Arshad Nadeem won the coveted gold medal in the men’s javelin final in Paris on Thursday, shattering Pakistan’s 32-year wait for victory at the Games and setting a new Olympic record.
The Mian Channu native started the competition slowly and failed to throw a ball on his first try. However, he stunned everyone with an incredible 92.97-meter throw on his second try, which the other competitors were unable to even approach for the whole of the competition.
Neeraj Chopra, the defending champion and opponent, finished behind Nadeem on the podium after throwing incorrectly on his first try and ultimately settling for a silver medal with an 89.45m throw on his second try.
With an 88.54-meter throw, Grenada’s Anderson Peters won bronze—his first-ever Olympic medal.
With Nadeem’s throw, Pakistan won its first-ever individual gold medal, first-ever track and field medal, and second-ever podium place by a South Asian in track and field.
Additionally, it broke the previous Olympic record of 90.57 meters, which was achieved in Beijing 2008 by Andreas Thorkildsen of the Netherlands.
As of right now, the throw is the best in the world for this year and the sixth longest throw ever.
The animosity between Pakistan and India that Nadeem and Chopra have maintained over the years was reignited by tonight’s final. At the World Athletics Championships just a year ago, Chopra won gold and Nadeem took home silver. The pair went 1-2.
Chopra entered the final as the first seed with an 89.34m, but she struggled the entire evening. The current world champion and gold medallist from Tokyo 2020 made five foul throws, but his one successful throw of 89.45 meters was good for silver.
Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister, congratulated Nadeem on his victory. On social networking platform X, he posted, “You’ve made the whole nation proud, young man.”
