HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, president of the Qatar Olympic Committee, met the Qatari champions who gave Qatar its first Olympic silver medal at Rio 2016 and its first two Paralympic silver medals at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, in a celebration of this historic achievement at the Qatar Olympic Committee headquarters.
HE Sheikh Joaan congratulated Team Qatar’s champions Mutaz Essa Barshim, Abdulrahman Abdulqader and Sara Masoud on their success in Rio and on winning Qatar’s first Olympic and Paralympic silver medals. High jump star Barshim won Qatar’s first-ever Olympic silver medal at Rio 2016, soon joined by champion Abdulqader, who won his first Paralympic silver medal in the shot put, and Sara Masoud, who recorded her first Paralympic silver medal in the shot put. Sheikh Joaan also praised their outstanding performances, their excellence and the strength of will they showed throughout their Olympic journey, which brought about this great victory, as well as their determination to fly the Qatari flag high in the Olympic and Paralympic arenas.
HE Sheikh Joaan said: “We cannot describe how proud we are of our Olympic and Paralympic champions. On behalf of the Qatar Olympic Committee and all its staff, it gives me great pleasure to congratulate star Mutaz Essa Barshim, Abdulrahman Abdulqader and Sara Masoud on this great historic sporting achievement. Simply taking part and competing in the Olympic and Paralympic Games is an achievement in itself, and this achievement was crowned with Qatar’s first silver medals. A promising future awaits these stars, and we are all excited to see what they have in store for their sporting careers ahead.”
World champion Mutaz Essa Barshim made history as the first Qatari to win an Olympic silver medal, adding to the bronze he won at London 2012. The 25-year-old Qatari champion cleared a height of 2.36m to finish second behind Canada’s Derek Drouin, who took gold with the year’s best Olympic mark of 2.38m, in the high jump final held at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
At the same time, champion Abdulrahman Abdulqader became the first Qatari ever to win a Paralympic silver medal since Qatar’s first Paralympic appearance at the Atlanta 1996 Games, as the Qatari star – ranked third in the world in the shot put – won his first Paralympic silver in the F34 shot put with a distance of 11.15m on the field of the Olympic Stadium. Meanwhile, star Sara Masoud, 33, demonstrated the Qatari team’s growing strength and experience in the shot put by winning the silver medal in the F33 shot put, becoming the first Qatari woman to win a Paralympic medal. Masoud produced a strong performance in the shot put final, recording an excellent distance of 5.09m, to make history and write her name into it.
