Islamabad, 11 August 2024 (TDI): Pakistan’s star athlete Arshad Nadeem made the country proud when he won the gold medal in the javelin throw final of the Paris Olympics on Thursday.
Arshad created history with a record-breaking throw of 92.97 metres, beating his Indian counterpart and defending champion Neeraj Chopra.
With his thrilling performance, Nadeem secured the first-ever individual gold medal for his country.
Read more: Javelin Star Arshad Nadeem Receives Gold Medal at Paris Olympics
His achievements were celebrated all across the country, and even beyond, capturing the hearts of sports enthusiasts worldwide, including Chinese netizens who were rejoiced for “Ba Tie” – meaning “Pakistani Iron Brother”.
The Chinese embassy was the first to congratulate the star athlete for his remarkable achievement.
“Warmest Congratulations to our Pakistani brothers and sisters for Pakistani athlete Arshad Nadeem winning Pakistan’s first gold medal at the Olympics in 40 years and breaking the Olympic record of men’s javelin in Paris,” the Chinese Embassy wrote on Twitter.
Read more: Chinese Embassy Hails Arshad Nadeem for Winning Gold in Paris Olympics
Shen Shiwei – a renowned Chinese journalist revealed that “Congratulations to our Pakistani iron brothers” was trending on Chinese social media!
Another X user, CNsky, also congratulated Arshad on winning the gold.
Meanwhile, Chinese netizens on Weibo, which is the Chinese version of X, even created a trending tag: “Nadeem surprises his coach’s sunglasses off”. The trend has hundreds of thousands of videos showing the reaction of Arshad Nadeem’s coach on his record-smashing throw.
According to journalist Iffat Hasan Rizvi, Arshad Nadeem is also trending on another Chinese social media platform, BiliBili.
First Olympic Gold in 40 Years
Before Arshad’s heroics, Pakistan had only 10 Olympic medals since the 1948 edition. The country had not won a single medal since 1992 when the national hockey team secured a bronze in Barcelona.
However, Arshad Nadeem, a nine-time international medalist and four-time gold medalist brought Pakistan’s first Olympic gold in 40 years.
He had finished fifth in Tokyo Olympics and, won silver at the World Championships in 2023 and gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 with a massive 90.18m distance throw.
Read more: Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem Qualifies for Javelin Throw Finals
During the qualification round on Tuesday, Arshad had thrown his first throw of 86.59 metres, well beyond the 84-metre qualifying mark, to advance to the medal round. His throw was the third farthest followed by India’s Neeraj Chopra (89 metres) and Grenada’s Anderson Peters (88 metres).
