From mud brick home to Olympic podium, Arshad Nadeem is unlikely Pakistani hero
Pakistanis jubilant over first Olympic medal in athletics
Arshad Nadeem rose from humble origins, training in fields
Brother recalls how they improvised javelins from branches
Nadeem says his gold medal is his gift to the nation
Adds quotes from brother and mother in paragraphs 5, 19-20
By Mubasher Bukhari and Asif Shahzad
LAHORE, Pakistan, Aug 9 (Reuters) -Arshad Nadeem's home village erupted into rapturous celebrations after he clinched Pakistan's first Olympic medal in athletics, winning gold in the men's javelin and knocking defending champion Neeraj Chopra of arch-rival India into second place.
Nadeem's triumph on Thursday in Paris is all the more impressive for a man born and raised in a mud brick house in an impoverished corner of rural Pakistan and forced as a young man to train in local wheat fields with homemade javelins.
The news of his victory, which reached Pakistan late at night, thrilled his compatriots, drawing congratulatory messages from the nation's leaders and prompting jubilant dancing and fireworks in his normally sleepy home village of Mian Channu.
"We have not been able to sleep since last night because relatives, the media, friends, fans and state functionaries are constantly visiting us to congratulate the family," his oldest brother Shahid Nadeem told Reuters on Friday.
"People from surrounding villages came to watch the match here," he said. "We had arranged a big screen. They expressed their joy by chanting, dancing and with fireworks."
Pakistan mostly channels its limited funding for sports into team games such as cricket and hockey.
Nadeem, who compared his Olympic clash with Chopra to the two nations' legendary rivalry in cricket, has previously said it is challenging being a non-cricket athlete in Pakistan, where resources and facilities for his sport are scarce.
But now his record-breaking 92.97 metre javelin throw in Paris has earned Pakistan its first Olympic medal since the 1992 Barcelona Games and its first gold medal since the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
"This gold medal is a gift from me to the entire nation on the occasion of Independence Day (on Aug. 14)," Nadeem said in a post on social media platform X.
HUMBLE ORIGINS
Nadeem, 27, married with two children, comes from a poor family of eight children in the central Pakistani region of Khanewal, where he first began to dream of Olympic greatness.
His district barely had reliable water and electricity supplies, let alone proper sports facilities for him to train.
"Initially, we improvised homemade javelins by using long eucalyptus branches with iron tips on their ends. The fields in our village served as our training ground," brother Shahid said.
"We developed our own weight training apparatus by using iron rods, canisters of oil and concrete."
The situation improved when Nadeem joined the local power utility Wapda, which had its own sports facilities.
Even so, Nadeem had still been training with substandard javelins just months before the Paris Olympics, until a last-minute appeal saw the Pakistani government step in to help, his mother Razia Parveen told Reuters.
"The government sponsored javelins and other facilities for him. He brought back three new international standard javelins from South Africa," she said.
"I am very happy for Arshad and Pakistan... I offered prayers to thank God immediately after his victory," she said from their home, which houses a gym built by Nadeem and his brothers and featuring gear such as iron rods and canisters filled with cement.
And she praised India's silver medal winner.
"I also congratulate Chopra," said Razia Parveen. "I congratulate his mother and his family. Victory and defeat are just by fate."
Shahid Nadeem said all four brothers are sportsmen.
"My two younger brothers and me abandoned our passion and started jobs to support the family," he added.
However, Nadeem's decision to stick with his passion seems set to change the family's fortunes.
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz of Punjab province where Nadeem comes from announced a cash prize of 100 million rupees ($359,195) as a reward for what she said was his "hard work".
Nadeem will receive a hero's welcome when he returns to Pakistan in the next few days, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif likely to welcome him home, Mohammad Shafiq, head of Pakistan's Olympic Commission, told Reuters from Paris.
"Arshad is living proof that there's nothing you can't accomplish when you dream big, train hard, and never give up," the U.S. embassy in Islamabad saidon X.
