From backyard to Olympic glory: How Terseus Liebenberg shaped Arshad Nadeem

The South African coach urges more Diamond League participation for the Olympic record-holder

KARACHI:

If humility had a face and more so a voice that is both friendly and encouraging, it would be that of the world-renowned athletics coach and author Terseus Liebenberg.

He is a portal, more or less, for people who want to understand how the international javelin community is close-knit, yet trusting, and open to sharing knowledge.

While Pakistan is seeing a rise in the popularity of javelin throw because of Olympian Arshad Nadeem, it is necessary to understand how this community helped him achieve excellence in one of the world's oldest sports, with that stunning 92.97m throw at Stade de France at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

They say it takes a village to raise a child; it is the same when one looks at the journeys of sports champions. Mostly, it is a community that comes together for that champion athlete, too.

The legacies and legends are a cumulative result of how there are cultural, professional, and human exchanges that shape the fate of national histories through sports.

In this case, for Pakistan, as Arshad's gold medal and Olympic record-making throw marked the end of the 32-year Olympic Games medal drought for Pakistan, it brought a summer gold medal to the country after 40 years. It was also the first time that an athlete from the country won an Olympic gold medal in an individual sport.

PHOTO COURTESY: NEWS 24

Pakistan's and Arshad's link to this community is, undoubtedly, Terseus.

When asked where his love for a sport like javelin throw comes from, his reply is both innocent and insightful, and something that Pakistanis can now relate to, courtesy of Arshad's feat and witnessing it, albeit second-hand.

"It was such a nice feeling to see the javelin floating in the air," explained Terseus. "When I was a kid, my dad, who was a physical education teacher, used to bring javelins home. So, my brother and I would play with them in our backyard."

Terseus went on to play at the national level, and his lifelong love kept him glued to the competition well into his 40s and 50s, and he only gave up participating in the seniors event when his knees gave up.

But it is his coaching career that is fascinating. Pakistanis have a lot to thank him for; his brilliance is imprinted in the careers of the greatest throwers in the world, while his resume is impressive as he coached the South African athletics team in 2008, 2012, and 2016.

In fact, there is a poignant connection, specifically when it comes to the Commonwealth Games history, when Arshad broke the record with 90.18m at the 2022 edition, a few months after receiving training from a South African. That record was set by another one of Tersues' pupils and former world champion Marius Corbett, who made the games record of 88.75m in 1998.

The South African maestro's more recent times like that of Jo-Ané van Dyk, who got a silver medal at Paris Olympics, but also he has been the man behind helping Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem in winning the gold medal and creating an Olympic record with a massive 92.97m throw at Stade de France last year, although he would not take the credit for it.

"Paris Olympics were my favourite Games," he answered to this correspondent's question about his favourite Olympics yet.

He replied with a delight that one could feel through the phone.

"In the 2016 Rio Olympics, we won a silver with South Africa's Sunette Viljoen, and now van Dyk, and it was an honour to coach her as she is an awesome woman and athlete, with a lot of integrity, and she has impeccable values and work ethic.

"And of course, it was wonderful to see Arshad throw; it was super."

That is where his humility shows, more than he probably knows, because it is clear that his teaching has come in extremely handy to Arshad's team, even though Terseus was more in the consultation role than actual coaching since last year.

Terseus had first seen Arshad in 2022 when the latter was sent for the training in Potchefstroom, and since then, the 69-year-old has been a guiding force to the Pakistani athlete's team.

It is a fruitful relationship that has given Arshad enough to win the 2022 Commonwealth Games record-breaking win, 2022 Islamic Solidarity Games gold medal, 2023 World Championship silver medal, and the history-making Olympic Games performance in 2024.

The Pakistani athlete's own coach, Salman Butt, has not been a javelin throw expert himself; in fact, he has been a national discus throw champion in his younger days. Still, he does not have any coaching qualification, according to the Athletics Federation of Pakistan, but he has learned most things on the job since 2022.

He was appointed to work as a coordinator when Arshad first went to get initial coaching in South Africa.

Fiaz Bokhari mentored and trained Arshad till the Tokyo Olympics, where he took fifth place in his Summer Games debut, creating history by becoming the first track and field athlete to compete in the final. But later, Arashd was left coachless for a while, before Butt was appointed as the coordinator/translator in possibly a co-coaching capacity, as the athlete needed help in understanding instructions from the English language, right before the 2022 World Athletics Championships and the Commonwealth Games. Since then, Butt has been more or less a self-appointed coach, manager, mentor, and one-man army for the support staff.

Butt's main job was to help Arshad understand Terseus' teaching and train in Potchefstroom, and later continue to implement the technical training plans in Lahore with regular consultations from Terseus.

"I have coached Arshad in 2022 and 2023, and from then onward it has been a more consultative role, where I analyse the video, see the training design. But I am so humbled that I have been able to play a small part in Pakistan's sports history.

