Pakistani Athlete Wins Olympic Gold After 32-Year Drought

Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem shattered a world record to win a gold medal at the Paris Olympics 2024. Nadeem is now inspiring a new generation of Pakistani sportsmen and women to excel in athletics. Thousands of fans, including government ministers, came to Lahore Airport to greet Arshad Nadeem when he returned to the country. 

Aeshad Nadeem's gold medal in the Paris Olympics came 32 years after Pakistan won a bronze medal in field hockey at Barcelona, Spain. It's also the first Olympic gold medal won by Pakistanis in 40 years. Pakistan has won a total of 11 medals since it started participating in the Olympic Games in 1948. India has won 41 medals since it began its participation in the Olympics in 1900. Five of India's 41 medals were won prior to 1948. This year, Pakistan has won just one medal, a gold in Javelin throw, while India has won 6 medals, including a silver in Javelin throw and 5 bronzes in other sports. 

Gold Medal Winner Arshad Nadeem at Paris Olympics. Source: Olympics.com

Of the 11 olympics medals won by Pakistan since 1948, only three, including that of Paris 2024 champion Arshad Nadeem are individual medals. Two other individual medals are bronze in men's boxing and wrestling.  The rest are team medals awarded to the Pakistan field hockey teams. 

2024 Paris Olympics Table. Source: Google

South Asian nations, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, rank low on this year's medals tables. Pakistan ranks 62 and India 69. The top of the table is dominated by rich nations from East Asia, North America and Western Europe. Over 50 countries and territories have never won an Olympic medal, either in the Summer or Winter Games, according to a report in Newsweek. 

Olympic Medals Winners Map. Source: Newsweek

Bangladesh is among the nations that have never won any olympic medals. Others include Angola, Bhutan, Bolivia, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Honduras, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. 

Total Olympic Medals Won By Most Populous Countries 1896-2024 

Here's how The Economist magazine summarized the results of the 2024 Paris Olympics:

 "This year around 45% of participating countries won at least one medal. In 1992, the equivalent figure was 38%. Albania, Cape Verde, Dominica and St Lucia won their first-ever medals in Paris; Botswana and Guatemala secured their first golds. The improvement reflects the greater number of medals on offer, as more events are added, as well as sport’s globalisation, which has allowed techniques and knowledge to spread further and faster. Ultimately, however, serious Olympic success is determined by the wealth and population of a country. Rich, big countries have more resources to invest and deeper pools of talent. The share of countries with more than 20 medals has remained largely unchanged since 1992. That makes a minnow’s success all the more special". 

Share of Olympic Medals Won By Countries. Source: The Economist

Olympics are not just a huge international sporting spectacle; these games are highly lucrative for the organizers who rake in billions of dollars in sponsorships and media rights. NBC alone paid $7.75 billion for broadcasting rights for the United States. 

Rich industrialized nations have well-funded athletics development programs which can be credited with their Olympic success. The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) is an example of one such program. It earned $1.28 billion in revenue in 2022-2023, with about $1 billion coming from March Madness alone. 

This summer in Paris 2024, 75% of Team USA's Olympic athletes will have a collegiate background as part of their journey to Team USA, according to a report. This includes NCAA programs, junior colleges, NAIA and clubs. Of those, 65% (385 of 592) have competed in NCAA collegiate sports across all three divisions. In total, 151 NCAA schools from 45 conferences will have one or more Team USA Olympic athletes competing in Paris. 

The medals won by athletes from poor nations like India and Pakistan are primarily due to the individual's own initiative, hard work and determination. Arshad Nadeem, for example, had so little help from the Pakistani government or private sector that he had trouble finding the money to buy a javelin.  He ended up doing crowd-funding to buy it for the Paris Olympics 2024. Even after winning a Commonwealth Games gold and World Championship silver in 2022 and 2023, Arshad had to plead for a new javelin before the Paris Olympics as his old one had worn out after years of use, according to a news report. 

It is heartening to see that Arshad Nadeem is now being showered with effusive praise and money from both the government and private sector to continue his passion. Hopefully, he will use his celebrity and money to help fund an athletics academy for aspiring young men and women in Pakistan.  

