Lahore, Pakistan, June 9, 2024: Pakistan's top Olympic medal hope, javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem, has hailed the "great help" he received from Olympic Solidarity ahead of Paris 2024.
Nadeem made history at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics by becoming the first Pakistani athlete to qualify for an Olympic athletics final, eventually finishing fifth.
His sights are now set on Paris 2024 and, with the support of an Olympic Solidarity scholarship, he is hopeful of a podium finish.
"The support through the scholarship has been a great help with a lot of things that were needed - a lot of things that were rudimentary to javelin throwing and athletics," Nadeem said. "It has helped me towards achieving my goals."
Following his Olympic debut, Nadeem continued to break new ground by winning gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games with a new personal best, before claiming silver at the 2023 World Championships - Pakistan's first-ever medal at the competition.
While Nadeem has set his sights on a podium finish in the French capital, he insisted he was not thinking about another exciting showdown with India's Neeraj Chopra, the reigning Olympic and world champion.
"Neeraj Chopra is a good friend," Nadeem explained. "I have maintained a good, friendly relationship with him. Ultimately, I'm competitive, I'm his rival, but I compete against myself, not against any athlete. My competition is with myself."
Nadeem will have the hopes of a nation on his shoulders in Paris. "A lot of people followed me and discovered javelin.I'm hoping, praying and working hard towards achieving my next goal which is becoming an Olympic champion. I hope to inspire a lot of people towards athletics and javelin," he said.
