Arshad Nadeem was born in a small hamlet, Mian Channu, Punjab. He is a Pakistani javelin thrower holding Olympic and Commonwealth Games medals. He is also the World Athletics Championship’s present silver medallist. With a throw of 92.97 meters (305.0 feet) in the Summer Olympics 2024, he broke both an Olympic and Asian record. Considering only the best throw from every participant, it was also the sixth-longest throw in javelin throw history.
He is the first Pakistani to qualify for the Olympic Games final of any track and field event and the World Athletics Championships; he is a two-time Olympian. With a throw of 90.18 m (295.9 feet), he broke national and Commonwealth Games records in the 2022 Commonwealth Games and became the first South Asian athlete to surpass the 90 m mark.
He became the first Pakistani athlete to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships—a silver—in 2023.R presented the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) at Pakistan’s National Games,
Arshad Nadeem Biography
Arshad Nadeem is a Pakistani javelin thrower who came from a Punjabi Muslim household. The family belongs to the Jat community. Among eight siblings, he is the third-oldest. From his early school years, Nadeem was an adaptable athlete. Though he experimented in all the sports his school offered—cricket, badminton, football, and athletics—his love was cricket, and he quickly found himself playing it in district-level basketball competitions.
Arshad Nadeem father, Muhammad Ashraf, inspired him to pick up javelin throwing. Originally intending to be a full-time cricket player, Nadeem changed his mind and turned his attention to athletics after first picking up the weapon in 2015; he admitted that this was “the best thing that happened” to him.
Early Life
Nadeem attracted the attention of Rasheed Ahmad Saqi at an athletic event when he started seventh grade in the school. Saqi started teaching Nadeem shortly afterward and has a history of producing athletes in the division. Nadeem also worked on a shot throw and a discus throw before deciding on a javelin throw. Following consecutive Punjab Youth Festivals and an inter-board meet, gold medals in the javelin throw drove him onto the national scene, bringing offers from all the top domestic departmental teams, including the athletic divisions of the Pakistan Army, Air Force, and Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA).
Education
Arshad Nadeem attended the local Mian Channu, Punjab, Pakistan, schools for his early education. He simply passed the metric class; he was interested in athletics because of his bad financial situation. Athletics has always taken precedence over his academic interests. 2015 saw him start competing in javelin throw contests; in 2016, he was awarded a scholarship for training in Mauritius.
Family
Arshad Nadeem’s father, Muhammad Ashraf, works as a construction worker and provides for the family solely through his income. His mother is a housewife and goes by Razia Parveen. He has a total of eight siblings, including two sisters and five brothers. His family has been very supportive of his athletic career; relatives and villagers have contributed to enable him to follow training and contests. Ayesha Nadeem, the daughter of Muhammad Nawaz, is Arshad’s wife. The pair has one son and one daughter.
Facts About Arshad Nadeem
- His full name is Arshad Nadeem.
- His date of birth is January 2, 1997.
- His birthplace is Mian Channu, Khanewal, Punjab, Pakistan.
- His nationality is Pakistani.
- His height is 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m).
- His weight is approximately 90 kg (198 lbs).
- His zodiac sign is Capricorn.
- His favorite actor is Akshay Kumar.
- His favorite actress is Mahira Khan.
- His favorite food dishes are biryani and kebabs.
- His father’s name is Muhammad Ashraf, who is a retired construction worker.
- His mother is Razia Parveen.
- Arshad Nadeem has eight siblings.
- His wife’s name is Ayesha Nadeem.
- He has two children, a son and a daughter.
- His favorite sport other than javelin is cricket.
- Arhshad Nadeem has won a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics with a historical throw of 92.97 meters. In 2022, he secured the gold medal as the Commonwealth Games Champion with a throw of 90.18 meters. Furthermore, in 2023, he secured the silver medal at the World Athletics Championships.
Arshad Nadeem Career
Begning Of Career
In 2015
In 2015, Arshad Nadeem began competing in javelin contests.
