Arshad Nadeem's home village, Mian Channu, was filled with jubilant celebrations after he secured Pakistan's inaugural Olympic medal in athletics, winning gold in the men's javelin and pushing defending champion Neeraj Chopra of India into second place. Nadeem's victory on Thursday in Paris is particularly remarkable given his humble beginnings in a mud brick house in a poverty-stricken area of rural Pakistan, where he trained in local wheat fields using homemade javelins. The news of his win sparked widespread joy among his fellow Pakistanis, with messages of congratulations flooding in from national leaders and festivities including dancing and fireworks in his usually tranquil village.
"We have been unable to sleep since last night due to the constant visits from relatives, media, friends, fans, and government officials to congratulate the family," his eldest brother, Shahid Nadeem, shared with Reuters on Friday. "People from neighboring villages came to watch the match here. We set up a large screen. They expressed their joy through chanting, dancing, and fireworks." Pakistan typically allocates its limited sports funding to team sports like cricket and hockey. Nadeem, who likened his Olympic showdown with Chopra to the historic cricket rivalry between the two nations, has previously highlighted the challenges of being a non-cricket athlete in Pakistan, where resources and facilities for his sport are scarce. However, his record-breaking 92.97-meter javelin throw in Paris has now earned Pakistan its first Olympic medal since the 1992 Barcelona Games and its first gold medal since the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
"This gold medal is a gift from me to the entire nation on the occasion of Independence Day (on Aug. 14)," Nadeem stated on the social media platform X. Nadeem, 27, who is married with two children, hails from a large, impoverished family in the central Pakistani region of Khanewal, where he first nurtured his Olympic aspirations. His district lacked reliable water and electricity, let alone proper sports facilities for training. "Initially, we made homemade javelins using long eucalyptus branches with iron tips. The fields in our village were our training grounds," Shahid recounted. "We created our own weight training equipment using iron rods, oil canisters, and concrete." The situation improved when Nadeem joined the local power utility Wapda, which provided its own sports facilities.
Despite this, Nadeem was still training with inferior javelins just months before the Paris Olympics, until a last-minute appeal led the Pakistani government to intervene, providing better equipment. "The government sponsored javelins and other facilities for him. He brought back three new international standard javelins from South Africa," his mother, Razia Parveen, explained. "I am very happy for Arshad and Pakistan... I offered prayers to thank God immediately after his victory," she said from their home, which now houses a gym built by Nadeem and his brothers, equipped with gear like iron rods and cement-filled canisters. She also extended her congratulations to India's silver medal winner, Neeraj Chopra.
Shahid Nadeem noted that all four brothers are involved in sports. "My two younger brothers and I put aside our passion and took up jobs to support the family," he added. However, Nadeem's persistence with his passion appears poised to transform the family's fortunes. Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz of Punjab province, where Nadeem is from, announced a cash reward of 100 million rupees ($359,195) for his "hard work." Nadeem was greeted with a hero's welcome upon his return to Pakistan. "Arshad is living proof that there's nothing you can't accomplish when you dream big, train hard, and never give up," the US embassy in Islamabad stated on X.
