Like Zeus wielding a spear of lightning, Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem shattered the men's javelin competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with a single, powerful throw, leaving his competitors in awe on Thursday (8th).

In the second round of the competition, without any prior warning, the 27-year-old Nadeem unleashed a thunderous throw of 92.

97 meters, breaking the Olympic record and astonishing the 11 other finalists, including the defending champion and world champion, Neeraj Chopra.

This throw was the longest in the world for over two years and elevated Nadeem to the 6th position on the all-time list.

Chopra initially responded with his best throw of the competition, 89.

45 meters, which placed him in second position.

However, he fouled his next four throws in an attempt to find something extra to match his sub-continental rival.

Two-time world champion Anderson Peters, the only man in the field with a longer throw to his name (93.

07 meters in 2022), valiantly tried to respond to the challenge, producing an 88.

54-meter effort in the fourth round that lifted him into the bronze medal position, just ahead of Czechia's regular medal-winner Jakub Vadlejch (88.

50 meters).

In total, six men threw over 87 meters, including 2015 world champion Julius Yego (87.

72 meters) and German challenger Julian Weber (87.

40 meters), but none could breach the 90-meter barrier.

To underline his superiority, Nadeem returned in the final round to launch the spear 91.

79 meters, the second-best performance of his career.

The Pakistani claimed not only his country's first Olympic medal and first Olympic gold medal in athletics but also its first medal in any sport for 32 years.

'I was expecting and hoping to go even further, but ultimately, I am content with 92.

97 meters as it allowed me to win the gold,' he explained.

'But I will continue working harder to extend this throw to over 95 meters.

'Chopra said his preparation was affected by a groin injury, but he never gave up hope that he might match his rival.

'Today's competition was really great.

Arshad threw really well.

Congratulations to him and his country,' he said.

'In my second throw, I believed in myself to think I can also throw that far.

But in javelin, if your run-up is not so good, you can't go very far.

''Finally, finally.

I've been dreaming about this since I saw Keshorn Walcott win gold in 2012,' Nadeem said.

'From that moment, I decided I was going to work my hardest to get an Olympic medal.

' The third of eight siblings from a humble background in Pakistan's Punjab region, Nadeem's sporting talent initially emerged in cricket, a national obsession, where he was a promising fast bowler.

However, his father was not a cricket fan and advised him to use his fast arm for a different purpose, directing him towards an athletics club, where his throwing talents were immediately recognized.

Despite being overshadowed by his Indian rival Chopra in major competitions in recent years, Nadeem has been quietly building a record that made him a contender at the highest level.

He finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympic Games before breaking through to claim his first major title at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where he dueled with Peters for the gold medal before unleashing his first 90-meter throw to settle the contest.

He continued to climb the ranks last year, coming back from elbow surgery to claim his first global medal, a silver behind Chopra, at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

A knee injury initially hindered his preparation for the Paris Games, but after surgery in February in the United Kingdom, he steadily worked his way back into good form.

His best throw of the year, before tonight's final, was his 86.

59-meter throw in qualifying in Paris, but it clearly gave him enough confidence to attack the runway in the final and grab his first global title.

Pakistan and India are often at odds as neighbors, but Nadeem and Chopra do not carry any animosity onto the athletics track.

'Neeraj and I are on very good terms,' Nadeem told Al Jazeera last month.

'Whenever we are abroad in training or an event, we always talk to each other and stay in touch, but when it comes to competition, then you only think of yourself.

Look, India is our neighbor.

People on both sides say a lot of things about each other's country, but this is what sports teaches us – to be friendly and that we don't have to focus on our differences.

' Between them, they have elevated their two countries to the forefront of javelin competition in recent years.

Chopra was the first Indian to win an Olympic athletics gold medal in Tokyo, and Nadeem has now done the same for Pakistan in Paris.