In 2016
In 2016, World Athletics awarded him a scholarship and qualified him to train at the IAAF High Performance Training Centre in Mauritius. Setting a national record and his best at 78.33 m, Nadeem claimed the bronze medal in the South Asian Games in Guwahati, India, in February 2016.Nadeem won the bronze medal at the 17th Asian Junior Athletics Championship in Ho Chi Minh City in June 2016.
In 2017
Nadeem took home a bronze medal from the Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku in May 2017 with a throw of 76.33 meters. He placed sixth in the Commonwealth Games’ qualifying round in Gold Coast, Australia, with a fresh personal best of 80.45 meters in April 2018.
In 2018
After the 2018 Commonwealth Games, he also suffered a back injury. He established a new personal best and national record of 80.75 meters in August 2018 by winning a bronze medal at the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.
In 2019
Nadeem attained a new personal best and national record of 81.52 m as the lone Pakistani athlete competing in the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar. Recording an 83.65-meter throw to earn gold for WAPDA at the 33rd National Games in Peshawar, Nadeem shattered the national record once more in November 2019. He won a gold medal at the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal in December 2019 with an 86.29-meter game-record throw.
Olympics and international success
Tokyo Olympics
Arshad Nadeem made his Olympic debut, representing Pakistan at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021. He qualified for the Olympics as the first among Pakistani track and field athletes. According to his father, Nadeem lacked a decent training ground before he started Olympic competition. Nadeem, after qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, is believed to have received no financial support from the Pakistani government.
He trained in the courtyard of his house and the streets. Sports officials mostly ignore and neglect the challenges faced by non-cricket athletes in Pakistan, which Nadeem has candidly discussed. He made it to the men’s javelin throw final of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on August 4, 2021. He became the first Pakistani to qualify for the final of any Olympic track and field event. With an 84.62-meter throw, he came sixth in the men’s javelin throw.
World Athletics Championships
Under coach Terseus Liebenberg, Arshad Nadeem trained in South Africa from March 2022 until the start of the world championships. The Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) organized the training. Nadeem was the only Pakistani representative attending the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, US, in July 2022. With his 86.16-meter throw, he placed fifth in the final.
Commonwealth Games
Arshad Nadeem emerged with a gold medal for Pakistan from the 2022 Commonwealth Games on August 7, 2022. On his sixth attempt, he created a game record with his throw of 90.18 m, surpassing world champion Anderson Peters’ 88.64 m, and became the first South Asian to exceed the 90 m mark despite injuries. Since 1962, this was Pakistan’s first athletics gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.
Islamic Games
At the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games, five days later, on August 12, 2022, Nadeem won another gold medal for Pakistan. With his 88.55 m. throw, he shattered the game record. At the 50th National Athletics Championship in Lahore in November 2022, Nadeem took home the gold medal in the javelin throw with an 81.21-meter toss.
Pakistan National Games
Representing WAPDA, Nadeem took a third try in the 34th National Games of Pakistan and won a gold medal with the longest throw at 78.02 m.
World Athletics Championships
In 2023, Arshad Nadeem, With his 87.82 m throw, Nadeem took home a silver medal in Budapest’s 2023 World Athletics Championships. This was the first medal Pakistan had ever won at the World Athletics Championships. During the competition, he also secured his qualification for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Paris Diamond League
With an 84.21-meter throw on his fifth try, Arshad Nadeem came fourth in the Paris Diamond League in July 2024.
Paris Olympics
Arshad Nadeem became the first Pakistani to win an Olympic medal in athletics at the Summer Olympics in Paris. He is also Pakistan’s first Olympic gold medalist for an individual sport. In the final, he secured the men’s javelin throw title and set an Olympic record of 92.97 m. Norwegian Andreas Thorkildsen, who set 90.57 m in the Beijing Olympics in 2008, held the Olympic record previously.
Among all athletes, Nadeem’s throw ranks as the sixth-longest throw in history. Since 1992, Nadeem has won Pakistan’s first Olympic medal; since 1984, they have won their first Olympic gold medal. Many analysts saw Nadeem as an underdog before the Olympics in 2024. Officials also validated his throw of 92.97 m as the longest throw in the world by any male javelin thrower in the current season. Twice in his second and final throws, he was the fourth athlete to surpass the 90-meter mark in the javelin final in Olympic history. On August 11, 2024, a procession in Lahore praised Nadeem.