($1 = 278.4000 Pakistani rupees)
Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad; Writing by Asif Shahzad and Gibran Peshimam; Editing by Gareth Jones and Daniel Wallis
تازہ ترين خبريں
دستبرداری: XM Group کے ادارے ہماری آن لائن تجارت کی سہولت تک صرف عملدرآمد کی خدمت اور رسائی مہیا کرتے ہیں، کسی شخص کو ویب سائٹ پر یا اس کے ذریعے دستیاب کانٹینٹ کو دیکھنے اور/یا استعمال کرنے کی اجازت دیتا ہے، اس پر تبدیل یا توسیع کا ارادہ نہیں ہے ، اور نہ ہی یہ تبدیل ہوتا ہے یا اس پر وسعت کریں۔ اس طرح کی رسائی اور استعمال ہمیشہ مشروط ہوتا ہے: (i) شرائط و ضوابط؛ (ii) خطرہ انتباہات؛ اور (iii) مکمل دستبرداری۔ لہذا اس طرح کے مواد کو عام معلومات سے زیادہ کے طور پر فراہم کیا جاتا ہے۔ خاص طور پر، براہ کرم آگاہ رہیں کہ ہماری آن لائن تجارت کی سہولت کے مندرجات نہ تو کوئی درخواست ہے، اور نہ ہی فنانشل مارکیٹ میں کوئی لین دین داخل کرنے کی پیش کش ہے۔ کسی بھی فنانشل مارکیٹ میں تجارت میں آپ کے سرمائے کے لئے ایک خاص سطح کا خطرہ ہوتا ہے۔
ہماری آن لائن تجارتی سہولت پر شائع ہونے والے تمام مٹیریل کا مقصد صرف تعلیمی/معلوماتی مقاصد کے لئے ہے، اور اس میں شامل نہیں ہے — اور نہ ہی اسے فنانشل، سرمایہ کاری ٹیکس یا تجارتی مشورے اور سفارشات؛ یا ہماری تجارتی قیمتوں کا ریکارڈ؛ یا کسی بھی فنانشل انسٹرومنٹ میں لین دین کی پیشکش؛ یا اسکے لئے مانگ؛ یا غیر متنازعہ مالی تشہیرات پر مشتمل سمجھا جانا چاہئے۔
کوئی تھرڈ پارٹی کانٹینٹ، نیز XM کے ذریعہ تیار کردہ کانٹینٹ، جیسے: راۓ، خبریں، تحقیق، تجزیہ، قیمتیں اور دیگر معلومات یا اس ویب سائٹ پر مشتمل تھرڈ پارٹی کے سائٹس کے لنکس کو "جیسے ہے" کی بنیاد پر فراہم کیا جاتا ہے، عام مارکیٹ کی تفسیر کے طور پر، اور سرمایہ کاری کے مشورے کو تشکیل نہ دیں۔ اس حد تک کہ کسی بھی کانٹینٹ کو سرمایہ کاری کی تحقیقات کے طور پر سمجھا جاتا ہے، آپ کو نوٹ کرنا اور قبول کرنا ہوگا کہ یہ کانٹینٹ سرمایہ کاری کی تحقیق کی آزادی کو فروغ دینے کے لئے ڈیزائن کردہ قانونی تقاضوں کے مطابق نہیں ہے اور تیار نہیں کیا گیا ہے، اسی طرح، اس پر غور کیا جائے گا بطور متعلقہ قوانین اور ضوابط کے تحت مارکیٹنگ مواصلات۔ براہ کرم یقینی بنائیں کہ آپ غیر آزاد سرمایہ کاری سے متعلق ہماری اطلاع کو پڑھ اور سمجھ چکے ہیں۔ مذکورہ بالا معلومات کے بارے میں تحقیق اور رسک وارننگ ، جس تک رسائی یہاں حاصل کی جا سکتی ہے۔
