Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan clinched his country’s first gold medal in four decades by setting a new record with his stunning throw in Thursday’s men’s javelin final at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Nadeem raised his arms in celebration after breaking the Olympic record on his second throw with 92.97 meters.
The 27-year-old Pakistani javelin thrower beat defending champion Neeraj Chopra of India, who took silver with 89.45 meters. Grenada’s Anderson Peters claimed bronze with 88.54 meters.
The record had stood since the 2008 Beijing Games when Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen threw 90.57 meters while defending his Olympic title.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Nadeem for presenting “a wonderful gift to the entire Pakistani nation,” his office said in a statement in Islamabad.
“You have made the whole nation proud,” Sharif wrote separately on X, formerly Twitter.
Celebrations erupted outside Nadeem’s home in the city of Mian Channu in Punjab, the country’s most populous province, where a crowd watched him win the competition on a large-screen television, reported local media and his neighbors.
Pakistan had never won an individual Olympic gold medal until Nadeem’s javelin throw on Thursday. The South Asian nation previously secured three gold medals in field hockey, with its team winning gold in 1960, 1968 and 1984.
Until now, only two Pakistani athletes have won individual Olympic medals of any color — a bronze in wrestling in 1960 and a bronze in boxing in 1988.
Pakistan’s last medal came at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona when its field hockey team took bronze.
