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PARIS – If things had gone Arshad Nadeem’s way, he would probably not have the shiny Olympic gold medal around his neck now. As a young boy, the Pakistani dreamed of becoming a fast bowler in cricket. But that changed when he was talent-spotted at the age of 14 by javelin coach Rashid Ahmad Saqi. In a recent interview with The Straits Times at Toyota Asia’s Start Your Impossible night at Shangri-La Paris, Nadeem recalled how the javelin took him on a winning trajectory. Speaking in Urdu through his coach Salman Butt, the 27-year-old said of his beginnings: “I am basically a cricket player, and have also played football at the local level. My elder brother was an athlete and he introduced me to the javelin, he was sort of a decathlete. “My childhood coach, Rashid Ahmad Saqi, motivated me, picked me up. He told me, ‘you have good height, good attributes to become a good javelin thrower’, and that’s how I started.” Cricket is the biggest sport in Pakistan, but Nadeem was eyeing a different path. The 1.92m athlete added: “We thought that if we start on something else, on a different level, I thought javelin was more appropriate and that motivated me to break away to a new frontier.” He picked up the javelin and climbed steadily to the top. After finishing fifth on his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, he clinched gold with on Aug 8 to earn Pakistan its first Olympic medal since Barcelona 1992 and its first gold since Los Angeles 1984. Returning home to a hero’s welcome, Nadeem was feted by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab province chief minister Maryam Nawaz, with a total cash prize of 250 million rupees (S$1.16 million) for his feat. Nawaz also handed Nadeem the keys to a new car, with several politicians and corporate entities promising cash prizes and even an apartment. For someone who grew up in a mud-brick house in rural Punjab along with his seven siblings, winning gold has propelled him to the upper echelons of Pakistani society. He has come a long way since the days of training in his home-made gym, where he lifted oil-filled canisters for strength training and hurled eucalyptus branches with an iron tip to practise his throws. Nadeem, who is married with two children, is now one of the most famous athletes in his country, but he remains grounded. He said: “I’m getting more recognition and love from the people of my nation, and that’s my biggest motivation to work harder and maybe share with the people what I’ve gained.” He also shares a friendship with his rival, India’s Neeraj Chopra, the Tokyo 2020 gold medallist who finished second behind Nadeem in Paris. Despite the geopolitical tensions between their countries, Nadeem was heard calling Chopra his “bhai”, meaning brother in Urdu, during their post-event press conference in Paris. He said: “In 2016 at the South Asian Games in Guwahati, India, Neeraj was my first competitor and we started talking to each other, and we took part in many competitions together. “We have a lot of respect for each other and we’ll continue to grow together.” Chopra had defeated Nadeem since that Guwahati meet, winning at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in 2018, the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the World Athletics Championships in 2022 and 2023. It was only in Paris where Nadeem edged out his younger “bhai”, who settled for silver with an 89.45m effort. As for the future, Nadeem hopes to build on what he has learnt, and maybe even open an academy to teach others. “For the future Olympics, to retain the gold,” he added.