Tuesday 10 / September / 2024
Paris : Javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem dedicated his gold medal at the Paris Olympics to Pakistan and said that it was a gift to his nation on the occasion of Independence Day.
Nadeem won gold with a throw of 92.97 metres, setting a new Olympic record and surpassing Denmark's Andreas Thorkildsen's mark from Beijing 2008. Grenada's Anderson Peters secured bronze with a throw of 88.54 meters.
Taking to his official X handle, Nadeem thanked his coach Salman Iqbal Butt for his tireless effort.
"First of all, I thank Allah Almighty for this huge success, with the prayers of my parents, prayers of the entire nation and especially the tireless effort of my coach Mr. Salman Iqbal Butt and the support of Dr. Ali Sher Bajwa, I have achieved this massive milestone. Thank you All! Lastly, This Gold medal is a gift from me to the entire nation on the occasion of Independence Day," Nadeem wrote on X.
Indiia's Neeraj Chopra fell short of retaining his gold medal, finishing with a best throw of 89.45 meters. Despite a strong performance on his second attempt, he struggled with four consecutive foul throws, which prevented him from winning gold.
Chopra became the second male athlete from post-independence India to win two Olympic medals in an individual event.
Following the failure to defend his gold medal, Neeraj expressed dissatisfaction with his performance and revealed that the last two to three years were not good for him in terms of fitness.
Speaking after the event as quoted by Olympics.com, Neeraj said, "It was a good throw but I am not that happy with my performance today. My technique and runway was not that good. (I managed) only one throw, the rest I fouled."
"(For my) second throw I believed in myself to think I can also throw that far. But in javelin, if your run is not so good, you cannot throw very far," added Neeraj.
