Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem makes history at Olympics: Decoding his achievements
Pakistan's javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem stunned one and all by walking away with the gold medal event at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He clocked a throw of 92.97m in the final, which is now an Olympic record. As his last throw traveled 91.79m, Nadeem now owns the top two largest throws in the history of the multi-sport event. Here we decode his accomplishments.
First to register two 90m throws in Olympics javelin final
Nadeem became the first athlete to register two 90m throws in the final of an Olympics. While his first attempt was a foul, he recorded a monstrous 92.97m throw on his second try. Nadeem clocked 88.72m, 79.40m, and 84.87m in his next three attempts before unleashing 91.79m in his final one. His brilliance meant India's Neeraj Chopra had to settle for the silver (89.45m).
Nadeem breaks Olympic record, enters unique club
Nadeem broke the Olympic record of Norway's Andreas Thorkildsen, who managed 90.57m at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. As mentioned, Nadeem now owns the two best Olympic throws. As per Sportstar, Johannes Vetter of Germany is the only other javelin thrower who has surpassed the 90m mark more than once in a final (4 in 2017 Lucerne Diamond League).
Sixth best throw of all time in men's javelin
Overall, Arshad recorded the sixth-largest throw in the history of the sport. He is now also an Asian record holder. Here are the best throws in men's javelin: Jan Zelezny (CZE) - 98.48, Johannes Vetter (GER) - 97.76, Thomas Rohler (GER) - 93.90, Aki Parviainen (FIN) - 93.09, Andersen Peters (GRE) - 93.03, Arshad Nadeem (PAK) - 92.97.
Medals in early days
Arshad burst onto the scenes with a bronze-medal finish at the 2016 South Asian Games. He clinched another bronze at the Asian Junior Athletics Championship held in Ho Chi Minh later that year. Arshad also won a bronze at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, where he set a new national record of 80.75m.
Fifth place in debut Olympics
In December 2019, Arshad clinched the gold medal with an 86.29m record throw at the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal. Meanwhile, the 2020 Tokyo Games saw Arshad became the first-ever Pakistani track and field athlete to qualify for the Olympics. He cleared the qualification stage and eventually finished fifth with a throw of 84.62m. Chopra clinched the gold medal that year (87.58).
Glory in Commonwealth Games, World Athletics Championships
In August 2022, he won a gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Nadeem made the Games record with his throw of 90.18m on his fifth attempt. He hence clinched Pakistan's first athletics gold medal at the Commonwealth Games since 1962. In 2023, Nadeem won silver at the World Athletics Championships. He became Pakistan's first athlete with a podium finish at the Championships.
