Issue 7
Qataris Abroad
Barshim defends the world
high jump title at the 2019
IAAF World Championships
At some moments,
it feels like time
just freezes,
things go slow and
at that moment
when you clear
the bar you feel
like you are
actually flying.
Mutaz Barshim,
Olympian and world
champion in high jump
MUTAZ
BARSHIM
Soaring to
new heights
Nicknamed the Arabian Falcon, he is one of Qatar’s
greatest living sporting heroes, seemingly defying
gravity to fly through the air.
A
s the current world champion in high Barshim also won at the 2014 Asian Indoor Athletics
jump, Mutaz Barshim is also the nation’s Championships in China, and the 2014 Asian Games
most successful Olympian, and the man many in South Korea. In 2016, he won a silver medal at the
schoolchildren aspire to be. Olympics.
When he attempted the 2.43 metre jump in the And in October 2019 – after overcoming an injury
Diamond League 2014 in Brussels, the crowd sustained competing in Hungary and ankle surgery
watched in awed silence as he took on Ukrainian – the 29-year-old became the first man to defend the
Bohdan Bondarenko. world high jump title, with another spectacular win
The two men were engaged in a tense standoff,
rivals in high jump as the best jumpers in the world.
Barshim’s fans erupted into joyous cheers as he
cleared the bar, making him the second highest
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at the 2019 IAAF World Championships.
This took place in his home city of Doha with a world-
leading jump of 2.37 metres, taking a gold medal
with his signature agility, ease and technique.
jumper ever after the Cuban record of 2.45 metres, The crowd at the Khalifa International Stadium went
set in 1993. wild, with celebrations continuing for many days.
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