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

India, Pakistan and Johnson-Ali Model

Field Hockey: Pakistan's Race to the Bottom

India Ranks Below China, Pakistan in Global Hunger Index

Low Status of Indian Women

India's Commonwealth Games Mess

Pakistan Cricket Board's Budget

UNESCO Education For All Report 2010

India's Arms Build-up: Guns Versus Bread

South Asia Slipping in Human Development

Ambani's Extravagant Wedding

Challenges of 2010-2020 in South Asia

India and Pakistan Contrasted 2010

Food, Clothing and Shelter in India and Pakistan

Introduction to Defense Economics

Riaz Haq's Youtube Channel

PakAlumni Social Network

Field Hockey: Pakistan's Race to the Bottom

Pakistan field hockey has hit rock bottom. The four-time world champions and winners of the Olympic gold medal in field hockey have ranked at 12 out of 12 nations that participated in this year's World Cup in India. And it's not just hockey; the fortunes of the national cricket team are also in steep decline. Pakistan Cricket Board, the nation's cricket body, has slapped bans and fines on the top players of the national cricket team after the loss of all of the matches played during their recent Australian tour.

With the close relatives and cronies of the ruling feudal politicians heading Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) as well as other key functions in government, the nation's sports are not immune from the corrosive effects of the national politics of the day. What is happening in the sports arena is tragic, but it is not limited to Pakistani sports teams. The fall of cricket and hockey are symptomatic of a much larger problem. There is a race to the bottom in the national life; the economy is stagnant since 2008, after being among the best performing in the region; its politics is petty; there is total breakdown in law and order; the nation is slipping in the UNDP human development rankings; there is growing sense of insecurity from terror attacks; the country is experiencing unprecedented multiple crises of power, water, gas, food, and the list goes on and on. A wave of toxic cynicism is engulfing the entire nation in the absence of inspiring and competent national leadership.

It was under the military government of President Musharraf that Pakistan's private mass media were born and bred, and enjoyed unprecedented freedom in the history of the nation. Ten years ago Pakistan had one television channel. Today it has over 100. Together they have begun to open up a country long shrouded by political, moral and religious censorship under military and civilian "democracy" alike. Now they are taking on the government, breaking social taboos and, most recently, pushing a new national consensus against the Taliban.

The multiple TV channels spawned by the Musharraf media revolution were joined by the expanded middle class which also grew along with the media to bring down the previous government in 2008. Now, the ruling feudal politicians, and prominent media personalities are mindlessly and tirelessly repeating the mantra that "even the worst democracy is better than the best dictatorship." They insist on it as an article of faith. What they completely ignore is the fact that "good" dictatorships in many East Asian nations have helped create strong economies with large and highly developed middle class populations, leading them to durable and competent democracies.

Clearly, the politicians and the TV talk show hosts are not the ones paying the heaviest price for the current sham democracy led by the most incompetent and corrupt people. Instead, it is the lower middle class and the poor who are suffering the most. Many of them have lost their jobs and slipped back into poverty with the declining economy during the last two years. They are unable to buy the basic necessities such as food and fuel because of high inflation. They lack the resources to insulate themselves from the terrible effects of deteriorating governance in the name of democracy. Unlike the feudal politicians and the well-paid TV talking heads, the poor and lower middle classes can not buy private security, or get a private diesel generator, or have private delivery of water to their homes. Nor do they have affordable access to justice from the "independent judiciary" or the services of the largely absent "pro bono" lawyers to petition the courts on their behalf. They are left to fend for themselves with no help from the urban elite or the members of the "civil society" who make up the vast majority of the most vocal supporters of feudal democracy in Pakistan.

Pakistan's average economic growth rate was 6.8% in the 60s (Gen. Ayub Khan), 4.5% in the 70s(Zulfikar Bhutto), 6.5% in the 80s (Gen. Zia ul-Haq), and 4.8% in the 90s (Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif). Growth picked up momentum in the 21st Century under General Musharraf, and from 2000-2007, Pakistan's economy grew at an average 7.5%, making it the third fastest growing economy in Asia after China and India. There were 2-3 million new jobs created each year from 2000-2007, which significantly enlarged the middle class, and helped millions escape poverty.

Unfortunately, there is a troubling history of the democratic process in Pakistan resulting in the election of leaders who are demonstrably both corrupt and incompetent. After surviving the lost decade of the 1990s under such leaders, and then thriving in the last decade under a more competent dictator until 2007, Pakistan has once again returned to the bad old days of the 1990s. The economy is stagnating, inflation is high, there are shortages of everything from food to water and power and security, unemployment is rising, and many are slipping back into poverty.

It would be great if Pakistanis could have both competence and honesty in their leaders. However, I would personally insist on competence to deliver good governance as a minimum criterion for leadership positions, if I can't have both.

Here is my incomplete wish list for the kind of competencies desirable in governing Pakistan at this critical juncture in its life:

1. Motivational Competency: The leadership needs to sell a vision of a secure, peaceful, stable and prosperous Pakistan, and motivate the people to work toward achieving it. It's not going to be easy, but strong motivational skills can help inspire the nation, in spite of the deep skepticism and toxic cynicism that pervades the nation's discourse today.

