Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem wins men’s javelin for first gold medal since 1984

Arshad Nadeem broke a long-running drought for Pakistan in the Olympics in style on Thursday.
Nadeem won the men’s javelin final in the 2024 Paris Olympics with a throw of 92.97 meters, the Olympic record. It was Pakistan’s first medal since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the first gold medal since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics for the country. Nadeem is also Pakistan’s first-ever individual gold medal winner and the first individual medalist since Hussain Shah in 1988. He was the first Pakistani finalist in a track and field event.
On his second throw of the day, Nadeem set the Olympic Record and put the pressure on the rest of the field. His main competition was India’s Neeraj Chopra, who threw a season-best 89.45 meters to earn the silver. Nadeem had his second-best and second-best overall of the competition on his sixth and final throw, hitting 91.79 meters. Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen set the previous Olympic record of 90.57 meters during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Nadeem finished fifth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, while Chopra won the gold medal honors.
Pakistan ― which formed in 1947 ― started participating in the Olympics in the 1948 London Games. Pakistan’s hockey team won silver in men’s field hockey at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics to earn its first medal. The field hockey team also won gold honors in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, its last gold medal before Thursday. The field hockey team also won bronze in 1992 in Barcelona, its last medal.
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Hussain Shah won bronze in men’s middleweight boxing in Seoul in 1988, becoming Pakistan’s last individual medalist.
Nadeem earned the fourth gold medalist honor in Pakistan’s history and the first since 1984. He is the first individual to earn gold medal honors ever in the country’s history.
Here’s a look at Pakistan’s past medals: