Pakistan’s national icon Arshad Nadeem has hoped that his Olympic glory would inspire the young generation to become javelin throwers.
“I am very happy that I earned a good name for Pakistan worldwide. Similarly, our youth will hopefully play this sport and lead after seeing me,” he said while appearing on Dus aired on Aaj News on Friday night.
Nadeem made the whole nation proud after winning the gold medal—it was the country’s first individual gold medal at the event and the first after 40 years.
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.
He acknowledged that the government was providing facilities but called for constructing a stadium fully dedicated to athletics to host athletics events.
“The government should also focus on games so that all players are given good facilities,” Nadeem said.
When asked, the javelin thrower stated that the Water & Power Development Authority supported him by providing him with a job in the Lahore Electric Supply Company.
He went on to add that every department should provide jobs to all players as the government departments act like “support” in the athlete’s career as it was doing in his career.
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When asked about the comments made by Indian athlete Neeraj Chopra’s mother, Nadeem said that mothers are special to everyone.
On Thursday, Saroj Devi told an Indian reporter that “the guy who got gold [Arshad Nadeem] is also my child as everyone goes there after doing a lot of hard work.”
The Pakistani athlete was happy to hear such comments. “Neeraj Chopra’s mother is like my mother. If I won so I am also her son. If he [Neeraj] had won I would have been happy as in the athletic championship he won and I got silver in the past.”
