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Olympic gold medallist Arshad Nadeem on Monday said he could not take proper sleep seeing people’s great love for him.
The athlete’s throw of 92.97 meters, an Olympic record, secured Pakistan’s first gold medal since 1984. By achieving this feat, he also defeated India’s Neeraj Chopra, the defending champion, in the javelin on August 8.
In reply to people’s affection, he said, he was sparing his time to meet them, as they “deserve it”.
Talking to Geo News, the 27-year-old thanked everyone for supporting him and giving him a grandiose welcome upon returning to home.
“When I reached my village, I was extremely delighted upon seeing the masses from the nearby villages gathered [for me],” he said.
Sharing his journey, Nadeem said he played different events in 2012 and secured victories. Then, he said, he played his first international event in 2016 and finally reaped fruit of his hard work on August 8, 2024.
“After the Tokyo Olympics [2020], I toiled really hard for the Paris Olympics,” he said.
Reminiscing the Olympic final, he said he felt great while taking the run-up and wished to throw the javelin as far as he could in the second attempt so that he would not have to feel pressure in the third attempt.
“If the second throw would not have landed [far], then I would have been under pressure in the third one,” he said.
Meanwhile, the javelin thrower said, he also tried to avoid an injury.
