Paris Olympics: Arshad Nadeem To Receive Pakistan's Second Highest Civilian Honour After Historic Gold

With the javelin gold triumph, a 40-year-old drought of individual gold medals came to an end. The government also has approved for a commemorative stamp titled “Azm-e-Istehkam” (commitment to stability) to be issued on the occasion of Pakistan’s Independence Day. 

The 27-year-old won the gold medal in the men’s javelin event with a monstrous 92.97m throw on Thursday, August 8 at the Stade de France in Paris, which also broke the 90.57 Olympic record set 16 years ago at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. 

“Arshad Nadeem's remarkable performance has made the nation proud on the global stage. His outstanding success in athletics is a source of pride for the country,” President Zardari stated in his letter as quoted by the PTI. 

The award will be presented to the ace athlete Nadeem in a special ceremony by the president for recognising his massive contributions in sport. 

Before Nadeem’s javelin triumph, Pakistan had not won an individual gold in the Olympics. The other two individual medals that came were from Mohammad Bashir’s wrestling bronze (1960) and Hussain Shah’s bronze in boxing (1988).