BARSHIM Mutaz

General
SHARED OLYMPIC GOLD
At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo he shared high jump gold with Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi. After the two athletes had both jumped 2.37m in the final, they each failed to clear 2.39m three times. An official offered them the chance to have a jump-off to decide the winner, but Barshim asked if they could both receive gold medals instead. "For me, coming here, I know for a fact that for the performance I did, I deserve that gold. He [Tamberi] did the same thing, so I know he deserved that gold. This is beyond sport. This is the message we deliver to the young generation. He is one of my best friends, not only on the track, but outside the track. I appreciate what he has done, he appreciates what I have done. It is amazing." (worldathletics, 02 Aug 2021; theguardian, 02 Aug 2021; reuters, 01 Aug 2021)

LONGTIME COACH
He has been coached by Stanislaw Szczyrba since age 19. "My coach and I have something that is really special. We've been working together for a very long time and to be honest it only gets better. It was very difficult at first. I was a teenager and he was a professional. I thought this would never work out. I just finished high school, tried to enjoy life and didn't take anything seriously. I thought he knew what he was doing. I trusted him. I appreciated him for his hard work and dedication. He became my role model. He trained me and treated me like a son. I look at him as if he were a second father. Now I know where to get the motivation from, and he knows how to get the best out of me. He always challenges me. He's brilliant at finding new solutions whenever something doesn't work." (sportowy24, 19 Jul 2022; redbull, 13 Aug 2021)

OVERCOMING INJURY
In 2019 he retained world championship gold despite suffering a serious ankle injury and undergoing surgery the previous year. "I found one doctor, he had been operating on sports injuries for 30-40 years, [he] told me, 'This is the worst I have ever seen'. He said any chance of coming back is 'maybe one per cent, it's impossible'. It took me a little bit more than a year when I could do something, jog, hop, take some steps. But with so much pain, I was on painkillers. Before the surgery my training was really fun but coming back my training was really a struggle. [After recovering] I felt like I will never doubt myself again. I'd say to everyone if you love something do everything you can [and] go for it. It may seem impossible, it may seem difficult [but] if you truly believe in yourself, it's really worth it." (olympics, 28 Jun 2023; redbull, 16 Mar 2023)

HERITAGE
He was born in Doha, Qatar, to Sudanese parents. (olympics, 28 Jun 2023)

He became the first male high jumper to win three gold medals at the world championships after he claimed three consecutive titles at the 2017, 2019, and 2022 editions of the tournament. His victory at the 2019 edition in Doha, Qatar, made him the first male high jumper to successfully defend a world championship gold medal. (SportsDeskOnline, 07 Dec 2022)

At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro he became the first athlete representing Qatar to win a silver medal at the Olympic Games. At the time it was the highest finish by an athlete representing Qatar in any sport at the Olympic Games [he also won silver at the 2012 Games in London, but this result was upgraded from bronze in 2021 as a result of an anti-doping rule violation by another athlete]. At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, he became the first Qatari athletics competitor to win an Olympic gold medal when he shared gold in high jump with Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi. (SportsDeskOnline, 07 Dec 2022; ocasia, 14 Nov 2021)