PARIS: A coordinator for World Athletics was looking for someone to translate Arshad Nadeem’s bit at the press conference. He speaks Hindi or Urdu but does not know English, which is understandable. What seemed more bewildering was that the Pakistan contingent did not have a media manager then. Finally, a Pakistan journalist doubled up as a translator.
If not for javelin, Arshad could have become a pacer. As a child, he had dreamed of becoming a cricketer. Destiny had something else in store for him. No wonder his run-up reminds you of a pacer.
“That’s because I was a fast bowler and am comfortable with the run-up and will not want to change,” he said.
On Thursday, he became Pakistan's first individual Olympic gold-medallist across disciplines.
Freak? Genius? Both rolled into one? There is no plausible answer. He is taunting and teasing the coaching manuals of more orthodox javelin champions.
He gingerly runs on the runway, half way from where others start. When other runners use the full Mondo strip before entering the runway, Arshad casually runs from the middle of the track. He just takes a few steps before transition and throws so effortlessly that when the javelin touched way beyond the 85m line the whole stadium was stupefied. As soon as the electronic board flashed 92.97m, there was bedlam.
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The spear kept travelling for eternity. If others believed that the first throw was a fluke, he once again breached the 90m when he crossed 91.79m on his last throw. He eventually finished ahead of Neeraj Chopra who could manage 89.45m with a slightly troublesome groin.
He was born in a mason household in the Punjab province. He is third of eight siblings and started playing as a young boy. First in school then in provincial competition.
If one believes that athletes need support system with coaches and a posse of support staff, that too was binned by Arshad. He trains in Lahore and doesn’t compete in the European circuit largely due to a paucity of funds, according to the Pakistan journalists.
Just before the Olympics, he spent just three weeks in Potchefstroom. He then went back to Pakistan before coming to Paris. Even now he doesn’t know what javelin he uses to throw.
Listening to Arshad chronicling his journey was fascinating too. “I played almost all sport,” he said. “I used to be a fast bowler and wanted to play cricket. In school, I joined athletics. I used to run 200m, competed in all four throws. One day my coach told me to start javelin.”
In 2015, he started throwing javelin seriously and competed at the South Asian Games in Guwahati where he recorded a throw of 78.33m to finish on the podium behind Chopra. He got a scholarship from the IAAF High Performance Training Centre (now World Athletics).
There is a streak of innocence, almost childlike, in Arshad’s narration too. He says how he had to undergo surgeries on his knees and how it was because of doctor Ali Sher Bajwa in London. He kept thanking him throughout the interaction he had with the media after the medal. After he lamented that he did not have proper javelins to throw, the Pakistan Prime Minister provided him with equipment and a bit of support.
Arshad respects Neeraj and calls him Neeraj bhai more with respect than reverence. He said that if not for the doctor, an orthopaedic surgeon, he would not have competed at the Olympics. He also thanked his coach. He has been struggling with injuries... he missed almost a year after the Commonwealth Games where he crossed the 90m mark for the first time in 2022. He was second behind Neeraj at the World Championships in Budapest last year.
The 27-year-old also said that India and Pakistan rivalry is riveting, especially in cricket but youngsters in India and Pakistan must take inspiration from them and pursue the sport with intent. Neeraj still leads Arshad 9-1 in head to head. If everything goes well, the top throwers from South Asia would compete for many years to come.