Ahmed Naas
Ahmed Naas is a Paralympian athlete from Iraq competing in the F40 classification javelin throw. He won a silver medal in the javelin at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.
Athletics career
2012 Summer Paralympics
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. 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.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. 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. Despite being beaten into silver medal place the crowd responded with rapturous applause when he took to the podium to receive his medal.
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. 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. 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.