Arshad Nadeem got a hero's welcome upon return home© X (Twitter)
The Javelin Throw gold medallist in the ongoing Paris Olympics 2024, Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, is set to be honoured with Hilal-e-Imtiaz by the country's government. Hilal-e-Imtiaz is the second-highest civilian award given by the Government of Pakistan and Nadeem will get this award following his brilliant performance in the final of the competition. Pakistan's athlete won gold with a throw of 92.97 meters, 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.
"The president will confer the civilian award to Nadeem in a special ceremony, recognising his distinguished services in the field of sports," a statement from the Aiwan-e-Sadr said, as quoted by Geo News.
— (@LegiMian) August 10, 2024
India'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.