Why Pakistani Olympian Arshad Nadeem reminds us of a legendary Greek warrior

It’s not yet clear if Arshad Nadeem, a man who has emerged from the Pakistani hinterland to hit global headlines, has heard of Achilles. There is a bigger chance, though, of him knowing who Brad Pitt is.

The Hollywood superstar’s portrayal of the legendary Greek warrior in Troy may not have earned him widespread acclaim, but with his chiselled body, he still cut an imposing figure in that movie.

Now a week has passed since Nadeem waltzed into the history books. But the more you think of that jaw-dropping, Olympic record-breaking 92.97-metre throw into the Parisian sky, the more you are reminded of Achilles. Or, rather, of Pitt who hurls the spear from a seemingly impossible distance, knocking a soldier off the horseback, killing him instantly, as Hector, the Trojan prince, played wonderfully by Eric Bana, looks at the fallen man in horror.

With one menacing spear throw, Achilles showed the Trojans what they were up against as the Greeks prepared for the mother of all conflicts.

It’s quite tempting now to draw a parallel between the scene from an epic, historical drama and an unprecedented feat from a South Asian athlete at the Olympics, ironically the birthplace of which was ancient Greece.

Nadeem hasn’t just become the first individual Olympic gold medallist from Pakistan, he’s created a new world order in the fight for the javelin honours on the biggest of stages.

His rivals, including Neeraj Chopra, the poster boy of Indian track and field who went into the Paris event as the overwhelming favourite, having made history by winning the gold at the 2020 Olympics and the 2023 World Championships, now have a giant task at hand.

Despite his medal-winning exploits, Chopra has yet to hit the 90m mark in his career, a feat Nadeem achieved twice in the space of 60 minutes in Paris — less than two years after he threw 90.18m to grab the 2022 Commonwealth Games gold in Birmingham.

With his big height, broad shoulders and huge forearms, Nadeem has all the physical ingredients to put daylight between him and his rivals.

But the real question was about his mental strength: could he cope with the enormous pressure of throwing farther than his rivals in an Olympic final?

He did win the silver at the World Championships last year, which had an equally strong field. But the Olympics is a different beast altogether — this is where even the fourth-place finisher can become a folk hero (remember Milkha Singh, the Flying Sikh?) and champions gallop into the realm of immortals.

For Nadeem, this was the moment that could catapult him into the sphere of Olympic icons.

In front of him were all world-class athletes, most of whom were backed by great sporting cultures. Even India’s eco-system for Olympic sports is far better now than what it was until 2008.

So, against this backdrop, Nadeem stepped up and unleashed a throw that sent shivers down the spine of every one of his rivals.

The look on Chopra’s face said it all. It was not just a defeat by a wide margin of three metres (the Indian athlete managed 89.45m), rather, the 26-year-old now has the unenviable task of stretching his physical limits to try and stand up to the might of Nadeem when the two of them clash again on a track.

Only a few athletes in history have crossed the 90 metres barrier and Nadeem, brimming with confidence, has already stated his desire to eclipse 98.48m — the world record of Czech legend Jan Zelezny.

Now, can Nadeem come anywhere close to matching Zelezny, the three-time Olympic and world champion, and an absolute force of nature who once threw over 90 metres five times in a single event?

Nadeem’s massive throws in Paris — 92.97m on his second attempt and 91.79 m on his sixth and final attempt — prompted every sports analyst to consider his potential to deliver even bigger numbers in the future.

But the story of Nadeem, an athlete from a very humble background who had no exposure to world-class training facilities until he won a bronze at the 2016 South Asian Games in Guwahati, is not about the numbers alone.

It’s his perseverance and desire to dream big that have now made him the first individual Olympic champion from Pakistan, a cricket-obsessed country where the champion hockey teams and squash legends of the past now seem like mere footnotes in history.

Ramiz Raja, a key member of Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup-winning cricket team, admitted that Nadeem’s Paris achievements exceeded all sporting expectations of an average Pakistani sports lover.

“It’s a world class achievement, the biggest individual performance, and a great story of human perseverance. It’s an achievement that will spur on budding athletes (in Pakistan) to achieve the impossible,” the former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman told the Khaleej Times.

“The GPS to greatness has been set by Arshad. It’s now for others to follow and occupy the podium of dreams!”

It’s easy to understand why Nadeem mania has now gripped Pakistan, a country so proud of its rich cricket heritage.

Tariq Butt, a veteran cricket umpire in the UAE who played first-class cricket in Pakistan, felt the greatest sense of joy in his life when he saw Nadeem on the Paris podium with the gold medal around his neck.

“I have been involved with cricket for more than 60 years and I was also an official at the Sharjah cricket stadium where I witnessed many famous Pakistan matches. But I can tell you one thing, no other sporting achievement from Pakistan has given me as much happiness and joy as Arshad Nadeem’s gold medal at the Olympics,” he said.

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