Arshad Nadeem entered the history books after winning the first-ever Olympic gold for Pakistan on Thursday, August 9. Nadeem stunned the sporting world with a record throw at the men's javelin event at the Paris Olympics 2024 and ended Pakistan's long wait for a medal in the Summer Games.
Nadeem produced Pakistan's first individual Olympic gold and first medal since 1992 to claim eternal glory. Pakistan has won three gold and three silver medals in the men's field hockey events in the Olympics but never made the headlines in the individual sports.
Notably, Pakistan had won just two individual medals before Nadeem's heroics in the 2024 Paris Games.
The legendary wrestler Muhammad Bashir, born in 1935, was the first Pakistani athlete to win an individual medal. Bashir created history after winning a bronze in the men's freestyle welterweight category at the 1960 Olympic Games held in Rome.
Bashir won his first five matches to enter the finals but lost two back-to-back bouts to finish third among 23 contenders. He also won three Commonwealth gold medals (1958 Cardiff, 1962 Perth and 1966 Kingston), a gold in the 1996 Asian Games in Bangkok.
Bashir died aged 66 in March 2001 and remains Pakistan's most successful wrestler of all time. Pakistan also won their first-ever gold in men's field hockey in 1960 after they beat India 1-0 in the final. However, the 1960 Rome Games was the only edition where Pakistan won two or more medals in their Olympic history.
Pakistan's second individual Olympic medal came in 1988, 28 years after Bashir's bronze in Rome and 36 years before Arshad Nadeem's gold in Paris 2024. The iconic boxer Hussain Shah won a bronze medal in the men's middleweight category at the 1988 Seoul Games.
Hussain became the first and only Pakistan boxer to claim an Olympic medal. Her received a bye in his first round and then won three consecutive matches to enter the semi-finals where he lost 1-4 to Canada's Egerton Marcus and won a bronze.
Nadeem ended Pakistan's wait for the third individual medal and first-ever gold which will encourage young athletes to improve Pakistan's stature in future Olympic Games.
