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Athletics ‘You can’t have any hesitation in your mind and you just have to go for it’

Mutaz Barshim opens up to Asif Burhan about his family, why he got into athletics and his hopes to break the high jump world record

“YOU have to be crazy, it is scary. If you put the bar at 2.40m and look at it, you’re thinking: “Why am I jumping this?” It’s like a maniac thing, it’s not possible.”

Last July, Mutaz Barshim came agonisingly close to breaking Cuban Javier Sotomayor’s 25-year-old world record of 2.45 metres with his attempt to clear 2.46m at the Gyulai Memorial in Szekesfehervar in Hungary. 

Moments later, with his final attempt he was left writhing in pain after injuring the ankle of his left take-off leg. The next week, he underwent surgery to repair damaged ligaments which kept him out for the remainder of the season.

Such is the life of a top-class jumper. “You have to be crazy, you have to decide you’re going to do it. You can’t have any hesitation in your mind and you just have to go for it. 

“You’ve got to have a mindset of how to do it but from 2.40, it’s so much more like a 50/50 chance of clearing it or getting injured, so you have to take risks.”

Now at the age of 28, the Doha-born world champion is back to defend his title on home soil. 

“Coming up in Doha, I’m going to be the defending champion on my home soil. My family and everybody are going to be there.”

Two years ago in London, after winning bronze at the 2012 Olympics and silver in 2016, Barshim finally won his first major global outdoor title, taking gold with a jump of 2.35m, 8cm shy of his personal best set in 2014. 

Looking back, Barshim, who later failed with three attempts to clear 2.40m, is disappointed he didn’t jump higher. “I was really happy in London. I was so determined and focused. However, after winning, I just felt like I lost my focus, I could have jumped way higher that day.”

Now, the Asian record holder, second on the all-time list behind Sotomayor, hopes to do something special in front of his own people. “Of course, I won’t be satisfied with nothing less than gold. I want to do something remarkable. I want to do something in front of my people in the stands. I want to break some records, I want to make something that lasts forever. 

“What could I ask for more? A world record at home, that would be the greatest ever. I hope for that, I will work for it.”

One of six children descended from Sudanese grandparents who emigrated to the country, Barshim became the first jumper in history to be voted as the IAAF Male World Athlete of the Year in 2017 and is a graduate of the country’s Aspire Academy, which has become a winter training base for many of the world’s leading football teams like Bayern Munich and England’s Lionesses.

“Most of my family is from Doha, cousins, uncles, aunties, everyone is in Doha. They are really proud. They are happy.” 

As the poster boy for Qatari sport, support for Barshim comes from every sector of society. “People love what I do, I’ve got big support from everybody. The president’s calling me on my phone. In the stadium he called me even before I took my spikes off, he was so happy. The Emir is calling me, before and after.”

Competing on the lucrative European circuit however means that Barshim rarely lives in Doha now. “I live everywhere! I’m never home. Maybe I’m in Doha for two months in a year.” 

It is with his Polish coach Stanislaw Szczyrba, a former pole-vaulter, that Barshim lives during the season. 

“My coach is from Poland, one hour from Warsaw, I train and then I travel between Poland and Sweden and Doha, that’s the three places I train, it depends on the weather.”

Even when he returns to Qatar, he rarely visits his own home. “I have my place but I’m never there. When I’m in Doha I stay at my parents’ place because if I’m there for a week after six months [away] my mother wants to see me!”

Barshim’s father was a middle and long-distance runner but following in his father’s footsteps was never the aim of a young Mutaz. “When I grew up, it was never my aim to be the best athlete in the world. My thing was to get out of the house and not to do homework. My mother was always [saying]: ‘You have to study, you have to study!’

“My father didn’t care about studying. If you do sport, you’re a king for him. So I wanted to go and do sports. I had the passion for it but I was always really bad, until the age of 16, I was always the worst in my group.”

So what turned him into one of the greatest high jumpers of all time? “Determination and I hate losing. If I feel bad today, I’m coming tomorrow, if that doesn’t work I’m coming the day after until it works. You just have to be patient … and stubborn. 

“I used to run, I used to do middle-distance — so many cross-countries — but the older I got long distances wasn’t fun. High jump for me was more fun. The training is nice. You do gymnastics, back-flips, trampolines, it was good training, as a kid you know you just want to have fun. 

“When I’m coming [to training] and they said: ‘OK, run.’ I was like: ‘Again? No, I don’t want to run. I want to do something different’.”

As his country’s first home-grown world champion, it is perhaps no surprise that Barshim’s hero growing up came outside of track and field. 

“From 16 or 17, Muhammad Ali was always my inspiration and role model. His character is what every athlete needs, not matter what sport you do. His big mouth was only a way to motivate himself, most people are like that but they don’t say it out loud.” 

However, the softly spoken Barshim doesn’t want to be known as the Muhammad Ali of high jumping. “No, I don’t want to talk too much trash and stuff, I keep it inside myself.”

As a forerunner of Qatar’s staging of the Fifa World Cup in Qatar in 2022, the opening days of the 17th World Athletic Championship have come under great media scrutiny.

In addition to the long-running issue of workers’ rights for migrant workers, the suffocating heat and paltry attendances have raised further questions about the suitability of staging major sporting events in a country with no discernible sporting tradition.

According to Barshim, however, Qatar is reaping the benefits of investing heavily in sport. “I think they just had a vision. They noticed that through sport you can deliver a message that you can’t deliver on many other platforms. 

“It’s easier and people understand it, no matter who you are, where you’re from, what religion, sport is a good banner, it’s only for peace. 

“So that’s why they’ve invested so much in sport to get the community engaged. If you do sport regularly, everyday of your normal life it’s a healthy lifestyle so that’s what they’re trying to do. I know it’s in good hands. They have a good team as they are hosting many major championships.”

As defending champion, Barshim will compete in Doha on a wild-card after failing to make the qualifying standard of 2.30m this season. He must finish among the top 12 jumpers during this afternoon’s qualifying competition to reach Friday night’s final in his attempt to become the first man to successfully defend his world title. “It’s my home town so I’m definitely going to represent.”

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