Pakistan’s javelin ace Arshad Nadeem on Friday received his gold medal during a presentation ceremony at the Paris Olympics 2024.
The ceremony was held in the Champions Park near the Eiffel Tower in the French capital.
Arshad Nadeem became the first-ever individual gold medalist in the Olympics for Pakistan after his exceptional throw of 92.97 meters in the javelin final.
In the first stage, the star javelin player failed to make a mark in his first attempt, however, he made a remarkable recovery with 92.97m in his second attempt, a new Olympic record.
He surpassed Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen, who threw farthest at 90.57 during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Arshad Nadeem’s gold medal ended Pakistan’s 32-year medal drought in the Olympics.
India’s Neeraj Chopra was awarded the silver medal with an 89.45m throw in his second attempt while all of his other attempts were deemed as “No Throw”.
Anderson Peters of Grenada secured the bronze medal with his longest throw of 88.54 m.
Following his triumph in the Paris Olympics 2024, Arshad Nadeem said that he was in rhythm and confident of winning the gold medal.
He expressed hope of celebrating August 14 with a gold medal, emphasising that it was his day and that he could have achieved an even longer throw.
Following his triumph at the Paris Olympics 2024, the Punjab government announced Rs100 million for Arshad.
Sindh government had also announced a Rs50 million reward for Pakistan’s star athlete.
Later, the National Assembly (NA) unanimously passed a resolution to confer a civil award on Arshad Nadeem.
The resolution, presented during the NA session, praised Nadeem’s remarkable achievement in the javelin throw event and recommended that the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari bestow a civil award upon Nadeem in recognition of his extraordinary accomplishment.