"I was honoured to have received a letter from the Athletics Federation of Pakistan, even Arshad, Salman, and his physician, Dr Ali Bajwa, had been wonderful.

"I am very happy with Arshad's achievement, and I hope to be of service in the future too."

A peek into Terseus' personal journey to building the javelin community in Potchefstroom

In Tersues's personal journey, he dedicated his life to perfecting the knowledge of javelin throw. His book is one of the resources that can guide not only the coaches but also the javelin throw fan, and he has thanked Dr Frank Dick for taking him under his wing in a time when the South African sports community had limited avenues to compete and learn.

"My competition years were when we had apartheid, so it was difficult, and we were banned, but I was always curious to know more, and I was always searching for knowledge, and that's when I took part in the coaching conference at the Loughborough Summer School Athletics Course of 1985.

"It was more than a conference, it was a week-long program, and Dr Frank knew how difficult it was for me to acquire the knowledge of the sport, so he helped us a lot.

"In fact, Dr Frank played a key role. He got us, Arshad, Salman Butt, and me together."

Tersues has clear principles in the life he lives and the global javelin throw community he has helped to build in Potchefstroom, South Africa, where the world's greatest javelin thrower and current coach of Neeraj Chopra, Jan Zelezny, has been returning to the camp since 1992.

Another renowned coach, Finland's Kari Ihalainen, is a regular fixture in Potchefstroom too. Terseus' hometown is a place where athletes want to come to if they want to train for javelin, with a wide network of experts connected to him.

Tersues was also named the best coach of the last three decades by the South African Athletics Association in 2022.

Potchefstroom has also been a place where Tersues has been athletics manager at the North-West University, which has been a great program to hone the skills of the talented new athletes, too.

He lives with ideals like, "Learn as if you were to live forever; Live as if you were to die tomorrow," and "movement is life, and life is movement."

When one talks to him, it is difficult not to smile and feel motivated, and this quality of his certainly shows that he is a coach who has spent a great deal of time with athletes shaping their careers and their characters simultaneously.

"The world javelin community is very open to sharing the knowledge and experience, and, amazingly, we have greats like Jan and Kari with us, and it truly shows that they are not only training athletes to follow great examples, but also to become great leaders too," Terseus reflected on quality of people and shared experience of the old and new professionals in the field.

The huge shift in javelin from Europe to Asia and Africa

Javelin as a sport is changing very quickly, and one of the shifts has been the emergence of South Asian throwers like Neeraj and Arshad.

"Just 15 years ago, who couldn't even think that South Asians would be winning in javelin throw? It was more of a Scandinavian sport, but then Europe came ahead.

"But Neeraj brought this incredible energy with his wins, and what is happening now is a huge swing of javelin; we see throwers from Asia, Africa, and China."

When asked if he could name the throwers that one can watch out for, he had a quick list for women. This included his athlete South Africa's Jo-Ane du Plessis, Serbia's Adriana Vilagoš, China's Ziyi Yan, while when it comes to the men's side of the competition he feels it is hard to pick, but atheltes like Julian Weber has been performing well, however, he had faced stomach issues in Tokyo during the 2025 World Athletics Championship that kept him out of the podium, similarly, Brazil's Luis Mauricio de Silva, Keshorn Walcott and Neeraj along with Arshad are all wonderful giants with big throws.

Arshad must prioritise Diamond League meets

He believes that it is a wave of the shift from Europe to Asia and Africa in javelin throw that will last a long time, with more javelin throwers coming from India after Neeraj's stellar 2020 Olympics gold medal, and he is hoping to see more Pakistanis take up the sport.

He feels Yasir Sultan is a great addition to the newer throwers, but the youngster still needs more exposure at the Diamond Leagues in Europe, much like Arshad, who has been painfully absent from the meets, even though the fans and the organisers want him to participate in them.

He recalled that when he first saw Arshad in 2022, he felt that the boy from Mian Chunnu, Khanewal, had something special, which could be worked with.

"You can pick that up. I was amazed when I saw him the first time. I knew very little about who he was. I never saw his performance before, but the thing that really defines him is his competitive mindset. He is incredible; he has that big-match mentality and temperament. He is introverted, focused, and a dream to work with. I remember he had that incredible pull on the javelin, great leverage, and amazing block, but we worked on the last three steps with him back then, and improved the connection of the upper and lower body.

"He has a very strong-willed and strong mind. I have known some of the best throwers in the world, and Arshad is in the league of his own when it comes to it," said Tersues.

Happiness begets success

Although Arshad is going through a rough patch, with a calf injury and a surgery that took place on it only two months ago, and his coach is facing a lifetime ban by the Athletics Federation of Pakistan, Terseus believes that Arshad can come back.

But more importantly, for every athlete, they need to enjoy what they are doing.

His parting message was that success is the result of happiness, and it is not that happiness is the result of success. And so he wishes happiness and urges all to dream big and achieve them.