‘Barshim role model for next generation’

In a step to motivate the next generation of athletes in Qatar, Ooredoo yesterday honoured Qatari high jump world champion and Olympic medallist Mutaz Barshim at the company’s Headquarters in West Bay.Barshim, who has been shortlisted for the IAAF Athlete of the Year award, was felicitated by Ooredoo chairman His Excellency Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani, as well as a host of other senior management personnel.Barshim has had a number of achievements this year. He has not lost a single Diamond League event he has participated in this year, he won his first outdoor world championship title and has gone five straight years with a 2.40m effort. Last year, he had also won silver at the Rio Olympic Games.Talking at the event, Sheikh Abdulla said, “We congratulate Qatar’s sporting hero Mutaz on his excellence and success in raising the flag of Qatar in the international sporting arena. Ooredoo has a long history of supporting Qatar’s athletes and Mutaz is a perfect example of a Qatari athlete who, despite his youth, has been able to emerge as a model for the next generation of athletes.”For his part, Barshim said, “I am delighted and honoured to be here at Ooredoo, Qatar’s communications company, which has always supported its people and athletes to take part in sports and be active. This recognition and support will be an incentive for me to further my achievements in the future.”Barshim had also won bronze at the 2012 London Olympics, a silver in the 2012 Moscow World Championships, and a host of other medals in regional Arab and Asian competitions.At London this year, even after he had won the title ahead of Danil Lysenko and Syria’s Majd Eddin Ghazal, and in subsequent attempts at Diamond League events in Birmingham and Zurich, Barshim kept on going in the quest for Javier Sotomayor’s world record of 2.45m.Barshim has come closest to the Cuban’s long standing record with a 2.43m attempt in Brussels in 2014.“2.40m in a championship season is good. What counts are the medals and the titles this year. You get the titles, and then you have the rest of the season and other seasons to go for the records. Next season, we have the world indoors in March, and so my next aim is that. But I don’t think there are any major championships in summer, and that’s when you can focus on records and individual goals,” he said after returning to Doha from his exploits in Europe this year.In Oslo, Barshim did go past a Sotomayor mark, when he jumped 2.38m, which was the meet record set by the Cuban 28 years ago.Later, he told Gulf Times, “It was very important (to go past that Sotomayor barrier). It will give me an extra push the next time I line up to write more history. I want my name to be mentioned at the mere mention of high jump. And that will only happen by quality jumps and by breaking records.”The 26-year-old is on his way to do that and much more according to his coach Stanislaw Szczyrba. “The best age for a high jumper is 28, 29, 30. So he is on his way to the top. He is physically and mentally stronger now,” the coach said last month.