Paris Olympics 2024 gold-medallist Arshad Nadeem has once seen a time when he didn't have enough funds to buy a javelin. "People have no idea how Arshad got to this place today. How his fellow villagers and relatives used to donate money so that he could travel to other cities for his training and events in his early days," his father Muhammad Ashraf said
The 27-year-old from Khanewal village in Punjab region repaid the faith with an Olympic record and the country's first individual gold at the biggest sporting stage on the planet
The 6'3" man sent the spear to 92.97m in a jaw-dropping performance to shatter the previous Olympic record of 90.57m and boss a field that also featured his good friend but fierce rival from across the border Neeraj Chopra
Neeraj Chopra is yet to cross the 90m mark in his career and that seems to be now playing on his mind in competitions
Nadeem has been doing well for a long time for Pakistan. He won a silver medal at the World Championship last year and also a gold in the Commonwealth Games 2022 with a 90.18m throw
Few months back when Arshad appealed for authorities to replace his old javelin with a new one for his training, Chopra promptly supported Nadeem's case on social media
Despite his career being hit by elbow, knee and back problems and being burdened by the lack of top facilities and equipment available to athletes from other countries, Nadeem has already achieved a lot by getting the Pakistani people to closely follow his feats instead of cricket
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