“Today my son is competing in the Olympics. They say they are the world’s biggest games,” Ashraf tells The Indian Express. “If he wins the Olympic gold medal, it will be the biggest thing for Mian Channu as well as for the whole of Pakistan.”

That’s what happened. Nadeem became the first Pakistani track and field athlete to win an Olympic medal with a throw of 92.97 metres that got him a gold.

Arshad Nadeem, of Pakistan, competes during the men’s javelin throw final at the 2024 Summer Olympics. (AP | PTI)

“All my youth and till now, I have worked as a mason and Arshad would often accompany me to my work apart from seeing Neza Bazi(tent pegging)sessions at the village. Around 2010, he asked me to bring a cricket bat and ball for him,” remembers the father. It was at the village ground that a young Arshad would start playing cricket before he was persuaded in to athletics by two of his brothers. Arshad would try his hand at shot put, discus throw as well hammer throw and long jump at the village school.

“I always wanted to be a cricketer. But my brothers used to tell me to start athletics as it’s an individual game. In 2012, I started taking part in events like discus throw, javelin apart from races at the school. I remember there used to be only two athletes in the school, who would compete at the divisional level,” Arshad told YouTube show Beyond The Throw hosted by Roha Nadeem earlier.

It was coach Rashid Ahmad Saqi who first trained the youngster at the village ground before Arshad participated in various competitions in Punjab. It was only in 2014 that Arshad first travelled to Lahore to compete in the Punjab Youth Festival before a friend told him to appear for the Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority trials.

(left) Arshad Nadeem with his parents at his village Mian Chanu in Pakistan’s Punjab province; Arshad Nadeem celebrates after his second attempt during the men’s javelin throw final. (Special Arrangement | PTI)

“There was a time when I would take a bamboo stick to the village craftsman and tell him to shape it like a javelin and practise on the ground. Saqi sahib would spend hours telling me how to use my elbows to throw and those were my first memories of taking javelin throw seriously,” recalled Arshad on the show.

With five-time Pakistan national champion and coach Syed Hussain Bukhari seeing Arshad for the first time at the WAPDA trials, it meant that he was called for the trials again. Having thrown less than 60m, Arshad was not selected in the first trials before he asked for a month’s time to improve further.

“One athlete had made a throw of 60m but I was adamant that I will not go home empty-handed. I requested the officials to give me a month’s time and after training with Bukhari sir, I was able to make a throw of 65m, which saw me landing a WAPDA contract,” Arshad said.

Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan celebrates winning gold and setting a new Olympic record. (Reuters)

Coach Bukhari remembers Arshad competing in a stadium for the first time during the trials and how he left a mark. “I was impressed by the power he could generate from his elbows at such a young age. He was raw and built like a typical village youth from Punjab. Whatever I taught him, he would grasp quickly and once he crossed the 70m mark within four months of joining WAPDA, I knew he could go further,” Bukhari told The Indian Express.

A 70.46 m throw in the 2015 nationals was followed by Arshad winning a bronze at the 2016 SAFF Games at Guwahati with a throw of 78.33 m. The last eight years have seen Arshad crossing the 85-m mark nine times, including a 90.18-m throw tow in gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

A young Arshad Nadeem with his coach Syed Hussain Bukhari in 2016. (Special Arrangement)

An elbow injury in 2022 followed by niggles didn’t prevent him from winning a silver medal at the 2023 World Athletics Championships with a throw of 87.82m. While Arshad has competed with Neeraj since 2016,the Pakistani athlete believes that their presence is good for the sport. “We both are aiming to give our best. Our friendship has been intact since 2016 and I want it to get stronger,” he said.

As for the proud father, seeing his son achieve success surpasses all joys. “My son has got a new home in Mian Channu town which is fully furnished. I have worked as a labourer all my life but see how far my son has gone,” says the father.

He went his farthest in Paris — with a new Olympic record.