Pakistan’s Olympian sprinter Faiqa Riaz said Arshad Nadeem’s gold medal victory has boosted the country's reputation among athletes at the Paris Olympics.
Speaking to the Geo News on Friday, Faiqa expressed her sadness over criticism the Pakistani athletes faced in the 2024 Olympics.
"If someone else was better, they should have gone. We were good in Pakistan, which is why the IOC approved our names," the 24-year-old athlete lamented.
"Going to the Olympics is an honour, learning there is an honour, but it was painful to see the ridicule directed at the athletes."
Considering herself fortunate enough to compete in the Olympics, Faiqa said she rose from Punjab Stadium to compete in the Paris Olympic Stadium, which is a huge achievement.
"The Paris Olympics were only the second international event of my career. I first participated in the 2018 South Asian Junior Athletics, but due to COVID, there were no events afterward. I suffered from injuries for two years, and when I fully recovered, I didn't get to compete in any events before the Olympics. I went straight into the Paris Olympics," Faiqa told Geo News.
On August 2, Faiqa did not qualify for the next round of 100-metre as she finished sixth in the preliminary round of Heat 2, resulting in the elimination from the mega event.
In her exclusive conversation, she further discussed ways to improve performances of her fellow citizens.
"We should also be given more opportunities to compete. Our training is different from the rest of the world. Foreign athletes have their own style, and I got the chance to learn from their warm-up and training techniques. Now, I will train in the same way. I realised that if I had gotten another competition, my timing would have improved, but I couldn't advance beyond the first heat," she said.
Faiqa also talked about Nadeem’s gold medal victory, "they started chanting 'Olympic record' and exchanging Pakistan pins. This is something to be immensely proud of.”
She concluded her conversation by saying that “the Pakistani athletes who went to the Olympics did not go based on favouritism.”
Sohail Imran Sohail Imran is a senior reporter for Geo News.
