Arshad Nadeem is a Pakistani Javelin thrower from Mian Channun who recently won an Olympic Gold Medal in Paris for his record throw of 92.97 meter. At the Tokyo Olympics 2020, he stood at the fifth position with a throw of 84.62 m. He was born on 2nd of January 1997. He is very tall with a height of 6 feet 3 inches.
His Family
Arshad’s family has 9 members. Father, Mother, 5 sons and 2 daughters. His father name is Muhammad Ashraf. who is a construction worker since 36 years. His mother’s name is Raziah Parveen.
Arshad Nadeem Wife
Arshad Nadeem married Ayesha Nawaz in the year 2018 and his father in law name is Muhammad Nawaz. Arshad has three children. two sons and a daughter.
Arshad Nadeem’s wife in an interview revealed that she never attends her husband competing. She would instead watch it on TV and would recite verses of the Holy Quran to pray for Arshad’s win.
Arshad Nadeem’s House
If there is a good example that talent and hardwork alone can get you a gold medal at the Olympics, then Arshad Nadeem should be your ideal.
With limited basic facilities, Nadeem made Pakistan proud. Below you can see how Nadeem’s house look like. The area where the weights can be seen is where Nadeem used to practice mostly.
Interesting Facts about Arshad Nadeem
He doesnt drink Tea.
Personality : – Nadeem stated in a podcast that people would often judge him as arrogant from his appearance, however would consider him extremely polite and jovial person after they talk with him. When Arshad gets angry with his wife, he prefers to remain quiet until his wife comes up and makes up to him.
Hand made Javelin:- Arshad recalled about his struggles and revealed in a podcast that he started practicing with hand made object similar to Javelin, which he prepared from Bamboo along with the help of a labour.
Diet : – Nadeem diet consists of Desi chicken and Eggs, mutton and beef. His favourite food is Kheer made out of milk. When he is touring outside, he often finds it difficult to get proper food like from his native place. In such times, he often prefers burger of chicken and mutton.
His First Love: – Not many people know but Arshad initially used to play cricket till 2012. He was in 6th standard at that time. He used to do medium pace bowling in cricket. Seeing how much dedication Nadeem was putting in cricket with little results (as cricket is a team game and not an individual game), his elder brother who was an athelete advised Nadeem to work that hard in atheletics instead of cricket. His elder brother used to do Shot Put and his younger cousin brother used to do Javelin.
Other Games: – Nadeem after transitioning to atheletics, tried his hands on many sports such as shot put and Discus throw. However, seeing his performance excelling in javelin and because of his towering height and brute strength, the coach advised him to focus solely on Javelin only.
Movies: – In his free time, Nadeem likes to watch comedy shows and movies.
His Coach?
His current coach name is Salman Iqbal Butt who is a former national-level discus thrower. In an interview, Arshad Nadeem stated that most of his success came after the Tokyo Olympics 2020 when Salman Iqbal Butt became his coach. He opinions that the coach has taken care of him more than of his own children.
A coach would often be strict in order to get the best out of his students. Speaking about his coach, Nadeem opinion that his coach demands punctuality from him and that he would often scold Nadeem’s younger brother whenever he would be upset with Nadeem.
In the initial years, he also trained under Rasheed Ahmad Saqi, who himself was a former javelin thrower. Rasheed Ahmad Saqi was approached by Pakistan military to train Arshad Nadeem under them. Saqi denied the offer at that time because he did not wanted Arshad Nadeem to be trained like a soldier.
Image Source : – Indianexpress
Rewards For Winning Olympic Gold Medal
Arshad Nadeem was awarded a brand new Honda Civic car by the Punjab CM. Interestingly, the registration number which will be given to the car will be 92.97 which was the throw distance that clinched the gold medal for Arshad Nadeem.
Nadeem was also gifted 150 million Pakistani rupees by the Pakistani government which is close to 4 crores 50 lakhs Indian Rupees. His coach Salman Iqbal Butt was also rewarded with cash prize of 50 Lakh Pakistani rupees which is almost equal to Rs 15 Lakhs Indian Rupees.
Arshad Nadeem Controversies
After Arshad won an Olympic Gold Medal, a picture of him became viral where it appears that he may be sitting with a chief of a terrorist organization. The below image which got viral online on many news channels show Arshad Nadeem sitting with Muhammad Harris Dar, a known and wanted terrorist (by India) of Lashkar-E-Taiba. Dar is rumored to be the finance secretary of the LET terrorist outfit. It has to be noted that Dar is also a terrorist declared by the United Nations.
