Arshad Nadeem fell to his knees and made a prostration in celebration of Pakistan ending a 56-year medal drought in track and field at the Commonwealth Games.
This had a big impact. This was amazing. Arshad defied all expectations to win the javelin put final there at Alexander Stadium on Sunday night with a massive 90.18-meter throw despite competing without a coach and having his throwing elbow extensively wrapped due to an injury.
In a field that included the world champion Anderson Peters, the former Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott, and the former Commonwealth and world champion Julius Yego, he won by achieving that distance in his fifth throw.It was Pakistan’s second gold in Birmingham and the first was also won with a Games record when Nooh Dasagir Butt triumphed in the +105kg weightlifting competition.
Arshad, like Nooh, was one of Pakistan’s top medal chances entering the competition, and right from his first throw, he made his intentions clear.
Arshad’s first attempt, which he improved upon three times that evening, was 86.61 metres.
He was establishing the standard that the remainder of the competition would have to meet in order to win gold.
Arshad improved his personal best once more with a shot of exactly 88 metres on his second attempt, therefore the foul on that effort didn’t matter.
