It is the first time the South Asian nation has won a medal since 1992, when its hockey team won bronze. It is the first gold medal since 1984, also won by the country’s hockey team. It was a hard-fought victory for Nadeem, who grew up as one of eight children in a mud-brick house in rural Punjab. He took up javelin throwing using “long eucalyptus branches with iron spikes on the ends,” his brother said Reuters.

Nadeem’s momentous homecoming quickly saw him showered with garlands, thousands of fans and a parade through the streets of Karachi in his honour. He also quickly became richer, receiving a $50,000 prize from the Olympic Association, $350,000 and a Honda Civic from Mariam Nawaz, the prime minister of his home province, and just over $500,000 from Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif.

And then there’s the most unconventional gift he received, according to NPR: A buffalo.

Nadeem received the buffalo from his father-in-law, NPR’s Benazir Samad reported Wednesday.

“In rural communities, a buffalo is considered one of the most honorable and valuable gifts, just like camels in desert areas like Saudi Arabia,” Rashad Bukhari, a writer from Punjab, told Samad.

It’s also a lucrative moneymaker, as buffalo milk—and ghee, its byproduct—is a common delicacy in the region. Pakistan is the world’s fifth-largest milk producer, home to more than 26 million buffalo. Of all the country’s milk-producing animals (including sheep, cattle and goats), buffalo dominate the market, accounting for three-quarters of all milk production.

The father-in-law in question, Muhammad Nawaz, defended his choice, according to the Times of India, in which they explain that the gift of the buffalo is very ‘honorable’ and ‘valuable’ in their community.

Appearing on a Pakistani television program with his wife last week, Nadeem joked that he wished his father-in-law had given him a few acres of land instead. “But then I said, ‘Okay, fine, he gave me a buffalo, that’s nice too,'” Nadeem said, according to a translation of India Today.