Faizan Lakhani@faizanlakhani
Arshad Nadeem's failure in the Commonwealth Games javelin final is reflection of everything that is broken in Pakistan's sports system.
Four years ago, Arshad was the Commonwealth Games champion. Today, he couldn't even finish among the top eight, and the discussion around his failure is missing the bigger picture.
Arshad is arguably one of the greatest athletes Pakistan has produced. An Olympic champion. A Commonwealth Games champion. A world-class thrower who reached the top largely because of extraordinary natural ability and hard work. But natural talent alone cannot sustain an elite career.
At the highest level, success is built around systems. Elite athletes require scientific coaching, periodized training plans, workload management, biomechanics analysis, nutrition, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, recovery protocols and regular international competition. These are not luxuries, they are the minimum requirements for remaining competitive.
Paris 2024 should have been a game changing moment. Winning Olympic gold should have triggered major investment in high performance programs, world class support staff, better facilities and a long-term development pathway, not only for Arshad but for the next generation of javelin throwers. Instead, years have passed without building the infrastructure an Olympic champion deserves.
There is another issue that demands attention, elite athletes improve by competing regularly against the world's best but Arshad did participate in most of the top level events, including multiple diamond league meetings. He also preferred to remain surrounded by Salman Iqbal Butt, instead of going for elite athletes coaching staff. Athletes themselves also bear responsibility for their careers. The world's leading athletes always seek improvements whether through coaching, sports science or support teams. It is fair to ask whether Arshad could have benefited from expanding his coaching and performance setup after becoming Olympic champion. Ultimately, those decisions were his choices but they also contributed in what we saw last night in Glasgow.
However, Arshad Nadeem's result in CWG2026 should not be viewed only as an individual’s failure. It should be treated as institutional failure.
Athletics Federation of Pakistan and the Pakistan Sports Board must honestly evaluate if they have provided an Olympic champion with the environment needed to remain at the top. Managing a world class athlete requires more than sending him to few competitions.
