The recent success of Pakistani athlete Arshad Nadeem who won the gold medal in thejavelin throw at the Olympics in Paris was the harbinger and repeat telecast of the phenomenon called “Credit without Performance”. The win prompted multiple individuals and sports boards to bring forth their narratives of how they played a critical role in Arshad’s success story.
While Arshad Nadeem’s historic victory filled the entire nation with pride at a time when no other sportsman or woman has been able to perform at the top level, a video of the prime minister celebrating the win with his Advisor on Youth Affairs, Rana Mashhood, went viral on social media. In the video, Rana Mashhood credited the victory to the Prime Minister, stating, “Prime Minister, this was your vision.”
Sadly, this situation in sports is a recurring trend similar to many other federal institutions where it keeps repeating. With little performance to show for, there is a scurry to attach with any success story in which these organizations have had little input or effort in the end result. Unless these sports boards establish a mission and vision, formulate proper long term strategies, hire key management personnel who have the intent of developing talent and adopt best practices which are successful in other countries, this situation will keep repeating and we will see future clones of Arshad Sharif having to ward off the vultures and leeches hungry to snatch and hoard the credit
Adding insult to injury, Minister Atta Tarrar also joined the bandwagon and attributed Nadeem’s success to the Punjab Youth Festival, which became the platform for his success.
This created an uproar on social media as the reality of the matter was known to all. Saying that the journey of the athlete from Mian Channu has been tough would be an understatement. In a country where there is a lack of basic facilities and infrastructure, quality coaches, funding for international events and little to no financial support, Arshad rose to win the gold medal in a sport which Pakistan is not known to have any expertise in. His determination and hard work became a showcase for every Pakistani proving that grit can take you far.
Further controversy arose when a video emerged when apparently a person allegedly from the government or sports board was asking Arshad to rehearse a script. Later on at the news conference Arshad attributed his success due to the efforts of the current government
There are so many similar cases of Pakistani sportsmen and women who rose from adversity to prove themselves in the sports arena and made Pakistanis proud, but the lust for hoarding credit has always been there at all levels of government, bureaucracy and private sector. Naseem Hameed, Hussain Shah and Nooh Dastagir Butt recently are examples of athletes who received temporary fame but were later sidelined by all once the temporary marketing hype died down.
I once asked a contact who worked in one of the sports departments as to why the elections for President and other officials for these departments were so hotly contested with millions being spent, when there were little to no funds available and even less to show as performance over the years except in maybe cricket, football and squash. His innocent and blunt response was that the officials get to make a lot of foreign trips which may include Olympics and world championships plus the meetings of the world sports bodies for the respective sports. He stopped short of insinuating that there was corruption in these institutions and funds were misused by the management of these sports boards.
In essence, it made complete sense as to why Lt Gen (retd) Arif Hasan stayed firm in his seat for 20 years as President of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) showing zero performance from 2004-2024. Most heads of similar bodies in the western world would have resigned after non-performance in a single Olympics event. The hard hitting fact is that Pakistan had failed to win any Olympic medal since 1992 before the most recent victory by Arshad Nadeem.
Sadly, this situation in sports is a recurring trend similar to many other federal institutions where it keeps repeating. With little performance to show for, there is a scurry to attach with any success story in which these organizations have had little input or effort in the end result.
Unless these sports boards establish a mission and vision, formulate proper long term strategies, hire key management personnel who have the intent of developing talent and adopt best practices which are successful in other countries, this situation will keep repeating and we will see future clones of Arshad Sharif having to ward off the vultures and leeches hungry to snatch and hoard the credit.