2. Security Competency: What the leadership needs is a comprehensive strategy using a mix of intelligence capability, political dialog, military force and close monitoring to isolate and defeat those who continue to perpetrate murder and mayhem on the streets of Pakistan. Such a policy must be developed, debated, sold to the people, and constantly refined to produce results.

3. Human Development Competency: No nation can achieve greatness unless its human resource potential is developed and utilized to the fullest. It is a challenge that will require a team of committed and competent professionals with the full backing and the resources of the state to build a public-private partnership for mass literacy campaigns and to provide access to food and health care. Beyond that, there will be a serious focus required to build great institutions of higher learning to develop knowledge based economy for the twenty-first century.

4. Economic Competency: There is a need to build a non-partisan economic leadership team with the best available talent and experience in Pakistan. Such a team should be chartered to come up with policies and programs to spur nation's economic growth to create opportunities for the tens of millions of young people, and to generate the national resources for funding ambitious programs in human and economic development of the nation.

Can our current leadership do it? Their past record is not reassuring. However, if they make a serious effort toward it, and start to show some results, I am confident they will find real support for their efforts in Pakistan. Results from good governance by the leadership will be the best guarantee for reversing the current race to the bottom and ensure the survival of democracy in Pakistan.

The rhetoric that "even the worst democracy is better than the best dictatorship" can not save democracy. If the current crop of elected politicians are really serious about strengthening democracy, it is important for them to pursue a broad good governance agenda in Pakistan with education and training of politicians as the center piece. It is important for them to revive the idea of a school of government in Islamabad to increase the chances for democracy to survive and thrive in Pakistan. Unless the politicians find a way to improve governance to solve people's problems, the nation will be condemned to repeat the past history of democracy's failure in Pakistan.

Related Links:

Why is Democracy Failing in Pakistan?

Pakistan's Economic Performance Since 2008

Human Development Slipping in South Asia

Pakistan's Decade of 1999-2009 in Review

ASEAN Architect Suharto Passes On

NRO and Corrupt Democracies in South Asia

Malaysia National Front Suffers Setback

Musharaf's Economic Legacy

Musharaf's Media Revolution

Pakistan's Corruption Indexes

Return to Bad Old Days in Pakistan

Shaukat Aziz's Economic Legacy

Daily Carnage in Pakistan

Pakistan Thrash India to Reach Champions Hockey Final

Pakistan and India have had two sports encounters this year at major international events in cricket and field hockey. Pakistan have won on both occasions to go on to the the final or semifinal. In September this year, Pakistan beat India in the ICC T20 Champions Trophy group match in South Africa to qualify for the semifinal. And today, Pakistan beat India 6-3 in a Champions Challenge hockey tournament semifinal at Salta, Argentina. These wins are very welcome at a time when Pakistanis need their spirits lifted to deal with the extremely difficult situation at home.


Here's a Times of India report Pakistan-India field hockey encounter today:

SALTA (Argentina): Pakistan beat India 6-3 to set up a final against New Zealand in Champions Challenge hockey tournament on Saturday.

New Zealand held out two-time defending champion and host Argentina 3-2 to reach Sunday's final, where the winner will qualify for the Champions Trophy next July in Moenchengladbach, Germany.

Pakistan took only two minutes to score, through Rehan Butt, who would collect a hat trick in another classic match between the archrivals.

While two Pakistan players were cooling off on cards, India forced a penalty corner and leveled through Dhananjay Mahadik. India continued to enjoy the run of play, but Pakistan nailed its chances with Butt shooting home and Sohail Abbas adding a penalty corner goal for a 3-1 halftime lead.

After the break, India dominated, but its desperation to score left the defense vulnerable, and Haseem Khan's goal against the run of play made it 4-1. There were four goals in the last eight minutes, with Butt claiming his third and Abbas his second. Mahadik also finished with a pair for India.

As in the Pakistan-India semi-final, New Zealand scored quickly, with Andrew Hayward converting a penalty corner to hush the home crowd. Argentina's penalty corner specialist Pedro Ibarra claimed his sixth goal of the tournament to draw level, but just before halftime Phillip Burrows finished a counterattack to send New Zealand ahead into the break.

After Shea McAleese's penalty corner goal 10 minutes into the second half gave New Zealand 3-1, Argentina's attack ramped up but continued to be bottled by the New Zealand defense until four minutes from the end, when Lucas Vila's counterattack field goal gave the home side renewed hope, but without enough time.

Related Links:

Pakistan Beat India in South Africa

Kiwis Dash Pakistan's ICC Championship Hopes

Pakistan Crowned World T20 Champs

Pakistan's Aisamul Haq Beats Tennis Great Roger Federer

Pakistan's Daily Carnage