Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem finished at the fifth position with a throw of 84.62 metres in the men’s javelin throw competition at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
India’s Neeraj Chopra clinched the gold medal with a gigantic throw of 87.58m while Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch and Vítězslav Veselý bagged silver and bronze medals with 86.67m and 85.44m, respectively.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Julian Weber occupied the fourth spot with 85.30m, just ahead of Nadeem.
The athletes had to be in the top eight to get three more shots at the medals. After the first two throws, the Pakistani javelin thrower was lagging behind with an 82.40m throw against his name.
However, in the third attempt, he had a massive throw of 84.62m that took him to the fourth spot and booked his berth in the next round.
In the subsequent three attempts, the 24-year-old could not better his performance and managed throws of 82.91m and 81.89m in the fourth and fifth shots, respectively.
Though Nadeem could not achieve a podium-finish, people celebrated his performance and termed him the proud of nation and a new hero.
The ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s official Twitter account wrote that he has won the hearts of the entire nation.
#ArshadNadeem has won the hearts of our whole nation. What an incredible effort from him at #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/CGrrOHunsm
— PTI (@PTIofficial) August 7, 2021
Cricketer Shadab Khan stated that he would have definitely brought a medal home had he received the right kind of support.
https://twitter.com/76Shadabkhan/status/1423980451782397961
TV presenter Fakhr-e-Alam wrote that the young athlete defied all odds and he made the nation proud with his passion and efforts.
#ArshadNadeem you WIN… you defied all the odds stacked against you. Absence of facilities, coaching, organization…you were driven with the passion to make your country proud. You did it in your OWN…YOU WIN… #PakistanZindabad
— Fakhr-e-Alam S.I & S.E (@falamb3) August 7, 2021
Pakistan Super League’s franchise Islamabad United’s manager Rehan-Ul-Haq maintained that every Pakistani should be proud of him.
Every single Pakistani should be proud of #ArshadNadeem. He has given us hope of a medal, given us joy, put us on the world map for athletics. He has done so without support, without facilities his competitors had. Arshad Nadeem is a true Pakistani hero,
— Rehan Ulhaq (@Rehan_ulhaq) August 7, 2021
Pakistan’s top female karateka Kulsoom Hazara also hailed Nadeem’s effort.
#ArshadNadeem Proud Pakistani. You make whole 🇵🇰 nation proud. Pakistan Zindabad #Olympics pic.twitter.com/utElGaIwj5
— Kulsoom Hazara🇵🇰 (@kulsoomkarateka) August 7, 2021
Earlier, the young javelin thrower had qualified for the final round with an enormous throw of 85.16m, making him the first Pakistani athlete to qualify for the finals of an athletic event in the Olympics.
