion who was fifth at the Tokyo Olympics and a silver medallist at last year’s Budapest world championships, said the result was “very important for Pakistan because I have worked very hard over the years for this”.
“My training and hard work have paid off.”
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Nadeem had said he had big ambitions for throwing even further.
“I was expecting to go even further and I am hoping to go even further,” he said after his new Olympic record beat his previous best by more than two metres.
“I will try harder to even extend my personal best to over 95 metres.”
