Our champion Mutaz Essa Barshim won Spanish newspaper AS’s award for Best Arab Athlete of 2019, at the 13th edition of its annual awards for the best athletes in Spain and around the world.
The Spanish newspaper chose Barshim for the Best Arab Athlete category as the winner of the high jump gold medal at the recent World Athletics Championships hosted by Doha.
The award includes several categories for elite athletes around the world, including the “Legend” award, won by Colombian champion Javier Sotomayor (52), holder of the world high jump record (an event that concerns Barshim directly), which he set on 27 July 1993 by clearing 2.45m – a mark that still stands today and that no one has managed to break, and which our champion Barshim considers one of his strategic goals for the future.
The newspaper gave Barshim the nickname “the High Flyer”, affirming that he has an adventurous personality and an ever-present smile, and is a product of Aspire Academy, which enjoys great backing in his home country.
The newspaper said Barshim is an exceptional athlete, having won two Olympic medals – bronze in London in 2012 and silver in Rio in 2016 – and is a two-time world athletics champion, the first coming in 2017, when he was also crowned Athlete of the Year, and his second gold coming this year, 2019, at the World Athletics Championships held in Qatar, describing this edition as the best yet for the Golden Falcon after he was able to produce his best at Khalifa International Stadium following his recovery from an ankle fracture.
It added: “Barshim faced a major challenge to defend the title he won in London two years earlier, especially as injury had kept him off the track for several months before he returned at the start of this season without competing much. But at the recent World Athletics Championships in Doha, in front of a huge crowd that packed Khalifa International Stadium to support him, Barshim won high jump gold with a clearance of 2.37m.
Barshim finished ahead of Russia’s Mikhail Akimenko (2.35m) and Ilya Ivanyuk (2.35m, on countback).
At 28, Barshim has created his own slogan, “What is gravity?”, a message from the Qatari athletics star showcasing his great ability in the high jump, an event he now reigns over.
