Arshad Nadeem, the first-ever individual athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in Pakistan’s history, to receive medal at a ceremony to be held tonight.
Nadeem will step on the winning podium at 10pm PST today (Friday) to receive the medal at the distribution ceremony to take place in the Champions Park near the Eiffel Tower in the French capital.
Besides Arshad, all athletes who won medals on the 13th day of the world’s biggest sports gala will be awarded their medals today.
The 27-year-old national athlete made history yesterday at the mega sporting event by registering a new Olympic record. He broke the record of Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen who set it at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Pakistan’s Olympic star set the record with a 92.97m of the throw in the second round, enough for him to win the competition as others remained far behind. He also set a record of 91.79m throw in the same competition.
India’s Neeraj won the silver with his season-best throw of 89.45m.
The javelin thrower also brought home the first Olympic gold after 40 long years in any discipline. Pakistan had earlier won gold medals only in hockey, the last being at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
The last time Pakistan won any medal in the Olympic games was 32 years ago in 1992 when the national hockey team clinched bronze by defeating the Netherlands 4-3 at the Barcelona Olympics.
In an exclusive conversation with Geo News earlier today, the national athlete had said: “It was my day. I could have thrown it at a greater distance.”
He revealed the reason behind his win, saying he was “in the rhythm” and “hopeful” to win the gold medal with how far he had launched the javelin.
Nadeem also expressed his wish to celebrate Independence Day (August 14) with the medal.
