Paris 2024 may be my last Olympics, says Barshim
The Peninsula
Doha: Qatar s high jump superstar, Mutaz Barshim has said the upcoming Paris 2024 Games may be his final appearance in the Olympics. Speaking to an...
Doha: Qatar’s high jump superstar, Mutaz Barshim has said the upcoming Paris 2024 Games may be his final appearance in the Olympics.
Speaking to an international media outlet, the reigning Olympic champion hinted he is longing to leave a lasting legacy in his pet event, adding he wants to “stretch out the lead” as the top high jumper the world has seen.
“Paris Olympics. I think it’s gonna be my last. To be honest I really think so. I’ve been saying this is my last (competing season) for like two or three years now, but I’m still here. But I think Paris is gonna be my last,” Barshim said in a video, reposted by the Qatar Athletics Federation yesterday.
Barshim made his debut in the Olympics at the 2012 London Games, where he managed to finish third and initially won a bronze medal. Barshim’s bronze was upgraded to a silver after the second-placed Russian athlete Ivan Ukhov was stripped off his medal due to doping. The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics helped Barshim further cement his status as one of the world’s best high jumpers after he won a silver medal, clearing 2.36 meters and narrowly missing the top mark claimed by Canada’s Derek Drouin. This silver medal was Qatar’s highest Olympic accolade at the time, but Barshim improved the same at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, winning a gold medal – that too - in a heartwarming fashion as it became the highlight of Barshim’s Olympic career. In a dramatic finale, Barshim shared the gold medal with his lifelong friend, Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi.
Both athletes cleared 2.37 meters without failures up to that mark and the two friends decided to share the gold rather than going for a jump-off.
