India, Aug. 9 -- Arshad Nadeem stood on his mark at Paris' Stade de France as Thursday melted into Friday, ready to begin his second attempt in the men's javelin final. About 8000 kilometres away, the town of Mian Channu in Pakistan's Punjab province sat on the edge, waiting for their hero to do something special.Nadeem, with his impressive build and the ability to summon a big throw almost on a whim, was always going to be a serious contender, and Rasheed Ahmad Saqi knew it better than most.Saqi, a small-time hotelier and the Additional Secretary of Punjab Athletics Association, had trained Nadeem for four years from 2011, spotting him at a competition he had organised in his academy.Nadeem calls Saqi his "roohani baap" (spiritual father), and Saqi, acutely aware of what his spiritual son is capable of, made a bold prediction for the Olympics final. "He looks good to throw 95m," he declared to ARY News."The reporter couldn't believe me," he laughed. "But as a coach, I just knew."His bulky torso resting over his wonky knees, right arm holding the spear, a quick prayer on his lips, Nadeem begins his run-up. The body twists, the front leg thuds into the freshly-laid Mondo, and with a violent acceleration of his right arm, the spear is released into the Paris night sky.

It lands at 92.97m, breaking the Olympic record by 2.15m. Nadeem breaks into a smile, covers his face with his palm, and slowly walks off in disbelief and gratitude. He has just secured Pakistan's first-ever individual gold medal in Olympics. There's still a lot of the competition to go, but like Saqi, this time everyone knew that there would be no catching Nadeem."Nadeem was in rhythm. His body was holding up nicely. His strength is natural, a gift from Allah."Nadeem would say as much in Paris. His next throw of 88.72m felt good, he said in the press conference, and if not for his arm dropping at release, he would have hit 95m.Saqi is barely surprised. After all, it was Nadeem's raw power and imposing physique that first caught Saqi's eye. "He was quite tall for his age, almost touching six feet. I liked his height and the length of his arms. He was more interested in shot put but I told him to concentrate on javelin because shot put needed a heavier build," recalled Saqi. That was the end of Nadeem's dream of playing international cricket for Pakistan.Like many youngsters of his country, Nadeem liked to bowl fast with the taped ball. Besides shot put and javelin, he had dabbled in track events, badminton, horizontal jumps, hammer throw and discus throw at school, but Saqi knew the spear would change his destiny. "He had all the makings of a future star. Physique, attitude, age, that's all is needed." Athlete development also needs resources though, and Nadeem had none of it.Third among seven siblings, Nadeem's father Muhammad Ashraf laid bricks at construction sites for daily wages. There was never enough money or food in the house and things were so bad that the family could afford meat only once a year, on Eid al-Adha. Nadeem then stayed in a village called 101 15L, essentially a land patch on the left of Grand Trunk Road (L in the peculiar village name indicating left), about 30kms from Mian Channu."There are no proper stadiums here, so we usually practiced on a bumpy ground in the court premises," remembers Saqi. "There were no tracks and the ground was quite uneven. Youngsters would often end up spraining their ankles."In 2015, Nadeem threw 64m at a youth festival in Lahore, drawing the attention of possible employers, chief among them being the Pakistan Army -- that controls much of sports administration in the country -- and Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA).

Nadeem joined the latter and his professional journey began, but help from Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) was hard to come by."POA and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) have been at the loggerheads for a long time which means our sports have suffered a lot," said senior sports journalist Shahid Hashmi.Earlier this year, Nadeem went public with his demand for a fresh spear, revealing that he had been training with a javelin that was procured in 2015. While the elite throwers conditioned themselves in Europe, Nadeem, barring a short trip to South Africa through the Olympic Solidarity scholarship, trained in the searing Lahore heat."Until last year, he was begging for money to go to South Africa," Hashmi said. "POA believes they exist just to co-ordinate between IOC and PSB. PSB runs all 24 sports federations of Pakistan, but they hardly get enough budget. The fact that we haven't had a sports minister in 12 years speaks a lot."Sports in Pakistan is currently being governed by an Inter-Provincial Co-ordination Committee that was allocated a budget of 10 billion Pakistani rupees this fiscal. "Pakistan has potential in weightlifting, boxing, wrestling and now javelin. The budget outlay is not enough for these sports, let alone develop others. It's regrettable what's happened to our hockey and squash. Hopefully, things will change with Nadeem's gold," says Hashmi.For now, Pakistan is partying. Nadeem's success has brought much-needed relief to a nation in severe economic distress. The Olympic champion has built a new home in Mian Channu and dreams of getting a bigger one in a bigger city. Plans are afoot to welcome him home with generous serving of kheer. "He has given this nation joy of a lifetime. May Allah bless him," says Saqi.

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