Arshad Nadeem, the miracle of unsecured gold

Athletics is the most universal sport that exists and to confirm the result of the Olympic javelin final, with a Pakistani as the winner, an Indian as the silver medalist and a Grenadian completing the podium. And what is unusual is not only the diversity, but also the difficulties of reaching the top in countries with little athletic tradition. This is the case of Arshad Nadeemthe winner of the spear with a new olympic record (92.97m). In this way, Pakistan won an Olympic medal again 32 years after doing so for the last time in Barcelona’92.

An athlete without resources or help from his country who has to take a collection’crowdfunding‘ in the month of May to give a new spear to practice, when the normal thing is to have 5 or 6 to differentiate and prepare well. Nadeem He trained for eight years with the same battered javelin until it was beyond repair. He asked his federation for help to pay for a new one and received nothing. Then, the idea arose to take the collection and his friend and greatest rival Neeraj Chopra He publicly supported it to come first. One Pakistani, the other Indian, two warring nations whose flags do not stand in the way of supporting each other. And in Paris, Nadeem the gold was left without Choprathe defending champion of Tokyo 2020. A victory that surprised the Pakistani javelinist himself, who began to cry on his knees on the track as he ended a lifetime of struggle and sacrifice with an Olympic gold.

That the winners of the test were a Pakistani and an Indian is no coincidence. Both are influenced by cricket, the most popular sport in their countries and the mechanics are very similar to the javelin throwing motion. Nadeemclose friend of Neeraj Choprahe began practicing throwing, infected by his father’s passion for a local polo-like sport called nezabazi. Young Arshad started practicing this modality, which is very popular in Pakistan, and combined it cricket. This allowed him to get a good base of movements in his arm, which allowed him to excel in athletics during his school days. His ability to catapult the spear like a projectile was not noticed in their eyes Syed Hussian Bukharia five-time national champion javelinist and Asian Games medalist, who was fascinated by his talent and alerted the authorities in his country about the diamond he had discovered. The help received is immediately noticed and the results are predicted by Bukhari they come to light.

In just four months he left from the launch 55 meters that exceed 70m thanks to the possibility of maintaining a regular diet and the improvement of technical details in their movements. In his junior days he competed in many competitions with the future Olympic champion, Neeraj Chopra. Their rivalry since childhood led them to develop a great friendship and the improvement of one served as a stimulus for the other to surpass him. Their results also promote athletics in their countries as before. A growth seen in social networks, where Neeraj Chopra He has nearly 8 million followers, making him the most popular athlete in the world. The real result of their achievements will be seen in a few years, when the new practitioners they will be able to attract in countries of enormous size (India have 1.3 billion of the inhabitants and Pakistan 221 million) begin to fill the major international championships.