Ahmed Naas
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | Nasiriyah, Iraq | ||||||||||||
| Height | 130 cm (51 in) | ||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||
| Country | Iraq | ||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||
| Disability class | F40 | ||||||||||||
| Event(s) | javelin throw | ||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||
.svg.png){kind=icon}
Ahmed Naas is a Paralympian athlete from Iraq competing in the F40 classification javelin throw.[1] He won a silver medal in the javelin at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.
Athletics career
Naas took up athletics after being spotted by a coach whilst playing football. He took up the javelin, but dropped the sport in 2009 after a coach said he lacked the athleticism.[2] He returned to the sport in 2010, taking up the javelin full-time. His results at local competitions saw him selected for the Iraq team at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where he attended training camps in Baghdad and Turkey.[2]
At the Games he entered the F40 category javelin event. There in his fifth throw he recorded a distance of 43.27m, a new world record that put him into the lead. On seeing the distance, Naas cartwheeled across the track before falling to his knees, to the delight of the crowd.[3] Unfortunately for Naas he failed to win the event, after China's Wang Zhiming recorded a distance of 47.95m in his final throw to set a new world record and take gold.[3] Despite being beaten into silver medal place the crowd responded with rapturous applause when he took to the podium to receive his medal.[4]
Buoyed by the reaction at London and having won one of only a handful of medals for his country, Naas believed that he would return to his home a "...king of sport in Iraq" and a national symbol.[2] The reality was very different. When he arrived back in Iraq, there was no one to greet him and he took a taxi alone from Baghdad airport to his home in Batha.[2] He spent his prize money, given to him through various government sources, buying a plot of land in Batha. He was forced to return to work at his family's grocery stall, and now continues to train using rudimentary equipment, without a coach or training grounds.[2]
Notes
- ↑ "Naas, Ahmed". IPC. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Rao, Prashant (14 November 2012). "Paralympic dream over, Iraqi wakes up to old life". yourmiddleeast.com. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
- 1 2 "Paralympics 2012: Javelin runner-up Ahmed Naas is the celebrations star". theguardian.com. 7 September 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
- ↑ "Paralympics 2012: Ahmed Naas steals the show but Wang Zhiming grabs gold as records tumble in F40 javelin final". telegraph.co.uk. 7 September 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2016.