August 16, 2024, 11:34 AM IST
Among the many things about Arshad Nadeem that went viral after his historic gold medal was the fact that his father-in-law gifted him a buffalo.
Among the many things that stood out after Arshad Nadeem’s historic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics was that his father-in-law would gift him a buffalo. Nadeem hails from the rural area of Khanewal in Pakistan’s Punjab and receiving a buffalo as a gift, said his father-in-law Muhammad Nawaz, considers it a great honour.
The Olympic gold medalist, however, took the news in a hilarious way. “She was the one who told me and I said buffalo?” Nadeem said on ARY News. “He could have given me five acres of land. But then I said, OK, fine, he gave me a buffalo, that’s nice too,” he said, laughing.
His wife said she only came to know about it through the media. “She came to know about it through some interviews and came to me and told me about it. I said, ‘A buffalo? By the grace of God he is so rich and has given a buffalo?'” Nadeem said.
Despite injury, Olympic record throw achieved
Nadeem is the first Pakistani to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual event and the first from the country since the men’s national hockey team in 1984 to win a gold medal at the Games. While he began the men’s javelin final with a foul throw, his second attempt was a monster 92.97m effort that easily surpassed the previous Olympic record of 90.57m. That all but assured him of gold and while defending Indian champion Neeraj Chopra matched his season’s best of 89.45m, no one cleared 90m on the night.
Moreover, Nadeem ended his streak of six throws with a final attempt of 91.79m, which was more than the previous Olympic record. Nadeem has now revealed that he had been battling an injury throughout the Olympics, which he sustained before leaving for Paris. “Just five minutes before I had to go to the call room (the room where athletes gather at athletics competitions before their names are called and they appear on the track), I felt a pain. I told my coach. And he said, ‘kuch nahi hota, tu sher hai’ (There will be no problems, you are a lion’), Nadeem revealed at the Prime Minister House in Islamabad, where a state banquet was held in his honour.
“I was in pain during the first throw and the doctor gave me some medicine. I told him I didn’t know if it would do anything. The doctor also told me ‘tum sher ho’. Both the doctor and the trainer told me the same words,” he said.
