Pakistan javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem won millions of hearts when he clinched the gold medal at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Thursday. Nadeem's victory after outpacing India's ‘Golden Boy’ Neeraj Chopra sparked various reactions on social media. Several social media users from Pakistan celebrated the moment by sharing hilarious posts and memes online.
Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem was in his best form during the Olympics javelin throw final event. He pulled off an Olympic record-breaking effort of 92.97m on Thursday night.
Nadeem's performance remained unbeatable throughout the competition. Despite repeated attempts, only Neeraj Chopra could manage to make a throw closer to his feat. Neeraj Chopra clinched the silver medal at the Paris Games with a season's best throw of 89.45m after Nadeem set an Olympic record. 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 he had "worked very hard over the years for this".
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.
“When I threw the javelin, I got the feel of it leaving my hand and sensed it could be an Olympic record,” the 27-year-old Nadeem told AFP.
Stating that people back home in Pakistan and India were eager to see him and Neeraj Chopra compete together, Nadeem said, “Rivalry is there when it comes to cricket matches, other sports, the two countries have a rivalry, but it's a good thing for the young people in both countries to watch our sport and follow us.”
