Arshad Nadeem won the Olympic men’s javelin title in Paris on Thursday, beating defending champion Neeraj Chopra of India to secure Pakistan's first individual medal at a Summer Games.
The six-feet-three-inch-tall Nadeem made the country proud by hurling the javelin to 92.97 metres, improving the Olympic record by over 2.50 metres, and forcing the packed-to-capacity crowd to give him a standing ovation.
"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.
Before Arshad’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.
But as the nation is in jubilation, some people are claiming on social media that Nadeem broke a 118-year record. Well, that’s not true.
In a post on X, sports journalist Faizan Lakhani wondered how could the javelin thrower have broken such a record.
“The previous record of the best ever throw in the Olympics was with Norway's Andreas Thorkildsen. He created that record in 2008 Beijing Olympics. That's 16 years,” he mentioned.
Lakhani said that javelin throw wasn't even in the Olympics 118 years ago. It was first included in 1908.
The Olympics, on its website, also mentions: “The javelin throw has been a part of the Olympics since 1908 as a men’s event. The women’s competition was added in 1932.”
If we were to calculate, then the claimed record would have taken place in 1906, the year when javelin throw did not even become a part of the Olympics.
In his post, Lakhani further added: “Records progress one after another, so when you break a record, duration is calculated from the previous record.”
Arshad Nadeem’s records in Olympic final
- First ever individual gold medal in Olympics for Pakistan.
- First ever medal in athletics in Olympics for Pakistan,
- First gold in Olympics in any discipline in the last 40 years for Pakistan.
- Sets new Olympic record for longest throw of 92.97m
