The small village of Mian Chanu in Pakistan's Punjab province was joyous as one of their own, Arshad Nadeem, etched his name in history by winning the gold medal in javelin throw at the Paris Olympics. In an interview with this publication, the proud father of Arshad, Muhammad Ashraf, reminisced about the journey of his son from an enthusiastic young boy who wanted to play cricket to becoming the first Pakistani track and field athlete to stand atop the podium at the Olympics.
Ashraf, who works as a mason, had predicted on the day of the final that if his son was able to win gold, it would be a momentous achievement for not just their village but the entire nation of Pakistan. Little did he know then that his words would turn out to be prophetic. Recollecting how it all started for Arshad, the elder Nadeem spoke of how the budding athlete was inclined towards cricket in his early days but was diverted towards athletics on the insistence of his brothers who saw potential in him for the sport.
Under the tutelage of his early coach Rashid Ahmad Saqi and later renowned coach Syed Hussain Bukhari, Arshad progressed rapidly, throwing over 70 meters within a short span of four months of rigorous training. His struggles of practicing with makeshift javelins in his village during the initial days contrasted sharply with his glorious triumph in Paris where he rewrote history by setting a new Olympics record. Father Ashraf couldn't have been prouder to see how far his son has come, accomplishing what no other Pakistani athlete has before in the arena of world sport.
