Mian Channu
\nDozens of villagers gathered in front of the modest home of athlete Arshad Nadeem to watch the hulking javelin thrower take part in the Olympic Games final late on Thursday.
\nThe event was broadcast live by a digital projector onto a screen hanging on the back of a truck in his farming village near the small city of Mian Channu in Punjab.
\nAs the javelin soared through the sky in Paris to a new Olympic record and a gold medal for Nadeem, thousands of kilometres away the cheers of the villagers rang into the night.
\n\u201cHe did a great throw and created history. We are proud of him,\u201d said Nadeem\u2019s 35-year-old brother, Muhammad Azeem.
\nMen danced to the celebratory beat of a drum and others clapped and chanted slogans as it became clear he had won.
\nThe women, meanwhile, sat crowded around a small TV inside Nadeem\u2019s home.
\n\u201cHe had promised me that he would play well, go abroad, win a medal, and make Pakistan proud,\u201d his mother Raziah Parveen said straightforwardly.
\nDespite practising with rickety equipment and with little access to the gyms and training grounds his international competitors have, Nadeem had given Pakistan its first Olympic medal in 32 years, and first Olympic gold in 40 years.
\nFirst drawn to cricket
\n\u201cHe belongs to Mian Channu. He belongs to a small village and raised the Pakistani national flag at the international level,\u201d said Rasheed Ahmed Saqi, Nadeem\u2019s former coach who first spotted his talent.
\nThe son of a retired construction worker, 27-year-old Nadeem is the third of seven siblings and \u2014 like most Pakistanis \u2014 was first drawn to cricket.
\n\u201cI made Arshad switch from playing cricket to javelin at a time when no one knew what the javelin was,\u201d said Shahid Nadeem, Arshad\u2019s older brother.
\n\u201cHe took that stick to the Olympics, set a new record, and won gold,\u201d he told AFP as the family celebrated.
\nRetired local sports official Parvaiz Ahmed Dogar told AFP of the difficulties they faced to get professional training for Nadeem.
\n\u201cThe athletes used to use wooden sticks with a rope tied around it as a javelin. Those wouldn\u2019t even land on the tip,\u201d Dogar recalled.
\nPakistan doesn\u2019t have a proper ground dedicated to track and field, so athletes have to train on a cricket field.
\nIn March, Nadeem revealed that he owned just one javelin, which he had been using for the last seven years and it was damaged.
\nSpeaking to media after his win, Nadeem said the struggle was all worthwhile.
\n\u201cWhen I threw the javelin, I got the feel of it leaving my hand and sensed it could be an Olympic record,\u201d he said.
\nBack in Mian Channu, the locals cheered in agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mian Channu Dozens of villagers gathered in front of the modest home of athlete Arshad Nadeem to watch the hulking javelin thrower take part in the Olympic Games final late on Thursday. The event was broadcast live by a digital projector onto a screen hanging on the back of a truck in his farming village […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423885,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-423868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n