Claim: Federal Urdu University awarded Arshad Nadeem with Rs2,000.
Fact: Foundation Public School awarded Arshad Nadeem with Rs2,000,000 in September 2023.
On 15 August 2024, Soch Fact Check received a photograph via WhatsApp showing Arshad Nadeem receiving a cheque for Rs2,000 from Federal Urdu University.
This claim appears to have originated from a photograph (archive) shared on Facebook on 11 August, where Nadeem is pictured accepting a cash reward alongside some officials.
Arshad Nadeem
Arshad Nadeem made history at the 2024 Olympics in Paris becoming Pakistan’s first individual Olympic champion with a gold medal in the men’s javelin throw. He set a new Olympic record with a throw of 92.97m, beating defending champion Neeraj Chopra by 3.52m. His final throw of 91.79m secured Pakistan’s first-ever medal in athletics.
In celebration of Nadeem’s achievement, political and sports figures and various organisations and institutions announced monetary rewards to honour his victory. As of 14 August, Nadeem had received Rs250 million. Following these announcements, numerous photos of Arshad Nadeem receiving awards and cash prizes began circulating on social media fueling the spread of both genuine and altered photos.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched the photo and found it in a Dawn article, with the caption “Pakistan’s star javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem (second R) receives a cash prize during a ceremony arranged by a local school on Wednesday”.
The photo in the claim is identical to the one in the article, except the school’s name, logo, and amount of money, which have been altered.
The date on the cheque remains unaltered and reads 20.09.2023, further confirming that it was not taken after Nadeem’s recent Olympic victory. Additionally, the individuals in both the original and altered images are the same.
We scoured Foundation Public School’s social media accounts to find the context of the photograph and discovered that it had been shared on their Instagram and Facebook accounts in September 2023.
The caption read: ‘At Foundation Public School, we’ve always believed in the transformative power of sports in shaping young minds and our nation’s future. Today, we’re filled with pride as we warmly welcomed our national sports champion, @arshadnadeem29, the first-ever Pakistani to win a silver medal in the men’s javelin throw at the World Athletics Championship 2023. His presence was also an inspiration for our upcoming 24th FPS sports festival. We thanked him with a special token of appreciation for his amazing contributions to sports and for being a role model for many young athletes in Pakistan. We wish him the best of luck for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics and have strong belief that he will bring the Gold Medal to the nation’.
The name in the photograph being fact-checked reads, “Federal Urdu University,” whereas the institution’s full name is “Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology.” This discrepancy further suggests that the image has been altered to misrepresent the source of the cheque.
The altered photo was also shared on Threads with the caption
“”وفاقی اردو یونیورسٹی کی جانب سے ارشد ندیم کو پورے دو ہزار روپے کا انعام…!””
[Translated from Urdu: “A reward of two thousand rupees to Arshad Nadeem on behalf of Federal Urdu University…!”]
A user responded to the post with the original photo urging users to stop spreading false information.
Virality:
The initial post (archive) gained significant traction on Facebook amassing 25,000 reactions, 4,000 comments, and 578 shares. It was subsequently shared across multiple Facebook pages including here, here, here, and here.
The claim was also shared here and here on Threads. Archived here and here.
On X it was shared here and here. Archived here and here.
It was shared here on Instagram.
Conclusion: The photograph in the claim was altered to misrepresent the source of the monetary award. Arshad Nadeem was awarded Rs2,000,000 by Foundation Public School, not Rs2,000 by Federal Urdu University.
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Background image in cover photo: Olympics.com
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