To paraphrase Paul Simon, in the naked light Arshad Nadeem saw, ten thousand people, maybe more… ‘Welcome home’ they said to their hero, as the Turkish Airlines flight carrying the champion athlete touched down at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal airport to a water cannon salute late on Saturday. Nadeem went to the Olympics as a dark horse. He returned as a gold medallist, boasting a Games record and ending Pakistan’s 32-year-old medal drought.
At Nadeem’s village near Mian Channu, about 300 kilometres off Lahore, the locals have arranged a jalsa (musical soiree) to celebrate their home boy’s triumph. Nadeem’s brother Shahid is at the forefront of it. “Khushi ka mahol hai pura gaon mein (the entire village is in a celebratory mood),” he said, speaking to RevSportz. “For us, it hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Shahid mentioned Neeraj Chopra and expressed his family’s happiness over the ace Indian javelin thrower’s feat of winning the silver medal. “Aapko bhi bohut mubarak, Neeraj ne bhi dil jeet liya (congratulations to you also, Neeraj, too, has won our hearts),” he said. “Arshad and Neeraj are great friends and their success is a proud moment for the entire subcontinent.”
Winning the javelin gold has made Nadeem richer by several crores of rupees. The government of Pakistan’s Punjab province has announced a cash reward of 10 crore (PKR). The Sindh government has announced 5 crore. A lot of other people/parties have jumped on the bandwagon. Success has many fathers.
Not many moons ago, Nadeem had to seek crowd-funding for a new javelin, as the old one had worn out. This was even after him winning a Commonwealth Games gold and World Championship silver in 2022 and 2023 respectively. Neeraj had supported Nadeem’s plea at the time. “The difficulties he (Nadeem) has gone through, only we know how tough it was,” said Shahid. “This has been an incredible achievement.”
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Nadeem wanted to be a cricketer. “We are a family of nine – five brothers, two sisters and our parents. Our father is a construction worker and he was the sole breadwinner of the family. Cricket is an expensive sport and we couldn’t afford it,” Shahid explained.
So, how did Nadeem fall for javelin? “I used to do it in school and that attracted him to the sport,” Shahid recounted. “Initially, he used to participate in everything – 200m, 400m, long jump, javelin… Then, a teacher in our school told Nadeem to concentrate on one particular discipline. He chose javelin.”
Nadeem started with a bamboo spear. He didn’t have the money to participate in a national-level competition. A local businessman came forward to support him. His fellow villagers also donated money from time to time to ensure Nadeem’s career didn’t come to a halt. “We are indebted to all of them,” said Shahid.
Nadeem rose through the ranks. He threw 70m at the 2015 National championships. Next year, he increased the distance to 78.33m to win a bronze medal at the South Asian Games. In 2022, he won the Commonwealth Games gold with a 90m throw. The 27-year-old came to the Paris Olympics with two 90m throws under his belt. At the greatest show on earth, he threw 92.97m. It was stunning.
It has made him an overnight celebrity. Life will change for him and his family. “No, it will not,” Shahid asserted. “Humlog mistry hai, lifestyle change nahi hogi (we are small-time labourers, our lifestyle won’t change). Nadeem, too, will remain down to earth.”
In a one-sport country, Nadeem didn’t have a hero in his sport to draw inspiration from. From that perspective, his career has been right out of Tina Turner’s playbook. He didn’t need another hero.
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