Arshad Nadeem Javelin Stats Table
| Year | Event | Result (m) | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Javelin Throw | 70.46 | Islamabad, Pakistan | April 3, 2015 |
| 2016 | Javelin Throw | 78.33 | Guwahati, India | February 10, 2016 |
| 2017 | Javelin Throw | 78.00 | Bhubaneswar, India | July 9, 2017 |
| 2018 | Javelin Throw | 80.75 | Jakarta, Indonesia | August 27, 2018 |
| 2019 | Javelin Throw | 86.29 | Kathmandu, Nepal | December 7, 2019 |
| 2021 | Javelin Throw | 86.38 | Imam Reza Stadium, Mashhad, Iran | April 12, 2021 |
| 2022 | Javelin Throw | 90.18 | Birmingham, UK | August 7, 2022 |
| 2023 | Javelin Throw | 87.82 | Budapest, Hungary | August 27, 2023 |
| 2024 | Javelin Throw (Olympics) | 92.97 | Stade de France, Paris, France | August 8, 2024 |
Arshad Nadeem Injuries
Elbow and knee injury
On December 1, 2022, Arshad Nadeem departed for the UK to have treatment for his damaged elbow and knee joint. The AFP arranged for him to receive treatment at Spire Cambridge Lea Hospital. Full recovery took four to six weeks following a ten-day rehabilitation and physiotherapy course.
knee injury At National Games
Arshad Nadeem sustained a knee injury during his performance at the 34th National Games of Pakistan. Therefore, the Asian Athletics Championships did not permit him to participate. Akram Sahi, the President of AFP, accused WAPDA of forcing Nadeem to participate in the National Games.
Arshad Nadeem Networth
Although he comes from a very poor background, his father used to work in a construction company as a worker. He was the oldest son of his house; he broke records of the jevelin throw at the Paris Olympics in 2024. He was rewarded by awards from verious sources; here is complete information on whom to give him how much.
Federal Government
For his Olympic victory, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif got Rs 150 million (about $570,000).Coach Salman Iqbal Butt received Rs 10 million, which is approximately $38,000.
Punjab Government
With Governor Sardar Saleem Haider Khan giving him Rs 2 million (about $7,600) and Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz having Rs 100 million (about $380,000), he possesses the keys to a Honda Civic automobile with the number plate “PAK 92.97.”
Sindh Government
The Mayor of Karachi, Murtaza Wahab, possesses Rs 50 million, over $190,000. And Governor Kamran Tessori boasts Rs 1 million, roughly $3,800.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government
He has received Rs 5 million, roughly $19,000, from the Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur.
International Recognition
The World Athletics organization has paid him $50,000 for each gold medalist from the Paris Olympics.
Private Sector Contributions
Toyota Pakistan has gifted him a Corolla Cross Hybrid Electric automobile, while United Bank Limited (UBL) has given him Rs 5 million (about $19,000). Same in nature, JDC Foundation Pakistan has given him Rs 92,97,000 (about $35,000), matching his record throw, and an extra Rs 2.5 million; furthermore, Singer Ali Zafar has given him Rs 1 million (about $3,800). Last but not least, cricketer Ahmad Shahzad has also presented him with similar reward money.
Arshad Nadeem’s Olympic achievement has made him one of the most revered athletes in Pakistan’s history; his total prize money amounts to approximately Rs400 million (about $1.5 million).
Awards and recognition
The President of Pakistan gave Arshad Nadeem a Pride of Performance Award in 2022. The federal government produced a unique postage stamp bearing “Azm-e-Istehkam” in August 2024 in association with Pakistan’s Independence Day, depicting Nadeem. Following federal government directions, the Capital Development Authority renamed the Margalla Road in Islamabad’s sector F-10, running from the F-10 roundabout to Khayaban-i-Iqbal after Arshad Nadeem.
Arshad Nadeem’s Social Medial Handles
On Instagram, he has 893k followers, and he follows 20 people.
On Facebook, he has 251k followers, and he follows five people.
On Twitter, he has 76.8k followers, and he follows three people.