‘It was unbelievable,’ coach Salman Butt on Arshad Nadeem’s Olympic record throw

Salman Butt, the coach of Pakistan’s Olympic hero Arshad Nadeem, told Dawn.com on Friday that the athlete’s monstrous 92.97m throw in the javelin final was “unbelievable.”

Nadeem’s throw also shattered the previous Olympic record of 90.57m, set by the Netherlands’ Andreas Thorkildsen at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

“I knew he had a big throw, but that was really surprising,” Butt chuckled.

“It’s like that guy said, this was ‘out of syllabus’,” an amused Butt told Dawn.com on Friday.

Tokyo 2020 gold medallist, India’s Neeraj Chopra, took home silver with an 89.45m throw on his second attempt, the only viable throw of the night among five foul throws.

Grenada’s Anderson Peters took home bronze and his first Olympic medal with an 88.54m throw.

Nadeem’s throw was historic across the board. It was Pakistan’s first ever individual gold medal, the first gold medal in 40 year and first Olympic medal in 32 years. He also became the first Pakistani to win a medal in Athletics, and the first Pakistani to hold an Olympic record.

The journey to Olympic glory was preceded by a tiring 72 hours, Butt said. It began with Tuesday’s qualifier round where Nadeem threw a season’s best throw of 86.59m to head into Thursday night’s final as fourth seed.

As his coach and manager in Paris, “we have technical things to take care of.

“We need to attend to his injury spot, correspond with his doctor, repeatedly administer massages, then relax his body,” Butt explained.

“Then we have to work on his strength, his speed.”

Butt had high praise for the accommodation he and Nadeem have been given in Paris at the Athletes Village.

“It’s a clean, pristine environment. These were good arrangements as far as Paris is concerned,” Butt said. “No complaints, all praise actually.”

More to follow